ABSTRACT

If beliefs were always true, it would be impossible to make someone believe something false, and prediction and explanation of behaviour would be relatively easy. This is because, if beliefs are true, there is no reason to consider them at all. Instead, behaviour prediction and explanation can be done on the basis of what is really the case. This is much less complicated than inferring and representing an invisible mental state and basing behaviour predictions on that. Furthermore, beliefs normally are true; they are supposed to be. Adults probably base much of their prediction of other people’s behaviour on what is really the case, since this is simpler and generally quite reliable.