Sometimes we're right.

Often we're not.​​​​​​​

 

And yet those guesses determine an extraordinary amount of what happens between people.

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The problem isn't, in the first place, that people don't understand other people's minds well enough. The deeper problem is that they don't recognize how they are constructing their understanding in the first place. In other words:​ 

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CAToM is about developing a better way of thinking about people. 

 

This is the realm of mentalization.

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We have developed a framework that makes the process of mentalization visible—giving people a systematic way to reason about minds while remaining aware that they are constructing their understanding through their own mental states, memories, expectations, assumptions, and projections.

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Because when we better understand the mental states and perspectives that may be behind behavior, we can make better sense of what has happened, make better predictions about what may happen next, and make better decisions about what to do.

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Understand minds → Explain behavior → Anticipate possibilities → Make better decisions​​​​​​

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So, let's become better at working out what might be going on—and let's remain aware that we're the ones constructing the explanation!