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The Office and "theory of mind".

Daz_Hockey

Hey, so I've just finished watching the US office and something has occurred to me; Jim appears to be a whizz at pointing out what people are going to do, what they think of others and such whereas most of the rest of the characters seem to have literally no clue of how they appear to others, other people's views or how society views them and it looks to me like a very clever play on the idea of "theory of mind".......my only problem is that while he can spot and understand how others interpret others, he finds it hard to look at himself.

Bit rambly but has anyone else watched the office and noticed this?

  • in reply to Plastic

    There wasn't anything nice about your being racist about Jewish people, though, was there?

  • in reply to raspberrypie

    Good point! I didn't think about that....I always think "nah, that's not me" but maybe it is.

  • i'd agree pretty much 100% with what you observe in the american version of the office. except... i think jim's skill at detecting what triggers and motivates people (ToM) comes from his meanness and boredom.  the writers present jim as this 'nice guy', the typical 'nice guy,' but really (and unintentionally, cause he's jim, the nice guy) he's simply as mean and nasty as anyone else. he simply presents a 'nice guy' personae.

    let's face it: jim is the biggest wad in the office. he gets married to pam, the wannabe artist, and soon they will have a wad of a kid, who will be grow up to be very pc and good looking and maybe 'successful.' and be a tool, unbeknownst to everyone, including himself. just like his dad.

    jim's ToM is very good, but he uses it against people to amuse himself. maybe his self awareness is lacking, but that simply makes him normal.

    a normal tool.

  • in reply to Plastic

    Aw gawd, the only way i knew i was being hit on was when I'd see my ex stand in the corner of the room chatting to a friend with both looking over at me quietly laughing. I learnt he'd be saying, "M£7ddddi will come over in a bit and go, 'I've just met a really friendly bloke, he was really nice'. And that I'd be totally oblivious to the come on. I learnt the look from him, would look back at the guy talking to me, and get confused, and then walk over to my boyfriend. He was totally unjealous cos he knew he had nothing to worry about.

    Reading how people feel to me is one of my biggest problems.

  • in reply to Mark (NicheMarket)

    Snap.   My wife trained as a counsellor after many years of dealing with my blank aura and logical analysis of people.   She's well renowned as an expert in her field - she says normal people are dead easy to read compared to me - I was an excellent 'advanced training tool' for her.  Smiley     She also speaks fluent aspie!

    My universal 'nice chap' persona means I get hit on all the time - or so my wife tells me - I don't spot it.

  • in reply to Mark (NicheMarket)

    The English version is even more obvious....crueler, but more obvious. The way Tim will spend hours just using his words to confuse and misdirect Gareth shouldn't be funny.....but it is.

  • I've not watched the office, but you're describing me.

    I have freaky like perception of what's going on for someone else, or between them and another person. Everyone consults me, people remark I'm the most emotionally intelligent person they've met, that i'm superhuman, etc. But I simply can't work out or intuit how people feel towards me. Even if I write lists, analyse, discuss with others, everyone's unanimous on their opinion, I can't internalise/feel/"get" how someone feels towards me. It all stays totally rational and cerebral but I can't hold it, so it doesn't influence how i relate to them. I relate to everyone the same, whether i've just met them, been 20 year friend, my siblings, or i'm madly in love with them. Nobody i fall in love with can tell i'm in love with them!