# What Do You Think I Think? Accounting for Human Beliefs Using Second-Order Theory of Mind Source: [What Do You Think I Think? Accounting for Human Beliefs Using Second-Order Theory of Mind]() Collection index: [llms.txt]() Data updated: 2026-05-15T05:00:04.680Z Authors: Patrick Callaghan, Reid Simmons, Henny Admoni Published: 2026-05-12T20:49:08.000Z ## Abstract Discrepancies between an agent's actual knowledge and what a person thinks the agent knows can hinder interactions. If an agent could detect such discrepancies, it could provide feedback to account for them and improve current and future interactions. Using the I-POMDP as a framework for a second-order Theory of Mind (ToM-2), this work endows an agent with the ability to model the evolution of a person's erroneous beliefs about an agent and the cognitive biases and heuristics (CBH) from which they arise. In doing so, the agent can detect when CBH might be at play during an interaction and adaptively generate feedback that accounts for them. An in-person user study shows how a ToM-2 learner can account for the effects of a teacher's CBH to significantly improve the informativeness of teacher actions, and subjective results suggest people find the ToM-2 learner's feedback more useful. ## Recorded benchmark results A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage. - [Subjective evaluation of agent feedback on User Study 30 participants 1.0 (test)](): Subjective evaluation of agent feedback; User Study 30 participants 1.0 (test); Confidence in Understanding: 2.9. ## Original sources and implementation [Original paper]() [PDF]()