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The chapters collected in this volume represent the
"state-of-the-art" of research on the development of intentional
action and intentional understanding--topics that are at the
intersection of current research on imitation, early understanding
of mental states, goal-directed behavior in nonhuman animals,
executive function, language acquisition, and narrative
understanding, to name just a few of the relevant foci.
Collectively, the contributors demonstrate that intentionality is a
key issue in the cognitive and social sciences. Moreover, in a way
that was anticipated more than a century ago by the seminal work of
J. Mark Baldwin, they are beginning to reveal how the control of
action is related in development to children's emerging
self-conscious and their increasingly sophisticated appreciation of
other people's perspectives.
This volume brings together the world's leading researchers on
early social and cognitive development in an in-depth exploration
of children's understanding of themselves and others.
"Theory of mind" is the phrase researchers use to refer to
children's understanding of people as mental beings, who have
beliefs, desires, emotions, and intentions, and whose actions and
interactions can be interpreted and explained by taking account of
these mental states. The gradual development of children's theory
of mind, particularly during the early years, is by now well
described in the research literature. What is lacking, however, is
a decisive explanation of how children acquire this understanding.
Recent research has shown strong relations between children's
linguistic abilities and their theory of mind. Yet exactly what
role these abilities play is controversial and uncertain. The
purpose of this book is to provide a forum for the leading scholars
in the field to explore thoroughly the role of language in the
development of the theory of mind. This volume will appeal to
students and researchers in developmental and cognitive psychology.
Three-year old Emily greets her grandfather at the front door:
"We're having a surprise party for your birthday! And it's a
secret!" We may smile at incidents like these, but they illustrate
the beginning of an important transition in children's lives-their
development of a "theory of mind." Emily certainly has some sense
of her grandfather's feelings, but she clearly doesn't understand
much about what he knows, and surprises-like secrets, tricks, and
ties all depend on understanding and manipulating what others think
and know. Jean Piaget investigated children's discovery of the mind
in the 1920s and concluded that they had little understanding
before the age of six. But over the last twenty years, researchers
have begun to challenge his methods and revise his conclusions. In
The Child's Discovery of the Mind, Janet Astington surveys this
lively area of research in developmental psychology. Sometime
between the ages of two and five, children begin to have insights
into their own mental life and those of others. They begin to
understand mental representation-that there is a difference between
thoughts in the mind and things in the world, between thinking
about eating a cookie and eating a cookie. This breakthrough
reflects their emerging capacity to infer other people's thoughts,
wants, feelings, and perceptions from words and actions. They come
to understand why people act the way they do and can predict how
they will act in the future, so that by the age of five, they are
knowing participants in social interaction. Astington highlights
how crucial children's discovery of the mind is in their social and
intellectual development by including a chapter on autistic
children, who fail to make this breakthrough. "Mind" is a cultural
construct that children discover as they acquire the language and
social practices of their culture, enabling them to make sense of
the world. Astington provides a valuable overview of current
research and of the consequences of this discovery for intellectual
and social development.
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