Journal
CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES
Volume 14, Issue 3, Pages 171-177Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12381
Keywords
infancy; psychological reasoning; conceptual continuity
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Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council)
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How does theory of mind become explicit? In this article, we provide a brief overview of theoretical accounts and then review longitudinal findings on the development of theory of mind from infancy to the preschool years. Long-term predictive relations among conceptually related measures of implicit and explicit theory-of-mind reasoning support a conceptual continuity view of the transition from an implicit to an explicit understanding of the mind. We discuss alternative, minimalist accounts of infant psychological reasoning (e.g., two-systems models, submentalizing theory) and their implications for the development of theory of mind in light of the evidence. Longitudinal findings further support a developmental enrichment view of joint attention as a foundation of theory of mind and early social interaction as a powerful mechanism in the development of this ability. Finally, we highlight the importance of longitudinal data for our understanding of conceptual development from infancy to the preschool years.
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