Premium
Why Talk about Mental States? The Significance of Children's Conversations with Friends, Siblings, and Mothers
Author(s) -
Brown Jane R.,
DonelanMcCall Nancy,
Dunn Judy
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01767.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , sibling , mental state , theory of mind , fluency , language development , social psychology , cognition , cognitive psychology , mathematics education , neuroscience
Natural language data from 38 47‐month‐olds recorded at home in unstructured observations were analyzed and comparisons made of characteristics of mental state term use in child‐friend, child‐sibling, and child‐mother dyads. Significantly more references to mental states were made by the children in conversations with siblings and friends than with mothers. Frequent use of mental state terms by both partners was related to cooperative interaction in both child‐friend and child‐sibling dyads and several associations were found with measures of language fluency, gender, and maternal education, although these varied across the 2 dyads. Children's use of mental state terms in conversations with siblings and friends was correlated with their performance on two false belief measures. Results highlight the importance of extending investigations into the social implications of the development of children's “theories of mind.”