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Scaling of Theory‐of‐Mind Tasks
Author(s) -
Wellman Henry M.,
Liu David
Publication year - 2004
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.1467-8624.2004.00691.x
Subject(s) - theory of mind , guttman scale , psychology , false belief , rasch model , ignorance , developmental psychology , item response theory , cognitive psychology , psychometrics , cognition , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience
Two studies address the sequence of understandings evident in preschoolers' developing theory of mind. The first, preliminary study provides a meta‐analysis of research comparing different types of mental state understandings (e.g., desires vs. beliefs, ignorance vs. false belief). The second, primary study tests a theory‐of‐mind scale for preschoolers. In this study 75 children (aged 2 years, 11 months to 6 years, 6 months) were tested on 7 tasks tapping different aspects of understanding persons' mental states. Responses formed a consistent developmental progression, where for most children if they passed a later item they passed all earlier items as well, as confirmed by Guttman and Rasch measurement model analyses.