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Theory of Mind May Be Contagious, but You Don't Catch It From Your Twin
Author(s) -
Cassidy Kimberly Wright,
Fineberg Deborah Shaw,
Brown Kimberly,
Perkins Alexis
Publication year - 2005
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.1467-8624.2005.00832.x
Subject(s) - psychology , sibling , theory of mind , developmental psychology , cognition , neuroscience
The theory‐of‐mind abilities of twins, children with nontwin siblings, and only children were compared to investigate further the link between number and type of siblings and theory‐of‐mind abilities. Three‐ to 5‐year‐old children with nontwin siblings outperformed both only children and twins with no other siblings, twins who also had other siblings outperformed twins who did not, and children with at least 1 opposite‐sex sibling outperformed children with only same‐sex siblings. Twins performed significantly better when asked about the false beliefs of their twins than they did when asked about the false beliefs of their friends. Results are discussed in terms of potential mechanisms that may account for the twin and sibling effects.