Henry M Wellman (2000, Reprinted 2005)
Developing understandings of mind
Miscellaneous publication.
(From the chapter) Not only is a mentalistic construal of persons fundamental for adults, but in the last fifteen years considerable evidence has emerged to show that this construal, or some essential parts of it, is early-developing in children. In this chapter we review this evidence, thus outlining the psychological understandings of normally-developing children. Since the evidence is most abundant and clearest for three-, four-, and five-year-olds, we begin there and then go forward and backward to consider later and earlier developments. Research on theory of mind has expanded to include an increasingly wide range of topics, ages, and accounts. In the past five years, especially, there has been increased focus on (a) children's developing psychological explanations; (b) their reasoning about people in natural contexts and everyday conversations; (c) their understanding of consciousness and mental ideation; (d) family and social-interactional influences on the development of understandings about mind and emotion; and (e) the early social understandings of infants. These emerging focuses figure prominently in our review. The research on normative development, that we consider, is not only important in its own right, it also provides a framework for evaluating findings and debates about autism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)
Database Name: PsycINFO.
Monograph Title: Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental cognitive neuroscience (2nd ed.)..
Contact Individual: Wellman, Henry M, The University of Michigan, Center for Human Growth & Development, 300N Ingalls Building, 10th Level, Ann Arbor, MI, US.
Grant: Support for the preparation of this chapter was provided by NICHD grant HD-22149 to Wellmam..
Target Audience: Psychology: Professional & Research.
Source Year: 2000.
Publication Type: Book; Edited Book; Original Chapter.
Format Covered: Print.
Population: Human.
Age: Childhood (birth-12 yrs); Infancy (2-23 mo); Preschool Age (2-5 yrs); School Age (6-12 yrs).
Identifiers: understanding other minds; children; normal development; mentalistic construal of persons; autism.
Classification: 2820 Cognitive & Perceptual Development; 3250 Developmental Disorders & Autism.
Number of References: 179 reference(s) present, 179 reference(s) displayed.
Update: 20070319.
Accession Number: 2007-01999-002.
Exploring the Mind Speaker Series - Dr. Paul Ekman, UC San Francisco