Conceptual coherence in the child's theory of mind: training children to understand belief

Child Dev. 1996 Dec;67(6):2967-88.

Abstract

Intuitive theories are defined as coherently interrelated systems of concepts that generate explanations and predictions in a particular domain of experience. 2 studies tested whether the child's theory of mind can be characterized as an intuitive theory. In Study 1, 3-year-old children who did not pass a false belief pretest were trained in 2 groups: (1) on the concept of belief, or (2) on the related concepts of desire and perception. Training took place over 2 weeks, with children given mental state tasks and receiving feedback according to their performance. Both training groups showed improved false belief performance on the posttest, compared to a control group trained on number conservation. This result is interpreted as demonstrating coherence in the child's theory of mind. In Study 2, these findings were repeated and expanded: training on belief as well as training on desire and perception resulted in improved performance on a variety of standard theory of mind posttests. Results are discussed with respect to competing theories of children's intuitive psychological knowledge.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Child Behavior
  • Child Development
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cognition*
  • Concept Formation*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language
  • Male
  • Psychology, Child