Young children's developing theory of mind: Person reference, psychological understanding and narrative skill.
Item
-
Title
-
Young children's developing theory of mind: Person reference, psychological understanding and narrative skill.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9959185
-
identifier
-
9959185
-
Creator
-
Henseler, Sarah Ellen.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Katherine Nelson
-
Date
-
2000
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Developmental
-
Abstract
-
Research on young children's "theory of mind" concerns the process by which children come to understand that people are thinkers, as well as actors. This study of the relationships among person reference, psychological understanding, and narrative skill in early childhood tests two premises of the theory-construction theory (Gopnik & Wellman, 1992): (1) understandings of "self" and of "other" as thinker develop simultaneously, and (2) language reflects, but does not play a constitutive role in that development.;Fifty children (26 boys; 24 girls) in three age groups (15 3.6 to 4-year-olds; 17 4 to 4.6; 18 4.6 to 5-year-olds) from urban and suburban preschools, paired with peers, played a game in which partners had different objects, affective states and beliefs. Twenty-four hours later each child recounted the game. Recountings were coded for frequency of "self," "other," and "us" reference, psychological content of each, and demonstrated narrative skill. Children also answered questions about experience of "self" and "other" child, retold "The Dragon's Tears" story, took the TELD-2, and answered false belief task questions.;Findings were: (1) lowest language scorers referred only to "self" in game recounting, (2) measures of "self" and "other" reference were significantly correlated on frequency, psychological content, and false belief, (3) language scores were negatively correlated with percentage of self reference, and positively correlated with percentage of "we" reference and ability to answer false belief questions, and (4) children's articulated understanding of mental states was task-dependent.;Findings point to a process of mutual construction of "self" and "other" as thinkers (Nelson, 1996) in which linguistic skill and context play critical roles. Dynamic systems theory (Thelen & Smith, 1991) provides a basis for interpretation of the finding that "self" understanding is slightly more advanced than "other," and that children's mental state use in story retelling does not correlate with performance on a false belief task. The development of "we" use in early childhood has not been studied previously and raises important issues for further research on person reference.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
