The Young Child’s Theory of Mind
The Young Child’s Theory of Mind
As representation of the world, memory, and problem solving
improve, children start to reflect on their own thought processes.
They begin to construct a theory of mind, or coherent set of ideas
about mental activities. This understanding is also called
metacognition , or “thinking about thought” (the prefix metameans “beyond” or “higher”). As adults, we have a complex
appreciation of our inner mental worlds, which we use to interpret
our own and others’ behavior and to improve our performance on
various tasks. How early are children aware of their mental lives,
and how complete and accurate is their knowledge?
Awareness of Mental Life.
At the end of the first year, babies view people as intentional
beings who can share and influence one another’s mental states, a
milestone that opens the door to new forms of communication—
joint attention, social referencing, preverbal gestures, and spoken
language. These early milestones serve as the foundation for later
mental understandings. In longitudinal research, 10-month-olds’
ability to discern others’ intentions predicted theory-of-mind
competence at age 4 (Wellman et al., 2008 ). As they approach
age 2, children display a clearer grasp of others’ emotions and
desires, evident in their realization that people often differ from
one another and from themselves in likes, dislikes, wants, needs,
and wishes (“Mommy like broccoli. Daddy like carrots. I no like
carrots.”). The Young Child’s Theory of Mind.
As 2-year-olds’ vocabularies expand, their first verbs include such
words as want, think, remember, and pretend (Wellman, 2002 ). By

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