The Extent to Which an Acquisition of a Theory of Mind is Essential for the Typical Development of the Child
To answer this question, this essay will firstly discuss what is meant
by Theory of Mind (ToM). It will then go on to look at evidence to
support ToM while discussing the extent to which ToM is essential for
the ‘typical’ development of the child.
ToM resides under social cognition, where people think about people
(Remmel, et al., 2001). Through the course of early childhood
development, children distinguish that people, including themselves,
have thoughts, intentions, wants, and feelings. ToM describes a
child’s understanding that people’s behaviours can be predicted or
explained by mental states. ToM enables us to recognize there may be
multiple viewpoints held by individuals for particular situations, and
we can take on those perspectives even when they vary from our own
(Gray and Hosie, 1996; Gray, et al., 2001; Marschark, et al., 2000;
Siegal and Varley, 2002). This understanding of mental states and
their impact on others’ behaviour notably affects our interpersonal
relationships. Siegal and Varley (2002) further described ToM as
crucial to social competence and necessary for the creation and
maintenance of a range of relationships with other people.
Examples of the relationship between mental state and understanding
behaviour include the following (Marschark, et al., 2000; Meltzoff,
1999; Reiffe and Terwogt, 2000): Desires: A child recognizes that Mum
reaches into the biscuit barrel because she wants a biscuit. Emotions:
A child observes that another child is crying and comments that the
child feels sad. Intentions: ...
... middle of paper ...
...iegal, M., and Varley, R. (2002). Neural systems involved in ‘theory
of
mind’. Neuroscience, 3, 463-471.
Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L., Wise, S., and Brazelton, T B.
(1978). The
infant's response to entrapment between contradictory messages in
face-to-face interaction. Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 17, 1-13.
References
Wellman, H.M., Cross, D., and Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of
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Slater, A., and Muir, D., (1998). The Blackwell Reader in Developmental Psychology. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd.
Theories abound around how people develop emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. This essay will examine the theories of five leaders on the subject of development.
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2005). Children’s Thinking Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River NJ.
Björklund, D. F. (2000). Children‘s thinking: Developmental function and individual differences (3rd. Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Jean Piaget (1896 - 1980), was a Swiss psychologist who was the first to make a systematic study of cognitive development. Before Piaget’s work, the common assumption in psychology was that children were merely less capable thinkers than adults. After Piaget’s work it was realized that fact of the matter was that young children think extraordinarily different than adults (McLeod, S. A). According to Piaget’s study, we are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge is based. The theory explains the methods and procedures by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual (Boeree, G.). Piaget’s theory focuses more on development than learning, it doesn’t seem to address learning of information or specific behaviors. The theory seems suggest distinct stages of development, marked by qualitative variances, rather than a regular increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, and ideas (Atherton J S).
To begin, my observation was at Webster Elementary School, a school placed in the city surrounded by houses and other schools. The specific classroom I am observing is full of Kindergarten students who seem to very advanced than I had imagined. The classroom walls are brick and white, but the classroom teacher Mrs. O'Brien does an amazing job keeping the space use for both an upbeat and educational vibe, especially for environmental print. Everywhere you look there are educational posters, numbers, and mental state vocabulary words, as well as, students completed work. To add, students sit in medium sized tables with 4-6 other students when they aren’t having whole group instruction on either
The concept of ‘theory of mind’ is a complex one with various considerations. It can basically be defined as, ‘The ability to understand or ‘read’ the mind of another individual; the ability to ‘put oneself in the place of another’,’ (Smith and Stevens 2002). Essentially, ‘theory of mind’ is concerned with the ideal that a person can comprehend what another person in the same situation may be thinking, or the way in which they may be feeling, without the necessity for direct contact and communication to establish that information. The paramount dilemma for psychologists researching this area of evolutionary psychology, is the difficulty in ensuring that it genuinely is the mind of another individual that a person is responding to, rather than their overt behaviour, bearing in mind the impossibility of looking directly into another’s mind.
Jean Piaget was a Swiss phycologist who became especially interested in the development of children. His research lead to many great discoveries about children’s thought process, how they learn, when they learn, what things they learn quickly, how they adapt to different environments, and how they are self-accommodating in the way that they constantly revise their own knowledge. Piaget breaks down the ages in a slightly different way than Erikson. Piaget’s theory is broken down into 4 stages as opposed to Erikson’s eight stages of development. Piaget’s goes like this: First, the Sensorimotor Period (birth to 2 years), Second, Preoperational Thought (2 to 7 years), third, Concrete Operations (6 to 12 years), and last, Formal Operations (11 years to adult). During the Sensorimotor Period children learn that their actions make things happen, and that even things that cannot be seen still exist. During the Preoperational Thought stage children are learning how to interpret words and make something out of the pictures they look at. However, in her article, A Summary of Piaget’s Stages, Kendra Cherry states that “while they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms.” (Cherry, 2016). This means that they may still need to be told the same thing multiple times or be reassured when they are doing the right thing. Next, the Concrete Operational stage, the time in which children’s characteristics drastically change and they begin to use logic and reason. The last stage which continues all the way to adulthood, starts as adolescents who are beginning to have abstract thought process, they become concerned with philosophical, ethical, moral, and political issues which is carried with them to adulthood. Like Erikson’s theory of developmental stages, Piaget’s also can be equated with classroom behavior. Like Erikson’s theory of developmental stages,
To understand how we are able to become such complex and multifaceted individuals, we must grasp the idea of cognitive development. Cognitive development is defined as “the ability to think and reason” (University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, 2006). The two main contributors of this topic within psychology, are Piaget and Vygotsky. They are also both the main competitors in terms of contrasting theories, however, do still have many similarities between them. Piaget’s main theories include stages of development; sensorimotor (senses, reflexes and object permanence) preoperational egocentric speech, use of
Leslie, A. M. 1987. Pretense and representation: The origins of" theory of mind.” Psychological review, 94 (4), p. 412
Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. In this essay on cognitive development I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge. (Flanagan 1996 P.72). I will then evaluate the usefulness of these theories in understanding a child's development.
Second-order belief is a concept found in theory of mind, which allows us to conceptualize the process of thinking about thinking. Perner and Wimmer built upon their predecessors’ findings by creating a second-order false belief task that not only took reasoning into consideration but the child’s false belief as well. It is Perner and Wimmers understanding that second-order belief is a mandatory precursor for further cognitive development in social behaviorism (Miller, 2012).
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development describes his belief that children try to actively make sense of the world rather than simply absorbing knowledge as previously thought. Piaget’s theory claims that as children grow and develop they experience four different cognitive stages of life. As a child grows through each stage they not only learn new information but the way he or she thinks also changes. “In other words, each new stage represents a fundamental shift in how the child thinks and understands the world” (Hockenbury, page 368).The first stage of Piaget’s theory, known as the sensorimotor stage, begins at birth and continues on until about age 2. As the name suggest, this stage is when children begin to discover
The two theories that will be discussed throughout this paper are Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development. The major themes and concepts of the two theories share both differences and similarities. Specific emphasis will be placed on the earliest years of life and will also be related to separation, individuation, and attachment theory. Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development focuses on the concept of schemas and cognitive thought that helps an individual organize knowledge and understand the world, in comparison to Erikson’s theory which focuses on conflicts that arise between and within the ego. Accommodation and assimilation occur throughout Piaget’s theory as a result of children changing their schema to adapt.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind In Society:the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press.