Links among parents’ mental state language, family socioeconomic status, and preschoolers’ theory of mind development

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 32-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Ebert ◽  
Candida Peterson ◽  
Virginia Slaughter ◽  
Sabine Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Family Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Mental State Language ◽  
State Language

Mental terms in mothers' and children's speech: similarities and relationships

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 617-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Furrow ◽  
Chris Moore ◽  
Jane Davidge ◽  
Lorraine Chiasson
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Mental State Language ◽  
Mother And Child ◽  
Children's Attention ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
State Language

ABSTRACTIn this study, mental terms in mothers' and their children's speech at two and three years of age were studied in order to examine the relationships between maternal and child use. Nineteen mother and child dyads were videotaped for one hour on each of two days when the children were 2;0 and again for two one-hour sessions on separate days when they were 3;0, and mental terms were noted. The utterances in which mental terms were used were coded for function. Results supported the existing picture of children's mental term use. Few terms appeared at 2;0, but many were used at 3;0 with think and know predominating. Mental terms occurred more commonly in utterances used to regulate the interaction between the participants than in utterances referring to mental states. Children's mental term use mirrored that of their mothers. Further, mothers' use of mental terms for particular functions when their children were 2;0 predicted their children's use at 3;0. While allowing no conclusions about causation, our findings suggest that the development of mental state language, and thus presumably a theory of mind, is fostered by the linguistic environment. Specifically, it is argued that the tendency of mothers to focus their children's attention on mental processes by talking about them and, more importantly, by using utterance types which conceivably direct the children to reflect on their own mental states, is associated with children's use of mental terms.

Parent–child picture-book reading, mothers' mental state language and children's theory of mind

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUAN E. ADRIAN ◽  
ROSA A. CLEMENTE ◽  
LIDON VILLANUEVA ◽  
CAROLIEN RIEFFE
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Book Reading ◽  
Mental State Language ◽  
Picture Book Reading ◽  
Reading At Home ◽  
State Language ◽  
Parent Child

This study focuses on parent–child book reading and its connection to the development of a theory of mind. First, parents were asked to report about frequency of parent–child storybook reading at home. Second, mothers were asked to read four picture-books to thirty-four children between 4;0 and 5;0. Both frequency of parent–child storybook reading at home, and mother's use of mental state terms in picture-books reading tasks were significantly associated with success on false belief tasks, after partialling out a number of potential mediators such as age of children, verbal IQ, paternal education, and words used by mothers in joint picture-book reading. Among the different mental state references (cognitive terms, desires, emotions and perceptions), it was found that the frequency and variety of cognitive terms, but also the frequency of emotional terms correlated positively with children's false belief performance. Relationships between mental state language and theory of mind are discussed.

scholarly journals Mental state language and quality of conversational experience in deaf and hearing children

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Morgan ◽  
Marek Meristo ◽  
Wolfgang Mann ◽  
Erland Hjelmquist ◽  
Luca Surian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Mental State Language ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
State Language
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