Young Child’s Theory of Mind in the Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood

Question: What is the young child’s theory of mind? How does it change as children develop through childhood?

Answer:
For 4 – 5 year olds: They can’t understand that others can think about them
Don’t understand that most knowledge can be derived from
inference...Yet, this understanding develops by age 6

For 5 – 7 year olds: Understand reciprocal nature of thought
False Belief Principle - Children can look at a problem from
another’s point of view and discern what information causes a
person to believe something that isn’t true

Answer 2:
Theory of Mind refers to awareness of one's own mental processes and the mental processes of others. It is believed that the child is a thinker who tries to explain, predict, and understand people's thoughts, feelings and utterances. Children are changing as they grow and develop.

I can really see this with my son who is 6. He always asks questions, "does God love me more or Jesus?" "who runs faster a cheetah or a leopard?" You can see his mind working, creating hypothetical scenarios and he constantly asks questions about things most people wouldn't think of. But for this age group, "Children have a deepening appreciation of the mind itself....."



Answer 3:
Another change as children develop through childhood is their ability to think that they are thinking. The concept of thinking does not exist for 3 - to 5-year-olds. They believe that people who are not actively engaging in physical activities, such as sitting quietly, reading or watching TV is not thinking. Most children by the age of eight will acquire the ability to understanding this concept.

It is interesting to note that at approximately 5 to 7 years old, children can begin to recognize that people's behaviors do not necessarily reflect their thoughts and feelings. I am surprised that this is the case because I vaguely recalled I have difficulty understanding this and caused quite some emotional disturbance that people do not act the same way they think when I was much older.