Parents' Personal Values and Mind-Mindedness as Factors in Child's Development of Interpretive Theory of Mind

• In Event: The Role of Child, Families, and Communities in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

With interpretive theory of mind (iToM) children recognize that people might legitimately hold different views about the same information through subjective interpretation This contrasts with false belief understanding (FBU) in which divergent views are recognized but attributed to different acquired information. This study investigates parents' values and mind-mindedness as potential factors in their children's epistemic development. Participants consisted of 57 Israeli third-graders (ages 8-9) and one of their parents. Parent's valuing of individual choice was correlated with FBU. Their valuing of conformity was negatively correlated with FBU and iToM. Children of parents with low levels of mind-mindedness were the least likely to have FBU, the medium level was associated with FBU, and high levels of mind-mindedness tended toward iToM.

Authors

• Michael P. Weinstock, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

• Morielle Holtzman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev