Research article summary (published 30 Aug 2009):

Children's understanding of second-order mental states.

Full Abstract

The most popular topic in theory-of-mind research has been first-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold false beliefs about events in the world. A more advanced development is second-order false belief: the realization that it is possible to hold a false belief about someone else's belief. This article reviews research directed to second-order false belief and other forms of higher order, recursive mentalistic reasoning. Three general issues are considered. Research directed to developmental changes indicates that preschoolers typically fail second-order tasks and that success emerges at about age 5 or 6, although results vary some with method of assessment. Research directed to the consequences of second-order competence has revealed positive relations with a number of other aspects of children's development. Finally, measures of both language and executive function relate positively to performance on second-order tasks; the causal bases for the correlations, however, remain to be established. This article concludes with suggestions for future research. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Miller, Scott A (SA);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. samiller(-atsign-)ufl.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Psychological bulletin (Psychol Bull), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 135 (issue 5) : pp 749-73

Dates: Created 2009/08/25; Completed 2009/10/16;

PMID: 19702381, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/16/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent Child Child Behavior - physiology Child Development - physiology Child Language Child, Preschool Cognition - physiology

Comprehension - physiology Concept Formation - physiology Deception Humans Language Development Psychological Theory Social Behavior

Related articles

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

• Probabilistic models of language processing and acquisition. 17 Jun 2006
• Young children's difficulty acknowledging false belief: realism and deception. 30 Mar 1998
• Children's level of participation in a false-belief task, age, and theory of mind. 28 Feb 2000
• A common structure for concepts of individuals, stuffs, and real kinds: more Mama, more milk, and more mouse. 30 Jan 1998
• [On a possibility of understanding over the limits of imagination] 30 Aug 2008
• Understanding children's and adults' limitations in mental state reasoning. 30 May 2004
• Neurobiological bases of behavioral development in the second year. 29 Sep 1999
• Developmental differences in sensitivity to semantic relations among good and poor comprehenders: evidence from semantic priming. 30 Jan 1999
• Mechanisms of theory formation in young children. 30 Jul 2004
• Gender differences in performance of script analysis by older adults. 12 Jun 2006

See 100+ related articles.

Related Article Map

Legend: - FREE Full text Article. - Abstract only. - Title only. More help.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.