Introduction to Theory of Mind: Children, Autism and Apes

Theory of mind is an exciting area of contemporary developmental psychology that concerns the child's developing understanding of other people as thinking beings - individuals with different perceptions, emotions and reasoning. This text focuses on the latest research in the field and integrates work carried out on adults, apes and children with autism. The author shows how children develop (or fail to develop) an understanding of the minds of others during infancy and beyond. On one hand, there are circumstances in which toddlers show a surprising insight into the minds of those around them. On the other hand, even the average adult does not always reason effectively about other peoples minds. Unfortunately, the development of an understanding of mind can run into serious difficulties, and one form of such abnormal development can be autism. The background to this socially crippling syndrome is introduced for the benefit of the non-specialist and then examined in some depth.