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Mind-mindedness in children: Individual differences in internal-state talk in middle childhood

Meins, E.; Fernyhough, C.; Johnson, F.; Lidstone, J.

Authors

E. Meins

F. Johnson

J. Lidstone



Abstract

Children's use of internal-state language during 2 tasks (book narration and describing a best friend) was investigated in a sample (N=38) of 7- to 9-year-olds. Proportional use of internal-state talk on the two tasks was highly positively correlated, a relation that was independent of verbosity, age, verbal ability and the use of non-internal-state language. Theory of mind (ToM) performance, assessed using Happé's (1994) strange stories task, was not related to children's proportional use of internal-state language on either task. We suggest that these cross-task relations provide evidence of individual differences in children's spontaneous use of internal-state language that are independent of their capacities for representing those internal states.

Citation

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Johnson, F., & Lidstone, J. (2006). Mind-mindedness in children: Individual differences in internal-state talk in middle childhood. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(1), 181-196. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005x80174

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2006-03
Deposit Date Mar 29, 2007
Journal British Journal of Developmental Psychology
Print ISSN 0261-510X
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 24
Issue 1
Pages 181-196
DOI https://doi.org/10.1348/026151005x80174


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