Helping as an early indicator of a theory of mind : Mentalism or Teleology?

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2018
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Priewasser, Beate
Gargitter, Carina
Perner, Josef
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Cognitive Development ; 46 (2018). - pp. 69-78. - Elsevier. - ISSN 0885-2014. - eISSN 1879-226X
Abstract
This article challenges the claim that young children's helping responses in Buttelmann, Carpenter, and Tomasello's (2009) task are based on ascribing a false belief to a mistaken agent. In our first Study 18- to 32-month old children (N = 28) were more likely to help find a toy in the false belief than in the true belief condition. In Study 2, with 54 children of the same age, we assessed the authors' mentalist interpretation of this result against an alternative teleological interpretation that does not make the assumption of belief ascription. The data speak in favor of our alternative. Children's social competency is based more on inferences about what is likely to happen in a particular situation and on objective reasons for action than on inferences about agents' mental states. We also discuss the need for testing serious alternative interpretations of claims about early belief understanding.
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150 Psychology
Keywords
Helping paradigm, Theory of mind, Replication, Teleology, Early false belief understanding
Conference
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ISO 690PRIEWASSER, Beate, Eva RAFETSEDER, Carina GARGITTER, Josef PERNER, 2018. Helping as an early indicator of a theory of mind : Mentalism or Teleology?. In: Cognitive Development. Elsevier. 46, pp. 69-78. ISSN 0885-2014. eISSN 1879-226X. Available under: doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.08.002
BibTex
@article{Priewasser2018Helpi-52491,
  year={2018},
  doi={10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.08.002},
  title={Helping as an early indicator of a theory of mind : Mentalism or Teleology?},
  volume={46},
  issn={0885-2014},
  journal={Cognitive Development},
  pages={69--78},
  author={Priewasser, Beate and Rafetseder, Eva and Gargitter, Carina and Perner, Josef}
}
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