Introduction to theory of mind

the long version

Theory of Mind is that part of contemporary developmental psychology that concerns the child's growing understanding of other people as thinking beings - individuals with different perceptions, emotions and reasoning. Peter Mitchell provides a clear, up-to-date mapping of the field and an engaging explication of the central issues and processes. He focuses particularly on the latest research and integrates work carried out on humans, apes and children with autism, showing how children develop (or fail to develop) an understanding of the minds of others during infancy and beyond. This process is neither strictly linear nor unproblematic - toddlers can show surprising insight in some circumstances, yet adults often fail to reason effectively about other people's minds. By examining the extreme and socially crippling syndrome of autism, Mitchell encourages fuller understanding of the key factors involved in the precarious process of humans' capacity to understand one another.