Young Children's Appreciation of the Mental Impact of Their Communicative Signals

This work addresses whether 30-month-olds appreciate that their communicative signals are being understood (or not) by another person. Infants produce a range of behaviors, such as repairing their failed signals, that have been construed as evidence that they have an implicit theory of mind. Such be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 1997-07, Vol.33 (4), p.630-636
Main Authors: Shwe, Helen I, Markman, Ellen M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Development
Child psychology
Child, Preschool
Children & youth
Communication
Communication (Thought Transfer)
Comprehension
Developmental psychology
Evidence
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gestures
Goal Orientation
Human
Humans
Individual Development
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal Relationship
Language Development
Listening Comprehension
Male
Meaning
Metacognition
Motivation
Nonverbal communication
Paired-Associate Learning
Personality Development
Preschool Children
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Signals
Social Cognition
Social Perception
Theory of mind
Toddlers
Verbal Behavior
Verbal Communication
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Summary:This work addresses whether 30-month-olds appreciate that their communicative signals are being understood (or not) by another person. Infants produce a range of behaviors, such as repairing their failed signals, that have been construed as evidence that they have an implicit theory of mind. Such behavior could be interpreted as attempts to obtain some desired goal rather than as attempts to gain listener understanding. This study was designed to separate listener comprehension from obtaining a material goal. In 4 conditions, children either did or did not get what they wanted and the experimenter understood or misunderstood their request. As predicted, children clarified their signal more when the experimenter misunderstood compared to when she understood. Regardless of whether young children achieved their overt goal, they engaged in behaviors to ensure their communicative act had been understood.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.630