Introduction to Theory of Mind: Children, Autism and Apes - Softcover

Mitchell, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340624973 ISBN 13: 9780340624975

Publisher: Routledge, 2000

Synopsis

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.



Peter Mitchell's highly readable and non-technical 'Introduction to Theory of Mind' focuses on the latest exciting 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.

About this title

Review

Peter Mitchell's book...demonstrates how important the topic is and gives a lucid and interesting description of what has been discovered in recent years. His account of the evolutionary origins of this understanding and its development in young children is up-to-date, comprehensive and easily comprehensible.
Professor Peter Bryant, University of Oxford, UK

An exploration of wider experimental work in this area...it provides a valuable summary of how far research has progressed, and where it might lead in the future.
British Journal of Special Education

Synopsis

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0340624973
• ISBN 13: 9780340624975
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208