Describe what is meant by theory of the mind; compare the recent research on this concept to what Piaget theorized about preoperational children; explain how theory of mind is assessed, how this ability helps a child to progress in their cognitive development, and what condition may occur if the theory of mind fails to develop fully

What will be an ideal response?

Answer will include that Piaget thought that children remain egocentric during the preoperational stage, becoming aware of perspectives other than their own only at age seven. Researchers have since begun to refer to a child becoming aware of other perspectives as theory of mind. Thus, when children have theory of mind, they understand that people have mental states, such as thoughts, beliefs, and intentions, and that other people's mental states can be different from their own. Unlike Piaget, today's psychologists currently believe that children as young as four can understand that other people's mental states differ from their own. One way to assess if a child has theory of mind is the false-belief (or "Sally-Anne") task. A child is shown two dolls, Sally and Anne. Sally has a basket, and Anne has a box. Sally puts a coin in her basket and goes out to play. In the meantime, Anne takes the coin from Sally's basket and puts it into her box. Sally comes back and looks for the coin. The child is then asked where Sally will look for her coin. Although the child knows the coin is in Anne's box, the correct answer is that Sally will look in her basket. To answer correctly and show that she or he has a theory of mind, the child must understand that Sally's point of view did not include what the child saw. Theory of mind develops over time and will eventually allow the child to appreciate that other people may lie, or be sarcastic, or make jokes, or use figures of speech. Some adults are not good at this. In fact, the available evidence suggests that children with autism spectrum disorders are particularly poor at this task.