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Psychology Assignment: Social Cognitive

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Added on  2020-05-28

Psychology Assignment: Social Cognitive

   Added on 2020-05-28

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Running head: DEVELOPMENT OF THEORY OF MIND IN CHILDRENDEVELOPMENT OF THEORY OF MIND IN CHILDRENName of the Student:Name of the University:Author’s Note:
Psychology Assignment: Social Cognitive_1
1DEVELOPMENT OF THEORY OF MIND IN CHILDRENThe theory of mind is a complex concept and, at the same time, an utterly simple notion,which can elaborate the intricate process of thinking in individuals. The basic or core concepts oftheory of mind involves ideologies, beliefs, desires and intentions of a person, which serve as abasis to understand why does an individual act in a certain way or to predict how would a personreact under specific circumstances (Rabkina et al., 2017). In this essay the overall developmentof the social identity of the children are discussed with respect to their cognitive development.Social situations can be navigated to by using a person’s beliefs, knowledge, experience,emotions and their intentions.Theory of mind is one of the most important social cognitions to be developed in earlychildhood. Social cognition is the most basic thing that helps children to perceive things fromothers’ view points and thus, enable them to get along with the people around them. Withouttheory of mind developing in a child, it is almost impossible to see something from anotherperspective. Theory of mind advocates that we should see ourselves as mental beings, and notsimply flesh and bones or existing in a physical space (Dufour, 2017). This theory says that eachhuman has her or his own mental state: they have their own feelings, emotions, desires, motivesand thoughts. Only by using theory of mind, can we explain our thoughts, behaviours and mentalstates to others. Humans also interpret others’ behaviours and thoughts by listening to what theytalk about and observing how they behave (Schaafsma et al., 2015).The development of theory of mind in children, from birth to the age of five, is wellresearched and discussed extensively. By observing them in certain conditions, researches cannow tell how do children behave under experimental situations and then use this information topredict how may they react to something or behave in natural conditions (Hawkins & Goodman,2016). The development of the theory of mind can progress in a predictable order. During the
Psychology Assignment: Social Cognitive_2
2DEVELOPMENT OF THEORY OF MIND IN CHILDRENstages of infancy and early childhood, children develop the most basic skills, that would facilitatein the development of mind later on in their lives. Some of these skills include: paying attentionto the people around them and copying their behaviour or actions, recognising the emotions ofothers as well as the ability to describe those as they see them, establishing the idea tothemselves about the fact that they are different and have different likes or dislikes than theothers, understanding that human behaviour is motivated by their needs or desires,comprehending the causality and consequences of actions or emotional portrayal, pretend-playwhile impersonating someone else (Taylor & Carlson 1997).The theory of mind emerges and starts to develop properly between the ages four andfive. This is the stage when the children properly start to understand the thoughts and feelings ofother people and this development happens in a proper order.Understanding what is “wanting”: The children comprehend the fact that different people wantdifferent things and they act as they do because they want to achieve or possess their desiredthings.Understanding the concept of “thinking”: Different people have different beliefs or views onthe same thing. However, the dissimilarity does not render any of the views to be false or wrong.The actions of a person are based on the person’s ideas about what may happen.Understanding the fact that “seeing leads to knowing”: This helps the children to understandthat they may lack knowledge on something or person, because they have not seen the thing orthe person (Rabkina et al., 2017). When a child has not seen a specific thing, they require extrainformation on the same to properly understand about it or comprehend it functions.
Psychology Assignment: Social Cognitive_3

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