ERIC Number: EJ845719
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Aug
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
Eighteen-Month-Old Infants Show False Belief Understanding in an Active Helping Paradigm
Buttelmann, David; Carpenter, Malinda; Tomasello, Michael
Cognition, v112 n2 p337-342 Aug 2009
Recently, several studies have claimed that soon after their first birthday infants understand others' false beliefs. However, some have questioned these findings based on criticisms of the looking-time paradigms used. Here we report a new paradigm to test false belief understanding in infants using a more active behavioral response: helping. Specifically, the task was for infants to help an adult achieve his goal - but to determine that goal infants had to take into account what the adult believed (i.e., whether or not he falsely believed there was a toy inside a box). Results showed that by 18 months of age infants successfully took into account the adult's belief in the process of attempting to determine his goal. Results for 16-month-olds were in the same direction but less clear. These results represent by far the youngest age of false belief understanding in a task with an active behavioral measure. (Contains 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Models, Infants, Adolescents, Student Attitudes, Measures (Individuals), Beliefs, Schemata (Cognition), Age Differences, Infant Behavior, Eye Movements, Time Factors (Learning), Adults
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A