Three-year old Emily greets her grandfather at the front door: "We're having a surprise party for your birthday! And it's a secret!" We may smile at incidents like these, but they illustrate the beginning of an important transition in children's lives--their development of a "theory of mind." Emily certainly has some sense of her grandfather's feelings, but she clearly doesn't understand much about what he knows, and surprises--like secrets, tricks, and ties all depend on understanding and manipulating what others think and know. Jean Piaget investigated children's discovery of the mind in the 1920s and concluded that they had little understanding before the age of six. But over the last twenty years, researchers have begun to challenge his methods and revise his conclusions. In The Child's Discovery of the Mind, Janet Astington surveys this lively area of research in developmental psychology. Sometime between the ages of two and five, children begin to have insights into their own mental life and those of others. They begin to understand mental representation--that there is a difference between thoughts in the mind and things in the world, between thinking about eating a cookie and eating a cookie. This breakthrough reflects their emerging capacity to infer other people's thoughts, wants, feelings, and perceptions from words and actions. They come to understand why people act the way they do and can predict how they will act in the future, so that by the age of five, they are knowing participants in social interaction. Astington highlights how crucial children's discovery of the mind is in their social and intellectual development by including a chapter on autistic children, who fail to make this breakthrough. "Mind" is a cultural construct that children discover as they acquire the language and social practices of their culture, enabling them to make sense of the world. Astington provides a valuable overview of current research and of the consequences of this discovery for intellectual and social development.

Entering the Child's Mind teaches a powerful technique for gaining insight into a child's way of thinking. In the tradition of Piaget and Vygotsky, Dr. Herbert P. Ginsburg argues that standardized instruments of evaluation often fail to meet the challenges of complex cognition. Understanding that interviews, like any evaluative instrument, can be improperly conducted and assessed, Dr. Ginsburg then seeks to advance the critical analysis of the interview methods and to investigate its effectiveness and reliability. He presents guidelines intended to help novices learn to conduct clinical interviews and to assist more experienced interviewers in perfecting their techniques. Dr. Ginsburg provides to both psychologists and others interested in understanding the minds of children the first comprehensive treatment of the theory and practice of the clinical interview method. -- from back cover.

A fascinating introduction to the young learner's mind for teachers, parents, and students in philosophy of education.

Do children have a theory of mind? If they do, at what age is it acquired? What is the content of the theory, and how does it differ from that of adults? "The Child's Theory of Mind "integrates the diverse strands of this rapidly expanding field of study. It charts children's knowledge about a fundamental topic - the mind and characterizes that developing knowledge as a coherent commonsense theory, strongly advancing the understanding of everyday theories as well as the commonsense theory of mind.Henry M. Wellman is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Bringing the magic of empathy to daily life with a child

During the past 25 years, a great deal of research and theory has addressed the development of young children’s understanding of mental states such as knowledge, beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions. Although developments in children’s understanding of the mind subsequent to early childhood has received less attention, in recent years a growing body of research has emerged examining understanding of psychological functioning during middle and late childhood. Combined with the literature on adolescent epistemological development, this research provides a broader picture of age-related changes in children’s understanding of the mind. Guided by the goals of describing developmental changes in children’s concepts of cognitive functioning and identifying sources of information that contribute to learning about cognition, Children’s Discovery of the Active Mind organizes empirical literature concerning the development of children’s knowledge of cognitive activities from early childhood to adolescence and presents a conceptual framework that integrates children’s introspective activities with social influences on development. Bringing together theoretical and empirical work from developmental, cognitive, and social psychology, the author argues that rather than depending upon a single source of information, developmental progress is driven by combinations of children’s conceptual knowledge of mental functioning, children’s phenomenological awareness of their own cognitive activities, and children’s social experience.

Based on the renowned Renzulli Method, which has been adopted in schools all over the country, Light Up Your Child's Mind presents a practical program to help children fire up a love of learning to last a lifetime. World-renowned experts Drs. Renzulli and Reis illustrate the crucial role parents can play in their children's development and address how they can work with teachers to enhance their children's education. They uncover the hidden potential of daydreamers, rebels, and one-track minds, arguing that gifted behavior -- basic smarts, high levels of task commitment, and creativity -- can be fostered in bright children, even unmotivated ones. Step by step, Light Up Your Child's Mind will show parents how to set their kids on the path to a rewarding future.

“Where is my mind? Where is my mind? Way out in the water See it swimmin’ . . .” Where Is My Mind? is an imaginative picture book based on Black Francis’s lyrics to one of Pixies’ most beloved songs. The song was released on their certified-gold album Surfer Rosa, and later appeared in the film Fight Club.Parents and children alike will delight in following the story of a young girl who loses her mind when she falls off a skateboard, then travels to magical lands in search of it. Brilliantly illustrated by Alex Eben Meyer, Where Is My Mind? is a celebration of creativity, both in song and story.

This fresh and dynamic book offers a thorough investigation into the development of the cognitive processes that underpin judgements about mental states (often termed 'theory of mind') and addresses specific issues that have not been adequately dealt with in the past, and which are now being raised by some of the most prominent researchers in the field.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than 1 million copies in print! • The authors of No-Drama Discipline and The Yes Brain explain the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures in this pioneering, practical book. “Simple, smart, and effective solutions to your child’s struggles.”—Harvey Karp, M.D. In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson offer a revolutionary approach to child rearing with twelve key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children. The authors explain—and make accessible—the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids throw tantrums, fight, or sulk in silence. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Complete with age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives. “[A] useful child-rearing resource for the entire family . . . The authors include a fair amount of brain science, but they present it for both adult and child audiences.”—Kirkus Reviews “Strategies for getting a youngster to chill out [with] compassion.”—The Washington Post “This erudite, tender, and funny book is filled with fresh ideas based on the latest neuroscience research. I urge all parents who want kind, happy, and emotionally healthy kids to read The Whole-Brain Child. This is my new baby gift.”—Mary Pipher, Ph.D., author of Reviving Ophelia and The Shelter of Each Other “Gives parents and teachers ideas to get all parts of a healthy child’s brain working together.”—Parent to Parent