Children Can Guess Other People Think

Children apparently can guess what other people think. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society is researching children around the world. Starting from rural China even to the remote islands of Fiji.

Previously, scientists suspect that their ability to understand another person's perspective appears after age children. "These findings may explain the social skills that distinguish our closest relatives, chimpanzees," said study author, H. Clark Barrett, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Man carrying very well infer mental states, such as emotions, desires and knowledge. "Kids can play an important role in the transmission of cultural and social learning," said Barrett.

The researchers conducted a classic test of children's understanding. They were given the task of false belief. One person came to the room and placing an object, such as scissors and put it hidden. Then, the second person came and took the scissors and placed in a pocket without the knowledge of the first. Someone will ask the child to guess where the first one would look for scissors.

This task is difficult because the kids should have a theory of mind or the ability to understand another person's perspective. Children ages 4 to 7 years in Western countries, most of them can answer that people will first look for the scissors hiding place. Since these individuals do not know if the scissors had changed hands. But the children all over the world tend to give answers that differ according to age.

To find out, the researchers studied almost all children in three communities in China, Fiji and Ecuador from ages 19 months to 5 years. This team create a live-action drama with a set-up similar to the false belief test. A man left some scissors hidden in the box. While others came and took the scissors in his pocket.

The researchers then recorded the children's reactions. Children are consistently looking at the box. This suggests that the small children he was expecting to find scissors in place before he kept the scissors.

In this case it appears that the children are understanding what is believed to be the first man that and also what he does not know. Children need to make sophisticated inferences about the knowledge of the man.