Explanation of Behaviour among Children in the Family Context

Abstract

Human beings have the capacity to represent, conceptualize and reason about mind and behaviour. This is due to the advance of folk theory of mind (ToM) in them. We use mental constructs not only to understand actions, but to envisage behaviour of others. Our ToM allows us to find the way of our personal and social world by explaining past behaviour and anticipating and predicting future actions. However young children have an elementary ToM which develops into adult like ToM within a few years. Researches show that children’s attribution of behaviour is influenced by some social environmental factors which influence the rate of typical development ToM. A special focus of this study is how children’s attribution of behavior is shaped by their family environment. Children of about 3 to 5 years olds have participated in the study. This research includes the observation and recording of mother- child interaction, adult-adult interaction, and situational probing for both child as well as other adults. The results favored the advantage of age in the use of mental state terms by higher age groups.