Abstract
Two experiments with 44 children 41/2 to 51/2 years old provide evidence against the contention by Fabricius and Imbens-Bailey (2000) that 4- to 5-year-old children who just master the false belief test do not yet understand belief, only ignorance. These children are, nevertheless, thought able to give correct answers on the traditional test by using the heuristic that ignorant people look in the wrong place because in these tests only one wrong location figures. This hypothesis was tested by comparing 2 location stories with 3 location stories in which the third location was strongly highlighted by the procedure. With only 5 exceptions on some occasions-no child ever assumed that the protagonist would look in the wrong location other than that in which he believed the object to be. The discussion clarifies how this finding can be consolidated with the results by Fabricius and Khalil (this issue) that were presented in support of the hypothesis by Fabricius and Imbens-Bailey.
Published Version
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