Mental state discourse, theory of mind, and the internalization of self–other understanding

Abstract

This paper examines the social origins of self–other understanding in young children. The proposition is that mental state discourse is related to the development of social understanding, and evidence for this proposal comes from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and training studies that relate discourse about mental states in a variety of interactional contexts to children’s acquisition of theory of mind. Vygotsky’s concept of internalization is used to account for how representational models of self and other as distinct mental agents may originally develop from this kind of discourse. This social account of theory of mind development has implications for language about mental states, levels of internalization, later social competence, and the cultural context of self and other. However, this precludes neither cognitive- nor neurological-based accounts of theory of mind development, which are at other levels of functional explanation.