Summary The paper “Observant, nonaggressive temperament predicts theory-of-mind development” by Wellman, Lane, LaBounty, and Olson (2011) reports on their longitudinal study, that was run to test the connections between a child’s temperament and their development of a theory-of-mind. Temperament is a multi-layer concept that influence a child’s personality, which influences how they interact with the world. The way that children interact with society and the way society interacts with the child directly shapes their development of theory-of-mind. Temperament has a large genetic component that allows it to be studied from an evolutionary standpoint, meaning that certain traits that serve an adaptive purpose shape aspects of the species overtime.
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Recent studies show that dogs have a few basic traits of an early developed theory-of-mind. Temperament was the key characteristics manipulated in the domestication of dogs, and with the findings that dogs have a basic theory-of-mind shows the potential connection that temperament has shaped the origin of theory-of-mind. The researchers set out to investigate the connection between individual elements of a child’s temperament and their later development of theory-of-mind. Theory-of-mind is a widely studied aspect of development, that describes the understanding of how thoughts, desires, and beliefs influence behavior. The researchers hypothesized that an observant, nonaggressive temperament, at age three, would have a more developed theory-of-mind at age five, and an aggressive temperament would have a less developed …show more content…
The three aspects of temperament that showed a statistically significant correlation with the ToM results from the second wave of testing, were shyness/withdrawal, perceptual sensitivity, and aggression. None of the other tested traits had statistical significant correlation to ToM, but attentional focusing had a positive correlation to the block test and IC, while activity level had a negative correlation to IC. Both shyness/withdrawal and perceptual sensitivity showed a positive correlation with the development of ToM, while aggression showed a negative correlation to the development to ToM. Their findings supported their hypothesis that a nonaggressive, shy-withdrawn temperament at age three leads to a more developed theory-of-mind at age
Recent studies show that dogs have a few basic traits of an early developed theory-of-mind. Temperament was the key characteristics manipulated in the domestication of dogs, and with the findings that dogs have a basic theory-of-mind shows the potential connection that temperament has shaped the origin of theory-of-mind. The researchers set out to investigate the connection between individual elements of a child’s temperament and their later development of theory-of-mind. Theory-of-mind is a widely studied aspect of development, that describes the understanding of how thoughts, desires, and beliefs influence behavior. The researchers hypothesized that an observant, nonaggressive temperament, at age three, would have a more developed theory-of-mind at age five, and an aggressive temperament would have a less developed …show more content…
The three aspects of temperament that showed a statistically significant correlation with the ToM results from the second wave of testing, were shyness/withdrawal, perceptual sensitivity, and aggression. None of the other tested traits had statistical significant correlation to ToM, but attentional focusing had a positive correlation to the block test and IC, while activity level had a negative correlation to IC. Both shyness/withdrawal and perceptual sensitivity showed a positive correlation with the development of ToM, while aggression showed a negative correlation to the development to ToM. Their findings supported their hypothesis that a nonaggressive, shy-withdrawn temperament at age three leads to a more developed theory-of-mind at age