# THE CHILD'S THEORY OF MIND

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 1993 · $91,934

## Abstract

Adults possess a rich set of conceptions about the internal
cognitions and mental states of themselves and others.  These conceptions
constitute a naive theory of mind and as such are crucial to a mature
understanding of self and others.  But what, if anything, do young children
know about the mind? I propose to continue and extend my current research
on this question (HD-22149).  During the current grant period I have
elaborated a theory of children's developing understanding of the mind.
This theory sketches the nature of our everyday adult theory of mind, and
proposes three phases in the development of this basic understanding: (1)
an initial nonmental understanding of human action revolving around a
simplified conception of actors' desires, (2) first acquisition of a theory
of mind evident in a belief-desire understanding of people, and (3) a major
transition from this first mentalism to a later theory evident in older
children and adults.  In this later transition children move from thinking
of the mind as a passive container of mental contents (e.g., holding
beliefs) to conceiving of an active interpretive mind.  The proposed
studies aim to test and elaborate these specific theoretical proposals
while more generally advancing our growing understanding of children's
knowledge of the mind.

          A variety of methods -- experimental, and naturalistic -- will
be used in order to overcome methodological obstacles to research with
young children and to provide a rich set of converging findings on the
topics of interest.  In all, four series of experiments are proposed. These
encompass (1) children's understanding of mental representations, (2)
children's understanding of a larger mentalism, including a mentalistic
understanding of emotion, (3) children's early and developing understanding
of desires, and (4) children's transition from understanding the mind in
terms of copies and containers to conceiving of an active interpretive
mind.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2198459
- **Project number:** 5R01HD022149-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **SAM.gov UEI:** GNJ7BBP73WE9
- **Principal Investigator:** HENRY M WELLMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $91,934
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1987-05-01 → 1995-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2198459

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2198459, THE CHILD'S THEORY OF MIND (5R01HD022149-07). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2198459. Licensed CC0.

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