This study reports a marked development between the ages of 3 and 5 years in children's ability to conceal information. In a situation of high-affect involvement, 3-year-olds did not know to misinform or withhold information from a competitor who always chose the object for which they themselves had previously stated a preference. Although only 29% of 3-year-olds knew to influence the competitor's mental state, 87% knew to physically exclude the competitor. There was no difference between children's performance when trying to obtain the object for themselves or predicting what a story character would do. The success of the older children in concealing information indicated their new representational understanding that to influence another's behavior, one must influence that person's mental state.Jeremy (aged 3): Mommy, go out of the kitchen. Mother: Why, Jeremy? Jeremy: Because I want to take a cookie. This research was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.I would like to express special appreciation to David Olson and Robbie Case for their helpful suggestions and critical comments.
This research w as sup ported by a N ational Acad em y of Ed ucation, Spencer Fellow ship. I w ould like to express special appreciation to Carl Bereiter and David Olson for helpful suggestions and critical com m ents. And I w ish to thank the stud ents at the University of Toronto and at Branksom e H all for their eager participation. Correspond ence concerning this article should be sent to Joan Peskin, OISE/ University of Toronto, Institute of Child Study, 45 Walm er Road , Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2X2.
This study examined the relationship between children's developing theory of mind and their ability to engage in two social behaviors which have, as their cognitive underpinning, the representation that what one knows may not be accessible to others. Children of 3, 4, and 5 years, in a quasi-naturalistic setting, played hide-and-seek and also were required to keep a secret about a surprise. The ability to play hide-and-seek was significantly related to children's ability to refrain from disclosing the secret, and there was a significant relationship between these behaviors and children's social cognition, as measured by theory of mind tasks. The relationship between these social behaviors and tasks measuring executive function was not significant once age was taken into account. With regard to the development of these social behaviors, few 3-year-olds, but most 4-year-olds, and almost all 5-year-olds could successfully play hide-and-seek and keep a secret. This study demonstrates the importance of the conceptual understanding of mental states in the young child's social world.
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