Scholars@Duke publication: Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm.

Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm.

Publication , Journal Article

Buttelmann, D; Carpenter, M; Tomasello, M

Published in: Cognition

August 2009

Recently, several studies have claimed that soon after their first birthday infants understand others' false beliefs. However, some have questioned these findings based on criticisms of the looking-time paradigms used. Here we report a new paradigm to test false belief understanding in infants using a more active behavioral response: helping. Specifically, the task was for infants to help an adult achieve his goal - but to determine that goal infants had to take into account what the adult believed (i.e., whether or not he falsely believed there was a toy inside a box). Results showed that by 18 months of age infants successfully took into account the adult's belief in the process of attempting to determine his goal. Results for 16-month-olds were in the same direction but less clear. These results represent by far the youngest age of false belief understanding in a task with an active behavioral measure.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael Tomasello Psychology & Neuroscience

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Published In

Cognition

DOI

10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.006

EISSN

1873-7838

ISSN

0010-0277

Publication Date

August 2009

Volume

112

Issue

Start / End Page

337 / 342

Related Subject Headings

Perception
Male
Interpersonal Relations
Humans
Female
Experimental Psychology
Child, Preschool
Aging
20 Language, Communication and Culture
17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences

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Buttelmann, D., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm. Cognition, 112(2), 337–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.006

Buttelmann, David, Malinda Carpenter, and Michael Tomasello. “Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm.” Cognition 112, no. 2 (August 2009): 337–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.006.

Buttelmann D, Carpenter M, Tomasello M. Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm. Cognition. 2009 Aug;112(2):337–42.

Buttelmann, David, et al. “Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm.” Cognition, vol. 112, no. 2, Aug. 2009, pp. 337–42. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2009.05.006.

Buttelmann D, Carpenter M, Tomasello M. Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm. Cognition. 2009 Aug;112(2):337–342.