Psychological reasoning begins earlier than had been thought, study shows
According to conventional wisdom, babies don’t begin to develop sophisticated psychological reasoning about people until they are about 4 years old. A study of 15-month-olds at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proves otherwise.
The findings, published in the April 8 issue of the journal Science, potentially could lead to an early screening tool for autism, a developmental disability that is marked by a failure on false-belief and related tasks, the researchers say.
In a non-verbal experiment, each participating baby, 56 in all, sat on a parent’s lap and faced an actor (a university student). On the table between the baby and the actor was a toy watermelon slice and two boxes whose openings faced each other; one box was green, the other yellow.
Dr. John Grohol is the founder & CEO of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.Like this author?
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 15 Apr 2005
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Grohol, J. (2005). Psychological reasoning begins earlier than had been thought, study shows. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 11, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2005/04/15/psychological-reasoning-begins-earlier-than-had-been-thought-study-shows/
