Main description:

Parenting and Theory of Mind represents the conjunction of two major research literatures in child psychology. One is longstanding. The question of how best to rear children has been a central topic for psychology ever since psychology began to develop as a science. The other research literature is a good deal younger, though quickly expanding. Theory of mind (ToM) has to do with understanding of the mental world-what people (children in particular) know or
think about mental phenomena such as beliefs, desires, and emotions.

An important question that research on TOM addresses is where do children's ToM abilities come from? In particular, how do children's experiences shape their development? If we know the formative experiences that underlie ToM, then we may be able to optimize this important aspect of development for all children. The last 15 or so years have seen a rapid expansion of the literature on the social contributors to ToM, including hundreds of studies directed to various aspects of parenting. These
studies have made clear that parents can be important contributors to what their children understand about the mental world. This is the first book to comprehensively bring together the literature on ToM and parenting, summarizing what we know about how parenting contributes to one of the most
important outcomes in cognitive development and outlining future directions for research in this growing area.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Theory of Mind

Chapter 3: Parenting

Chapter 4: General Aspects of Parenting and Theory of Mind

Chapter 5: Attachment

Chapter 6: Developments in Infancy

Chapter 7: Parental Talk

Chapter 8: Parents' Beliefs

Chapter 9: Experimental Approaches

Chapter 10: Conclusions

References
Author Index
Subject Index