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There must be more to development of mindreading and metacognition than passing false belief tasks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Mikolaj Hernik
Affiliation:
Baby Lab, Anna Freud Centre, London, NW3 5SD, United Kingdommikolaj.hernik@annafreud.orghttp://www.annafreudcentre.org/infantlab/mhernik
Pasco Fearon
Affiliation:
School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AL, United Kingdomr.m.p.fearon@reading.ac.ukhttp://www.reading.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/r-m-p-fearon.asp
Peter Fonagy
Affiliation:
Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. p.fonagy@ucl.ac.ukhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/unit-staff/peter.htm

Abstract

We argue that while it is a valuable contribution, Carruthers' model may be too restrictive to elaborate our understanding of the development of mindreading and metacognition, or to enrich our knowledge of individual differences and psychopathology. To illustrate, we describe pertinent examples where there may be a critical interplay between primitive social-cognitive processes and emerging self-attributions.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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