Pj. Schwanenflugel et al., DEVELOPING ORGANIZATION OF MENTAL VERBS - EVIDENCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY OF MIND IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD, Cognitive development, 11(2), 1996, pp. 265-294
Two experiments examined the development of a theory of mind in middle
childhood by examining changes in the organization of mental verbs of
knowing. In both experiments, children and adults rated the similarit
y of pairs of mental verbs in terms of the way they felt they used the
ir mind in each one. Experiment 1 used thirty-six 8- and thirty-four 1
0-year-olds, and 27 adults. In Experiment 2, 9- and 11-year-old childr
en were classified according to their cognitive monitoring ability (Ma
rkman, 1981). Fifteen cognitive monitoring and 15 nonmonitoring childr
en were used, and 33 adults also participated. Multidimensional scalin
g (MDS) analyses of each group's ratings indicated that participants d
istinguished mental verbs according to the certainty aspects and infor
mation processing aspects of mental activity. Older children and compr
ehension monitors placed greater emphasis on the certainty aspects of
mental activity than younger children and comprehension nonmonitors. i
t is concluded that important aspects of a constructivist theory of mi
nd develop during middle childhood.