Ninety children's books (half for 3-4-year-olds and half for 5-6-year-olds)
were analyzed for references to mental state in three ways: (a) via words
and expressions in the text, (b) via the pictures, and (c) via ironic situa
tions. Books for older children were significantly longer than the books fo
r younger children, and overall, they included both a higher frequency of m
ental state references and a wider variety of such references. However, the
rate of textual references to mental state was high for both groups, with
a mental state token occurring on average every three sentences in books fo
r both age groups. Moreover, the rate at which new types of mental state re
ferences appeared was also high; about every second token represented a new
type of mental state reference. Pictures typically failed to represent ind
ependently the mental state concepts expressed in the text, but pictures an
d text together conveyed situational irony in over one-third of the books.
Thus, mental state information was largely conveyed via words and irony. Th
ese findings suggest that storybook reading may provide even young children
with a rich context for developing an understanding of mind. (C) 2000 Else
vier Science Inc. All rights reserved.