BENAVIDES DELGADO, Jacqueline. Children and their understanding in relation with others’ mental world: Explanatory Theories. []. , 21, 40, pp.518-531. ISSN 0124-0137.  https://doi.org/10.17081/psico.21.40.3089.

This paper aims to review the philosophical and psychological approaches as basis for the study related to the ability to understand others’ minds by children, based on a theoretical point of views. This paper begins establishing differences between physical and mental world based on the idea that the mind need objects in order to function, according to the concept of intentionality conducted by Brentano (1874/1995). From the psychology point of view three theories are addressed: (a) The Simulation Theory or First Person perspective, introduced by Gordon (1992), Goldman (1993), Jhonson (1988) and Harris (1995); (b) TheoryTheory or Third Person perspective, introduced by Baron-Cohen (2000), Leslie (1987) and Wellman (1995/1990) among others and finally (c) The Intersubjectivity theory introduced by Trevarthen (1974, 1976, 1979, 1998) as a preamble of the proposal introduced by Gómez (1998, 2005) and Reddy (2008) called the Second Person perspective. Debates between these perspectives let us to analyze their differences and also, enrich our understanding of others’ minds by children. As a conclusion, Theory of Mind has been studied based on different point of views related to the concept of mind.

: mind; theory of mind; mental states; cognitive development; philosophy of mind..

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