ABSTRACT
Classical taxonomies of the self carve out three related but nonetheless distinct facets of developing personhood: self-conception, self-esteem, and self-regulation (Harter, 1983). When we think about relations between the self and theory of mind (ToM), what likely comes to mind most readily is how changes in children’s self-conceptions might affect their emerging theories of mind, or vice versa. My awareness of my own mental states ought to have ramifications for how I conceive of other minds (Harris, 2000), and my theories about the minds of others ought to change the way I conceive of my own (Gopnik, 1993). Less obvious, perhaps, is that children’s developing ability to regulate the self might have implications for their theories of mind. Our aim in this chapter is to present the case that developments in self-regulation are indeed intimately bound together with advances in children’s appreciation of mental life. Along the way we describe findings from an ongoing series of studies designed to illuminate potential relations between these two core aspects of human ontogeny.
