ABSTRACT
This chapter frames around two issues: what the peoples now know, after a decade of this energetic research into mindreading, and what the peoples need to know about children’s understanding of mind, emotion, and the social world. Early signs of mindreading are revealed in family interactions in which emotions often play a central part. Early signs of mindreading are revealed in family interactions in which emotions often play a central part. The kind of communicative event that reveals and possibly fosters children’s early understanding of the links between mind, emotion, and human action is their engagement in narratives. The recent increase in interest in individual differences in children’s understanding of mind is proving tremendously fruitful for examining links between social experiences and mindreading. These differences may contribute to the problems the children have in children close relationships.
