Children’s Mental State Talk and Theory of Mind

Abstract This chapter covers the acquisition and production of mental state terms in childhood. It begins with theory and research on children’s acquisition of mental state terms. It follows by asking if children who produce mental state terms earlier and more frequently than their peers have a better understanding of the mind. Next, the chapter considers theory and research on the comprehension of cognitive terms. There is a focus on young children’s comprehension of semantic distinctions between know and think. The chapter concludes by covering evidence that children’s comprehension of complement syntax is linked to false belief understanding. Taken as a whole, the weight of evidence in the chapter indicates that children’s production and comprehension of mental state terms exerts a substantive influence on the development of theory of mind (ToM).