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6 - Private Speech and Theory of Mind: Evidence for Developing Interfunctional Relations

from Part II - Language, Communication, Social Cognition, and Awareness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

By
Charles Fernyhough  and
Elizabeth Meins
Edited by
Adam Winsler ,
Charles Fernyhough  and
Ignacio Montero
Adam Winsler
Affiliation:
George Mason University, Virginia
Charles Fernyhough
Affiliation:
University of Durham
Ignacio Montero
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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Summary

As the chapters in this volume testify, Vygotsky's (1930–1935/1978,Vygotsky 1934/1987) ideas about the social origin of higher mental processes are proving influential in a variety of developmental research domains. Our focus in this chapter is on two areas of cognition for which social influences have been claimed, but which have not been linked to any great extent by empirical research: theory of mind (ToM) and private speech (PS). Our contribution to this volume is in three sections. In the first, we examine some possible reasons why ToM and PS might be developmentally related. In the second, we report on three studies that have investigated concurrent relations between self-regulatory PS and ToM in preschoolers and young schoolchildren. In the final section, we attempt to make sense of our findings in terms of different possible theoretical positions on the relation between these variables. We give particular attention to the idea that engaging in self-regulatory PS may provide children with a mechanism for building on their existing social-cognitive understanding, specifically through the opportunities it provides for the internalization of dialogic exchanges with others.

DEVELOPMENTAL LINKAGES BETWEEN PRIVATE SPEECH AND THEORY OF MIND

The focus of ToM research has recently shifted away from questions about the timetabling of acquisition of this fundamental social-cognitive capacity, toward an attempt to understand individual differences in ToM development in terms of the social and environmental influences that children are exposed to in the preschool years (see Carpendale & Lewis, 2004; Symons, 2004, for recent reviews).

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Information
Private Speech, Executive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation , pp. 95 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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References

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