The Baby Boom

When and how do theory-of-mind understandings begin? This chapter assesses infants’ social understanding. Babies are not the mindless beings scientists and philosophers once thought them. Even in the first year of infancy, they have remarkable knowledge about their social worlds. This is not something babies gain innately. Instead, among their innate abilities is an extraordinary predisposition to learn, especially about their social worlds. Before age two, the end of infancy, children have a foundation for all the social development that is to come, setting the stage for the massive growth in social understanding seen in preschoolers. Like their preschool siblings, infants learn by careful observation and by putting pieces together.