A Socio-Linguistic Approach to the Development of Folk Psychology

• Authors: David Ohreen
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

One of the most interesting issues central to folk psychology is how it develops in humans. Over the past few decades, two distinct theories have emerged known as the Theory-Theory and Simulation Theory. Theory-theory supporters argue that children construct theories to explain behavior, while simulation theorists extol the virtues of empathy-putting yourself in another person's shoes. I argue that each position falls short of an adequate account of how folk psychology develops. Instead, explaining behavior is a matter of acquiring folk psychological concepts within a culture and then learning how to deploy such terms with competence.

Keywords

EN

folk psychology; language; child development; simulation; theory-theory

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 214-224

Dates

published

2008-12-01

online

2008-12-29

Contributors

author

David Ohreen

• Faculty of Management, University of Lethbridge (Calgary Campus), N 104, 1301 - 16 Ave. NW Calgary, Alberta Canada

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10023-008-0020-6