Mind-mindedness is a concept in
developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is the science, scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult deve ...
. It refers to a caregiver's tendency to view their child as an individual with a mind, rather than merely an entity with needs that must be satisfied. Mind-mindedness involves adopting the
intentional stance
The intentional stance is a term coined by philosopher Daniel Dennett for the level of abstraction in which we view the behavior of an entity in terms of mental properties. It is part of a theory of mental content proposed by Dennett, which provid ...
towards another person. Individual differences in mind-mindedness have been observed in the first year of life, and have been observed to have important developmental consequences.
History
The termed was coined by the psychologists Elizabeth Meins and Charles Fernyhough as part of a rethinking of the concept of maternal sensitivity.
Research findings on mind-mindedness have been proposed to have implications for parenting practices.
References
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External links
Mind-mindedness coding manual
Developmental psychology