False Belief Test


This test is designed to measure whether or not a child is able to reason about other people’s mental states. A character puts an object into a box, then leaves the room. Another character comes in and removes the object from the place where it was and puts it into another box. The child is asked to state where the original character will look for the object when he comes back. For the successful completion of the task, the child must know the difference between their knowledge and the false belief of the original character. Results suggest that children of 3 to 4 years of age are not able to correctly identify the original location where the character will look for the object, while almost 90% of 6 to 9-year-olds are.

 

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