Russell conducts an experiment to study children's theory of mind. He selects participants and divides them into two groups. The first group consists of 3-year-olds, whereas the second group consists of 5-year-olds. Russell takes a box of crayons and places candies in them. He opens the box and shows it to both groups. Next, he asks the first group what a child who has never seen the box will think is actually inside the box. The group replies, "Candies!" To the same question, the second group replies, "Crayons!" This scenario illustrates that

The theory of mind allows individuals to understand what mental states influence the actions of others. Both groups have an expectation that candies are present within the box, but discover pencils instead. After they are asked about the expected behaviors of others without knowledge of the box's contents the children react differently.

The younger 3-year olds can distinguish between expectation and reality for themselves; however, they fail extending this understanding to others or identifying the expected response of others. Their age group assumes that other children would not fall for the trick.

The 5-year olds, however recall their initial thoughts about the box's contents; they understand that their expectation was inaccurate, and correctly assume that another child would also be tricked. They show an understanding that their thoughts (crayons should be in the crayon box) may not be true (candies instead of crayons).

annyksl annyksl · Answer 2 · 2021-10-19T02:18:37+02:00

The scenario shows that children under the age of five do not have a definite notion of what false beliefs are.

We can arrive at this answer because:

When Russell shows a box of crayons containing candy for the children, they have very different perceptions about it.
The group of five-year-olds understands that this is a case of expectation versus reality. This is because they recognize that when seeing a box of crayons, there is an expectation that there are crayons inside the box.
The reality, however, can be different, showing that there are sweets inside the box and that the expectation was a false belief, based on visual resources.
Children under five years old do not have this perception and believe that if a box of crayons has sweets inside, any other box will have the same content.
In this case, children under the age of five do not have discernment between expectation and reality, nor do they know what a false belief is.

This difference is due to the difference in cognitive development between children, as older children have a greater degree of involvement than younger children.

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