2003/01/01 by Marilyn Shatz, Gil Diesendruck, Ivelisse Martinez-Beck +1 · 1 citation
Psychology · #Child and Animal Learning Development #Reading and Literacy Development #Language Development and Disorders
paper · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.4.717
openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Study 1 investigated whether differences in the lexical explicitness with which languages express false belief influence children's performance on standard false belief tasks. Preschoolers speaking languages with explicit terms (Turkish and Puerto Rican Spanish) were compared with preschoolers speaking languages without explicit terms (Brazilian Portuguese and English) on questions assessing false belief understanding either specifically (the think question) or more generally (the look for question). Lexical explicitness influenced responses to the think question only. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with groups of both speakers differing in socioeconomic status (SES). A local effect of explicitness was found again as well as a more general influence of SES. The findings are discussed with regard to possible relations among language, SES, and understanding of mind.