Integrating Conflicting Perspectives

"Theory of mind� describes the ability to impute
mental states, such as beliefs, desires and intentions, to
oneself and to other people. Usually we want to know why
people did what they did and we wonder what they are
going to do next. That is, everyday we try to predict and
explain human behaviour. In order to do this we refer to a
person"s beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions etc.
Behaviour is the product of belief and desire: People do
things because they desire something and believe some
act will achieve it. For adults it is clear that our
assumptions about reality do not necessarily match the
real world; but we know, regardless of whether our beliefs
are true or not, our beliefs direct our actions. In contrast, it
is not until the age of 4 years that children understand that
one can be mistaken about the world and that actions can
be based on this false belief.