[The measurement of maternal mind-mindedness: its relation to mother-infant interaction in natural settings].
The purpose of this study was to construct an original video-based measurement of maternal mind-mindedness (MM). MM is mother's proclivity to treat her infant as an individual with mind (Meins, 1997). Participants were 38 mothers and their six-month-old infants. The results of assessment suggested that there were large individual differences not only in frequency of maternal mental attributions, but also in the specific contents that mothers read from the filmed infants' behaviors. Moreover, it was revealed that these individual differences in MM were related to mother-infant interaction styles in natural settings, especially maternal comments on infant's internal state and the followings of infant's attention. Finally, the usefulness of this measurement in examining the effect of MM on the child's development of mind understanding was discussed.
Shinohara
Ikuko
I
Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Japan. iku.shino@tf2.mbox.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D014741:Video Recording