Mind-mindedness versus mentalistic interpretations of behavior: Is mind-mindedness a relational construct?

Fionnuala Larkin; Robin Schacht; Janine Oostenbroek; Emily Hayward; Charles Fernyhough; Luna C. Muñoz Centifanti; Elizabeth Meins

doi:10.1002/imhj.21901

Mind-mindedness versus mentalistic interpretations of behavior: Is mind-mindedness a relational construct?

Fionnuala Larkin
, Robin Schacht
, Janine Oostenbroek
, Emily Hayward
, Charles Fernyhough
, Luna C. Muñoz Centifanti
, Elizabeth Meins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Mind-mindedness is a measure of the tendency to represent significant others in internal state terms and is central to supportive parent–infant relationships. The two studies reported here explored whether mind-mindedness generalizes to representations of unknown individuals, using a novel task that assessed individual differences in adults’ tendency to interpret others’ behavior with reference to their internal states: the Unknown Mother–Infant Interaction Task (UMIIT). We compared UMIIT performance with measures of mind-mindedness from (a) adults’ descriptions of close friends and partners (Study 1, N = 96) and (b) mothers’ appropriate versus nonattuned comments on their infants’ internal states (Study 2, N = 56). In line with the proposal that mind-mindedness is a relational construct, UMIIT performance was unrelated to mind-mindedness in both studies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	176-187
Number of pages	12
Journal	Infant Mental Health Journal
Volume	42
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21901
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Mentalidad consciente
mentalising
mind-mindedness
parent–infant interaction

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10.1002/imhj.21901

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title = "Mind-mindedness versus mentalistic interpretations of behavior: Is mind-mindedness a relational construct?",

abstract = "Mind-mindedness is a measure of the tendency to represent significant others in internal state terms and is central to supportive parent–infant relationships. The two studies reported here explored whether mind-mindedness generalizes to representations of unknown individuals, using a novel task that assessed individual differences in adults{\textquoteright} tendency to interpret others{\textquoteright} behavior with reference to their internal states: the Unknown Mother–Infant Interaction Task (UMIIT). We compared UMIIT performance with measures of mind-mindedness from (a) adults{\textquoteright} descriptions of close friends and partners (Study 1, N = 96) and (b) mothers{\textquoteright} appropriate versus nonattuned comments on their infants{\textquoteright} internal states (Study 2, N = 56). In line with the proposal that mind-mindedness is a relational construct, UMIIT performance was unrelated to mind-mindedness in both studies.",

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author = "Fionnuala Larkin and Robin Schacht and Janine Oostenbroek and Emily Hayward and Charles Fernyhough and \{Mu{\~n}oz Centifanti\}, \{Luna C.\} and Elizabeth Meins",

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doi = "10.1002/imhj.21901",

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AU - Larkin, Fionnuala

AU - Schacht, Robin

AU - Oostenbroek, Janine

AU - Hayward, Emily

AU - Fernyhough, Charles

AU - Muñoz Centifanti, Luna C.

AU - Meins, Elizabeth

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KW - mentalising

KW - mind-mindedness

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Mind-mindedness versus mentalistic interpretations of behavior: Is mind-mindedness a relational construct?

Abstract

Keywords

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