There are many aspects that go into the development of a child to become a proper adult. Around the age of four or five, an important social-cognitive behavior occurs which allows the child to no longer think egocentrically but to think from the point of view of others. They are then able to decipher different emotions, understand the beliefs of others, and know what someone different from them might feel through environmental context clues known as theory of mind. This is very crucial for development as the social skills practiced as a child will help the child make reliable connections with those around him. Being able to understand needs, feelings, desires and ways of thinking is very instrumental in how that child will mature further in life. The play children engage in every day will help them read situations involving others they are playing with, communicating and receiving feedback on others' thoughts and feelings. Overall, children of a certain age, typically under four, will encounter a false belief task. This task is defined when a child does not understand that his reality varies from that of others around him. Furthermore, the false belief task is a frequently used methodology to examine theory of mind. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? Get an original essay In an article dedicated to theory of mind, it is defined as the ability to impute mental states to oneself and others. The ability to make inferences about what others believe to be the case in a given situation allows one to predict what they will do (Leekam). Therefore the paradigm that can be used with very young children was studied based on the case where the child's belief is different from someone else's belief. (Baron-Cohen). Analyzing these theories and tasks allows researchers to understand why children do what they do and, furthermore, can aid in reasoning about why people are the way they are. The most famous empirical finding… three-year-olds tend to fail a certain false belief task, while four-year-olds tend to succeed on the task which will be explained in more depth later in this article. Experiments have been conducted that show whether and when a child acquires the ability not to think selfishly and to consider the point of view of those around him. Digging deeper, it is suggested that girls will show faster theory of mind development and respond correctly when presented with a false belief task. It has been found that girls orient themselves towards the faces of others at an earlier age than boys. Such selective attention, which orients women toward increased social bonding in preparation for subsequent gender roles, may also serve to promote greater perspective-taking. Overall, children who are older and have more experience practicing social interactions will have a greater understanding of those around them and display more examples of theory of mind. Those who are younger will continue to think selfishly and will not perceive the point of view of others. Girls will also have more game practice in understanding other people's thoughts as girls are more sociable and this will lead them to see other people's points of view more quickly. Finally, putting together all the information collected, if a child is a girl and is older (older than 4 years old), she will have a better understanding of the theory of. (1987)., 125-137.