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Infant mental health journal
03, 2021;42 (2): 176-187.

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
Author Information
  1. Fionnuala Larkin: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK. ORCID
  2. Robin Schacht: Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
  3. Janine Oostenbroek: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
  4. Emily Hayward: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK. ORCID
  5. Charles Fernyhough: Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
  6. Luna C Muñoz Centifanti: Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
  7. Elizabeth Meins: Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
PMID: 33326150 DOI: 10.1002/imhj.21901

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.

Keywords

Mentalidad consciente Mentalisierung Mind-Mindedness Mutter-Kind-Interaktion esprit-qualité mentale interacción madre-infante interaction mère-nourrisson mentalisation mentalising mentalización mind-mindedness parent-infant interaction التصور العقلي، التمثيل الذهني، التفاعل بين الأم والرضيع マインド-マインディッドネス メンタライジング 心智 心智化 母婴互动 母子相互作用

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MeSH Term

Adult
Female
Humans
Infant
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers
Parents
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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