Nature, Nurture, and Individual Differences in Early Understanding of Mind |
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| Authors: | Claire Hughes & Alexandra L Cutting |
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| Institution: | Medical Research Council Child &Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London, U.K.,;Social, Genetic &Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, U.K. |
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| Abstract: | The ability to understand other minds is a dramatic development that enables children to adapt to their social worlds. In this first genetic analysis of the phenomenon, using 119 same-sex 3-year-old twin pairs, evidence for substantial genetic influence was found. Intraclass correlations for identical and fraternal twins were .66 and .32, respectively; the maximum-likelihoodmodel-fitting estimate of heritability was 67%. Bivariate model-fitting analyses showed that most (66%) of this genetic influence on understanding of mind was independent of verbal ability. Environmental influences on understanding of mind were attributed to child-specific factors,rather than those shared by children in the same family. |
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