Faculty
Note: Professor Astington will not be accepting any new students next year
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Janet W. Astington |
Keywords:
Children's theory of mind; cognitive development; language development; metalinguistics; early childhood/kindergarten education; socio-cultural context of development
For information on Dr Astington's research activities see http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~jwastington
Research Interests
My interest is in children’s developing understanding of the social world. This includes their understanding of people’s mental world (i.e., beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions) as well as their understanding of social roles and rules (i.e., obligations, permissions, and prohibitions). My approach is sociocultural, with a particular focus on the role of language in the development of social cognition.
Applied/Clinical Interests
I am interested in the application of theory-of-mind research to interventions and activities in Kindergarten and Elementary classrooms. I am also interested in how children's development is influenced by their linguistic environment (i.e., caregiver and teacher talk, books, etc.).
Specialty Courses
HDP3203: Children's Theory of Mind
Representative Publications
Astington, J. W. & Hughes, C. (in press). Theory of mind: Self-reflection and social understanding. In P. D. Zelazo (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Developmental Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Filippova, E. & Astington, J. W. (2010). Children’s understanding of social-cognitive and social-communicative aspects of discourse irony. Child Development, 81, 915-930.
Filippova, E. & Astington, J.W. (2008). Further development in social reasoning revealed in discourse irony understanding. Child Development, 79, 126-138.
Milligan, K., Astington, J.W. & Dack,
Astington, J. W., & Baird, J. A. (Eds.). (2005).Why language matters for theory of mind. New York: Oxford University Press.