This volume brings together the world's leading researchers on early social and cognitive development in an in-depth exploration of children's understanding of themselves and others. For developmentalists, cognitive scientists, and social psychologists.

Contents: P.D. Zelazo, J.W. Astington, D.R. Olson, Preface. D.R. Olson, J.W. Astington, P.D. Zelazo, Introduction: Actions, Intentions, and Attributions. Part I:Development of Intention and Intentional Understanding in Infancy and Early Childhood.A.N. Meltzoff, A. Gopnik, B.M. Repacholi, Toddlers' Understanding of Intentions, Desires, and Emotions: Explorations of the Dark Ages. C. Moore, Intentional Relations and Triadic Interactions. M. Tomasello, Having Intentions, Understanding Intentions, and Understanding Communicative Intentions. M. Lewis, D. Ramsay, Intentions, Consciousness, and Pretend Play. P.D. Zelazo, Language, Levels of Consciousness, and the Development of Intentional Action. D. Frye, Development of Intention: The Relation of Executive Function to Theory of Mind. J. Perner, S. Stummer, B. Lang, Executive Functions and Theory of Mind: Cognitive Complexity or Functional Dependence? D.R. Olson, D. Kamawar, The Theory of Ascriptions. Part II:Comparative Perspectives on Intentionality.M.D. Hauser, Primate Representations and Expectations: Mental Tools for Navigating in a Social World. D.J. Povinelli, Social Understanding in Chimpanzees: New Evidence From a Longitudinal Approach. Part III:The Sociocultural Context of Intentionality.J. Dunn, Making Sense of the Social World: Mindreading, Emotion, and Relationships. J.S. Reznick, Influences on Maternal Attribution of Infant Intentionality. J. Jenkins, R. Greenbaum, Intention and Emotion in Child Psychopathology: Building Cooperative Plans. Part IV:Intentionality and Language.J.W. Astington, The Language of Intention: Three Ways of Doing It. C.F. Feldman, Intentionality and Interpretation. J. Bruner, The Intentionality of Referring.

"...the findings presented in this text are dicidedly rich, the result of some creative experimental designs and observational techniques."—Contemporary Psychology"...provides a readable, even-handed approach to the nature of intentionality by providing converging evidence from language development, comparative, and social psychology."—Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography"Because each chapter in Zelazo, Astington, and Olson's book takes a different approach to answering the questions: What is intentionality? and How does intentionality influence development?, all of the chapters, taken together, present a very broad and, indeed, a very rich account. the principal attration of the book is in this very richness, with its diversity in focus and interpretation."—Human Development