Early Social Cognition

Introduction Most definitions of social cognition in early childhood center on children’s awareness of their own and others’ thoughts, feelings, beliefs and intentions (aka “theory of mind”) but from a policy angle at least, both competence and performance perspectives are important. Thus, while some interventions improve children’s social understanding, others focus on applying this understanding to promote relationship skills (e.g., via good emotion regulation or positive strategies for avoiding or resolving conflict).