Mind-mindedness in context: A comparison of measures from structured and naturalistic conditions and their associations with expressive vocabulary

Despite decades of research suggesting that caregivers' mind-mindedness-their inclination to comment on their children's mental states-is beneficial for social and cognitive development, studies have yet to measure mind-mindedness in certain contexts, such as during caregivers' everyday interactions with their children. Measures of mind-mindedness from ordinary activities throughout the home environment may provide insight into the circumstances in which it is linked to developmental outcomes, such as expressive vocabulary. In the present study, we measured mothers' mind-mindedness during interactions with their infants (n = 79 dyads; M_age = 17.1 months) in two conditions: a standardized play session and a naturalistic session where dyads engaged in routine activities throughout their home. We then examined whether mind-mindedness was consistent across conditions and whether mind-mindedness from each condition was associated with infants' expressive vocabulary. Analyses revealed that the consistency of mind-mindedness across conditions varied by the type of reference to infants' mental states, such that references to infants' desires and preferences were consistent, but neither references to infants' cognitions nor references to their emotions were consistent across contexts. Further, the relation between mind-mindedness and infants' vocabulary varied as a function of both condition and type of mind-related comment, such that only references to infants' emotions from the naturalistic condition were associated with expressive vocabulary. These findings suggest that researchers should consider the contexts in which they measure mind-mindedness as well as subcategories of mind-related comments when seeking to understand how mind-mindedness is associated with cognitive and social outcomes.