Me: Close your eyes!
ER: (shuts her eyes tight. very cute)
Me: (hides Pooh doll). OK! Open your eyes!
ER: (looks around, finds doll, squeals with delight)
now... the other way around:
ER: Close your eyes!
Me: (I close my eyes)
ER: OK! Find Pooh!
Me: Is he over h...
ER: He's right HERE! (she points to where Pooh is). Find him!
Me: (I obligingly find Pooh)
ER: (Laughs with delight)
Done repeatedly, she would never let me look somewhere other than where he was, and she'd only tolerate my inane searching for at most five seconds before telling me where Pooh was so I could find him.
She doesn't have Theory of Mind yet. That is, she isn't aware that I'm privy to a different set of information than she is... that I have a mind separate from hers. Theory of Mind generally develops around three to four years old. A similar psychological experiment includes trying to get a child to hide a piece of candy in one of her hands. A child too young doesn't understand what you can and can't see and merely tries to mimic procedure.
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