The role of age, theory of mind, and linguistic ability in children’s understanding of ownership

The current study replicates and expands prior work on children’s ownership intuitions and explores whether variability in theory of mind and linguistic ability predicts patterns in children’s understanding of ownership. We tested children ages 4 to 6 and found age-related differences in ownership intuitions, but those differences were not significantly predicted by variability in theory of mind or linguistic ability. This report is the first to specifically investigate the cognitive competencies that contribute to the development of mature ownership concepts, and to replicate many of the core findings in the literature.