101682 Mental State References Assignment Sample

Developmental Psychology

1. What is the main argument the authors present for conducting this study? Comment on whether you think it is a balanced argument (For example, both sides of the argument), and support your response with examples.

The main argument that is presented by the author is that children's storybooks can be considered as a vital source by the help of which young children can learn about different states of the psyche. This is a balanced argument as the author has also mentioned that the presentation of mental health state can vary with stories as well as cultures. The different kinds of mental state that have been mentioned by the authors are emotions, desires and cognition.

2. Identify the key claims made by the authors. Choose one claim and comment on whether you think it is valid (For example, has the author provided enough evidence to support that claim? Is the claim logical? Is the argument well structured?

Claims made by the author were: children become sophisticated in terms of mental awareness and interaction in the social world; these are developed before the age of 5 years, and it is influenced by how adults speak about it. The claim that the skills are developed before the age of 5 years is logical as complete brain development is completed before that age. The argument presented for the same by the author is well structured.

3. Evaluate the methodology used in present journal article (For example, is the method or task suitable for answering the research question? Is the research design sound? Are the statistical tests appropriate?).

Concerning the aim of the study the method of selecting the books as per the indexing system used before for the same purpose. This is a proper method as the authors have sorted the book as per requirement in a methodological manner. For the results, the authors have conducted descriptive as well as comparative statistics. This is appropriate because descriptive statistics would give information about books while the comparison is for the mental state as described in the books.

4. List any limitations to the study identified by the author and yourself and note why they are a limitation.

Limitations that are mentioned by the author is that only the text was considered but the pictures were not considered. This is a limitation as the books are children and pictures have more impact on children. Second, coherence analysis was not conducted which could provide interesting results. The books used in the study are recommended for children between the ages of 3-4 years and because of this, the results could not be generalised.

5. Suggest ways these limitations could be addressed in future research.

In future research, this can be addressed by widening the search and inclusion of the research to take books which are for a wider range of age. This can be achieved by comparing and contrasting the books of texts and picture for mental state.

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