The mind in the making: Developmental and neurobiological origins of mentalizing

Tracing the development of mentalizing is central to understanding how we come to learn about the mind. Barring significant biological or developmental abnormalities, we all come to form an understanding of the mind and mental states. But how does this happen, and what accounts for individual differences in abilities to reason about mental states (i.e., desires, feelings, intentions)? The first section of the present article brings together relevant developmental research to outline the normative developmental trajectory of mentalizing. The second section delves into attachment research to drive home the point that this fundamental human capacity develops in tandem with early attachment relationships, and underscores the fact that suboptimal attachment contexts can hinder the developmental progression of mentalizing. Biobehavioral mechanisms that have been proposed to mediate this developmental process are discussed in the third section, with a particular focus on the neuropeptide oxytocin.