Henry Wellman

His father was a career Marine Corps officer who moved often, so by the time Wellman was in 12th grade, he had attended 11 different schools in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, California, and Hawaii.

Wellman received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College (1970), then spent time as a kindergarten and preschool teacher, before and while going to graduate school.

Theory of mind refers to our everyday human understanding of people in terms of the internal mental states (beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions) that produce and explain their actions, interaction, and social learning.

[3] What began as a relatively small and self-contained area of research has expanded tremendously since then, as researchers have documented links between theory of mind and other crucial issues, such as children’s everyday conversations, their social actions, moral development, religious ideas, social skills and adjustment, as well as species differences, and the nature of human cognitive universals.

Wellman’s work is known throughout the world and has inspired researchers worldwide to investigate questions related to theory of mind and how it may operate in different cultures.

[5] His 2020 book, Reading Minds (with Karen Lind), is intended for a widespread non-academic audience and is being translated into 7 other languages (including Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese).

He has two sons, Ned, a professor in the Business School at Arizona State University, and Daniel, a lecturer in Chemistry at Pomona College.