Tomika attempts to affect her mother's desire to punish her for roughhousing and breaking a lamp by trying to change her mental state, pleading, "But mommy, it fell and broke by itself." Tomika is

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Tomika is demonstrating a belief-desire theory of mind by understanding that her mother's desire to punish her is based on her belief about what happened, and she attempts to change that belief. Additionally, she is distinguishing between her public self (what she shows her mother) and her private self (her actual knowledge of the event), indicating an understanding of different mental states.

Tomika Attempts to Affect Her Mother's Desire to Punish Her