Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:13:10.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Talking theory of mind talk: young school-aged children's everyday conversation and understanding of mind and emotion*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2013

MARC DE ROSNAY ,
ELIAN FINK ,
SANDER BEGEER ,
VIRGINIA SLAUGHTER  and
CANDIDA PETERSON
MARC DE ROSNAY
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia
ELIAN FINK
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia
SANDER BEGEER
Affiliation:
University of Sydney, Australia and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
VIRGINIA SLAUGHTER
Affiliation:
University of Queensland, Australia
CANDIDA PETERSON*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Professor Candida Peterson, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia4072. fax: +61 7 3365 4466; e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Links between young children's everyday use of mindful conversational skills and their success on laboratory tests of theory of mind understanding (ToM) were evaluated. Using published scales, teachers rated the conversational behavior and shyness of 129 children aged 60 to 101 months (M = 78·8 months) who were in their first years of primary school. The children also took batteries of first- and second-order false-belief tests along with tests of emotion understanding and general language ability. Correlational and regression analyses showed that performance on false-belief tests of ToM significantly predicted children's competence at reading others' minds in their everyday conversational interactions. Furthermore, these links transcended individual differences in language ability, shy personality, emotion understanding, and age. These findings augment and extend a growing body of evidence linking performance on laboratory ToM tests to socially competent real-world behavior.

Type
Brief Research Reports
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , September 2014 , pp. 1179 - 1193
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported under Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme (project number DP0881855).

References

REFERENCES

Astington, J. W. & Baird, J. A. (2005). Why language matters for theory of mind. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W. & Jenkins, J. (1995). Theory of mind and social understanding. Cognition & Emotion 9, 151–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. & Jenkins, J. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory-of-mind development. Developmental Psychology 35, 1311–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Banerjee, R. & Henderson, L. (2001). Social-cognitive factors in childhood social anxiety. Social Development 10, 558–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinton, B. & Fujiki, M. (1984). Development of topic manipulation skills in discourse. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research 27, 350–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deleau, M. (2012). Language and theory of mind: why pragmatics matter. European Journal of Developmental Psychology 9, 295–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Rosnay, M. & Hughes, C. (2006). Conversation and theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 24, 7–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorval, B., Eckerman, C. O. & Ervin-Tripp, S. (1984). Developmental trends in the quality of conversation achieved by small groups of acquainted peers. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 49(2), 1–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. (1996). Family conversations and the development of social understanding. In Bernstein, B. & Brannen, J. (eds), Children, research and policy: essays for Barbara Tizard, 81–95. Philadelphia, PA: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. & Dunn, D. (2007). Manual: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (4th Edition). Bloomington, MN: Pearson Assessments.Google Scholar
Frith, U., Happé, F. & Siddons, F. (1994). Autism and theory of mind in everyday life. Social Development 3(2), 108–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gresham, F. M. & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). Bloomington, MN: Pearson.Google Scholar
Harris, P. L. (2005). Conversation, pretense and theory of mind. In Astington, J. W. & Baird, J. (eds), Why language matters for theory of mind, 70–83. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C. & Leekam, S. R. (2004). What are the links between theory of mind and social relations? Social Development, 13(4), 590–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lalonde, C. E. & Chandler, M. J. (1995). False belief understanding goes to school. Cognition and Emotion 9(2/3), 167–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, J., Wellman, H. M., Olson, S., Miller, A., Wang, L. & Tardif, T. (2013). Relations between temperament and theory of mind in the United States and China. Developmental Psychology 49, 825–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milligan, K., Astington, J. W. & Dack, L. (2007). Language and theory of mind. Child Development 78(2), 622–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perner, J. & Wimmer, H. (1985). ‘John thinks that Mary thinks that …’: attribution of second-order beliefs by 5- to 10-year-old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 39, 437–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peskin, J. & Ardino, V. (2003). Representing the mental world in children's social behavior. Social Development 12(4), 496–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. C. (2009). Developmental and aging aspects: development of social-cognitive and communication skills in children born deaf. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 50, 475–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. C., Garnett, M., Kelly, A. & Attwood, T. (2009). Everyday social and conversation applications of theory-of-mind understanding by children with autism-spectrum disorders or typical development. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 18(2), 105–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C. C. & Siegal, M. (1995). Deafness, conversation and theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 36(3), 459–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C. C. & Siegal, M. (1999). Representing inner worlds. Psychological Science 10, 126–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M. & Liu, D. (2005). Steps in theory-of-mind development for children with deafness or autism. Child Development 76(2), 502–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M. & Slaughter, V. (2012). The mind behind the message: advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children and those with autism or deafness. Child Development 83, 469–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piaget, J. (1926). The language and thought of the child. Oxford: Harcourt, Brace.Google Scholar
Pons, F. & Harris, P. L. (2005). Longitudinal change and longitudinal stability of individual differences in children's emotion understanding. Cognition and Emotion 19(8), 1158–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pons, F., Harris, P. L. & de Rosnay, M. (2004). Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years. European Journal of Developmental Psychology 1(2), 127–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruffman, T., Slade, L. & Crowe, E. (2002). The relation between children's and mother's mental state language and theory-of-mind understanding. Child Development 73(3), 734–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sehley, S. & Snow, C. (1992). The conversational skills of school-aged children. Social Development 1, 18–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, V., Peterson, C. C. & Macintosh, E. (2007). Mind what mother says: narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the autism spectrum. Child Development 78, 839–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Slaughter, V., Peterson, C. C. & Moore, C. (2013). I can talk you into it: theory of mind and persuasion behavior in young children. Developmental Psychology 49, 227–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Talwar, V. & Lee, K. (2008). Social and cognitive correlates of children's lying behavior. Child Development 79, 866–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, S. (2005). Gender differences in the relation between children's peer-rated social competence and individual differences in theory of mind. Journal of Genetic Psychology 166, 297–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wellman, H. M., Cross, D. & Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory of mind development. Child Development 72, 655–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellman, H. M., Lane, J. D., LaBounty, J. & Olson, S. L. (2011). Observant, nonaggressive temperament predicts theory-of-mind development. Developmental Science 14, 319–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellman, H. M. & Liu, D. (2004). Scaling theory-of-mind tasks. Child Development 75, 523–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed