Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph. D. in Psychology, University of Tehran

2 M.A. in Psychology of Azad university

Abstract

Theory of mind helps individuals to understand other individuals’ perspectives about phenomenon, in general, and others stand points in social issues specifically. It also helps individuals to describe, explain and predict others’ behaviors. Current study aimed to study development of theory of mind in preschool children. The design of the study was ex post facto. To fulfill the aforementioned purpose, 60 preschool children (ages 4-6) were sampled from the kindergarten, and preschoolers in district six of Department of Education in Tehran, by means of available sampling and the following measures were given to them: theory of mind tasks, with subtests of one to one correspondence test, doll house, narration of the story, and predicting game in the play format. To analyze data, a Chi Square test was used. Analysis of data revealed that in general age factor was an important factor in determining the level of functioning and its effect was significant (p<0.05). Performance of children in each age was different from the other age groups: five – year olds did better than four – year olds and six-year olds did better than five-year olds. Development of theory of mind will help children to adapt to their social milieu more effectively. In accordance with chronological age development, the magnitude of children’s correct responses increase and children get more accurate perception of self and others in social interactions.

Keywords

حسن‌زاده، سعید. (1384). تئوری ذهن در کودکان ناشنوا. پژوهش در حیطۀ کودکان استثنایی، 16: 164-143.
عبداله‌زاده‌رافی، مهدی؛ بهرامی، هادی؛ میرزمانی، سید محمود و صالحی، مسعود. (1389). تحول نظریۀ ذهن در دانش‌آموزان عقب­مانده ذهنی و ارتباط آن با تعداد خواهر و براداران. مجله توانبخشی، 11 (4): 27-19.
نسائیان، عباس؛ عبداله‌زاده‌رافی، مهدی؛ مرادی، معصومه و کاوه، منیژه. (1389). تأثیر آموزش باور کاذب بر پاسخگویی به تکالیف نظریه ذهن در کودکان 3 تا 6 سال. روانشناسی معاصر، 5(1): 70-63.
Acarlar, F & Kaysili, B. (2011). The Development of Theory of Mind According to False Belief Performance of Children Ages 3 to 5. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 11(4), 1821-1826.
Adrian, J. E., Clemente, R. A., Villanueva, L., & Rieffe, C. (2005). Parent–child picturebook reading, mothers’ mental state language and children’s theory of mind. Journal of Child Language, 32(03), 673-685.
Astington, J. W., & Baird, J. A. (2005). Why language matters for theory of mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Astington, J. W., & Jenkins, J. M. (1999). A longitudinal study of the relation between language and theory-of-mind development. Developmental psychology, 35(5), 1311-1320.
Baillargeon, R., Scott, R. M., & He, Z. (2010). False-belief understanding in infants. Trends in cognitive sciences, 14(3), 110-118.
Bjorklund, D. F. (2000). Children’s thinking developmental function and individual differences (3th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Cheung, C. (2010). Environmental and cognitive factors influencing children’s theory of mind development. Thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.
Dahlgren, S., Sandberg, A.D.M & Larsson, M. (2010). Theory of mind in children with severe speech and physical impairments. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 31, 617–624.
Doherty, M. (2009). Theory of Mind: How Children Understand Others' Thoughts and Feelings. Hove and New York: Psychology Press.
Donaldson, M. (1987). Children’s Mind. London: Great Britain.
Dore, R & Lillard, A. (2015). Theory of Mind and Children’s Engagement in Fantasy Worlds. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 34(3), 230–242.
Dungan, J., & Saxe, R. (2012). Matched false-belief performance during verbal and nonverbal interference. Cognitive Science, 36, 1148–1156.
Flavell, J. H. (1986). The development of children’s knowledge about the appearance reality distinction. American Psychologist, 41(4), 418-425.
Flavell, J. H. (1999). Cognitive development: Children’s knowledge about the mind. Annual Review of Psychology, 50(1), 21-45.
Flavell, J. H., & Miller, P. H. (1998). Social cognition. In D. Kuhn & R. Siegler (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: cognition, perception, and language (Vol. 2., pp. 851-887). New York: Wiley.
Flavell, J. H., Flavell, E. R., & Green, F. L. (1983). Development of appearance– reality distinction. Cognitive Psychology, 15(1), 95-120.
Gauvain, M. & Robert L. Munroe, R. L. (2014). Development of Perspective Taking in Relation to Age, Education, and the Presence of Community Features Associated With Industrialization: A Four-Culture Study. Cross-Cultural Research, 48(1), 32– 44.
Genkins, J. M. & Astington, J. W. (1996). Cognitive factors and family structure associated with theory of mind. Developmental psychology, 32(1), 70-78.
Gopnik, A, & Astington, J. W. (1988). Children’s understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction. Child Development, 59, 26-37.
Hale, C. M., & Tager‐Flusberg, H. (2003). The influence of language on theory of mind: A training study. Developmental science, 6(3), 346-359.
Heuvel-Panhuizen, M., Elia, I. & Robitzsch, A (2015). Kindergartners’ performance in two types of imaginary perspective-taking.Mathematics Education, 47(3), 345–362.
Kazdin, A. E. (Eds.). (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology (vols 1-8). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Leslie A. M. (1987). Pretense and Representation. The Origins of a ‘‘Theory of Mind’’. Psychological Review. 94, 412–426.
Liszkowski, U. (2013). Using theory of mind. Child development perspectives journal, 7, 104–109.
Loureiro, C. P. (2013). The Relationship between Theory of Mind and Moral Development in Preschool Children. Paidéia, 23(54), 93-101.
Mar, R. A. Tackett, J. L. & Moore, C (2010). Exposure to media and theory-of-mind development in Preschoolers. Cognitive Development, 25(1) 69-78.
McAlister, A. R., & Peterson, C. C. (2012). Siblings, theory of mind, and executive functioning in children aged 3–6 years: New longitudinal evidence. Child Development, 84(4), 1442–1458.
Meristo, M., Morgan, G., Geraci, A., Iozzi, L., Hjelmquist, E., Surian, L., & Siegal, M. (2012). Belief attribution in deaf and hearing infants. Developmental Science 15(5), 633-640.
Mounoud, P. (1996). Perspective–taking and attribution: From Piaget’s theory to childrens theory of mind. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 55(2/3), 93-103.
Rhodes, M. & Brandone, A. C. (2014). Three-year-olds’ theories of mind inactions and word. Developmental Psychology, 5(263), 263- 271.
Richert, R. A., & Smith, E. I. (2011). Preschoolers’ quarantining of fantasy stories. Child Development, 82(4), 1106–1119.
Rubio-Fernandez, P., & Geurts, B. (2013). How to pass the false-belief task before your fourth birthday. Psychology Science, 24, 27–33.
Russell, P.A., Hosie, J. A., Gray, C. D., Scott, C., Hunter, N., Banks, J. S., Ruftman, T. & et al. (2003). How language relates to belief, desire, and emotion understanding. Cognitive Developmental, 18, 139-158.
Scholl, B. J., & Leslie, A. M. (2001). Minds, Modules, and Meta analysis. Child Development, 72(3), 696-701.
Scott, R. M., He, Z., Baillargeon, R., & Cummins, D. (2012). False-belief under- standing in 2.5-year-olds: evidence from two novel verbal spontaneous -response tasks. Development Sciences, 15(2), 181–193.
Senman, P. L. (2002). Cognitive processes in theory of mind tasks: Inhibition of attention and symbolic representation in young children. Available from http://wwwLib. Umi.com/Proquest/Dissertation/ Research.
Shahaeian, A., Nielsen, M., Peterson, C & Slaughter, V. (2014). Iranian Mothers’ Disciplinary Strategies and Theory of Mind in Children: A Focus on Belief Understanding. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 45(7), 1110-1123.
Slauter. V., & Repacholi, B. (2003). Introduction: Individual differences in theory of mind, in B. Repacholi & V. Slauter (eds.), Individual differences in theory of mind. (pp. 13-39). New York: Psychology Press.
Taylor, M., Carlson, S. M., Maring, B. L., Gerow, L., & Charley, C. M. (2004). The characteristics and correlates of fantasy in school-age children: Imaginary companions, impersonation, and social understanding. Developmental Psychology, 40(6), 1173–1187.
Thirion-Marissiaux, A. F., & Nader-Grosbois, N. (2008). Theory of mind "emotion", developmental characteristics and social understanding in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 29(5), 414-430.
Wellman, H. M., Phillips, A. T., & Rodriguez, T. (2000). Young children's understanding of perception, desire, and emotion. Child Development, 71(4), 895-912.
Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about belief: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children understands of deception. Cognition, 13(1), 103-128.