The Development of Advanced Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study From Age 5 to 10 Years.
Saved in:
| Title: | The Development of Advanced Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study From Age 5 to 10 Years. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Osterhaus, Christopher (AUTHOR), Koerber, Susanne (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Child Development. Sep/Oct2021, Vol. 92 Issue 5, p1872-1888. 17p. 1 Diagram, 5 Charts, 2 Graphs. |
| Subjects: | Philosophy of mind in children, Cognition in children, Germans, Psychology of school children, Human information processing in children, Intellect, Children's language, Social perception in children |
| Abstract: | This 5‐year longitudinal study investigated advanced theory‐of‐mind (AToM) development in 161 German 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds (89 females, 72 males). Core aspects of AToM developed nonlinearly, with children reaching a milestone at the age of 7 years, around when they attained the conceptual insight that mental states can be recursive. In late elementary school, a multicomponent battery was used. Performance on many aspects of AToM was predicted by information‐processing skills (intelligence and language at 6 years), but not by the age when children acquired the basic conceptual insight; only some naturalistic, social‐interpretative tasks were correlated with children's age at acquisition. This study documents significant developmental progressions in middle‐childhood AToM and suggests that different mechanisms may underlie diverse aspects of social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Child Development is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
|
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Login for full access.
|
|
| Abstract: | This 5‐year longitudinal study investigated advanced theory‐of‐mind (AToM) development in 161 German 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds (89 females, 72 males). Core aspects of AToM developed nonlinearly, with children reaching a milestone at the age of 7 years, around when they attained the conceptual insight that mental states can be recursive. In late elementary school, a multicomponent battery was used. Performance on many aspects of AToM was predicted by information‐processing skills (intelligence and language at 6 years), but not by the age when children acquired the basic conceptual insight; only some naturalistic, social‐interpretative tasks were correlated with children's age at acquisition. This study documents significant developmental progressions in middle‐childhood AToM and suggests that different mechanisms may underlie diverse aspects of social cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 00093920 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/cdev.13627 |
