Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Measurement, Predictors, and Consequences.

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

How children come to understand others’ minds or ‘theory of mind’ has fascinated developmental scientists for four decades. However, the majority of studies on theory of mind have centered around early childhood, and more specifically, the preschool years. The past decade has witnessed a steady increase in work that extends the developmental scope of research on theory of mind beyond the narrow confines of early childhood into previously neglected developmental territory: middle childhood and adolescence. Middle childhood and adolescence provide an ideal context for research on children’s understanding of others’ minds because these developmental periods are characterized by ongoing neural and cognitive change as well as increasing social complexity, overlapping with compulsory primary and secondary education in most ‘Western’ nations (OECD, 2018; Del Giudice, 2014; Richardson et al., 2018). This symposium brings together four studies focused on theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence. Together these studies demonstrate how research on theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence provides an opportunity to reconsider how theory of mind is conceptualized and measured, test traditional theoretical accounts of theory of mind (which are based largely on data from early childhood), and examine how theory of mind contributes to and is shaped by social experiences in middle childhood and adolescence.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chair

• Rory T. Devine, University of Birmingham

Individual Presentations

• Individual Differences in Advanced Theory of Mind: A Systematic Review of Measures and Social Consequences. - Presenting Author: Christopher Osterhaus, University of Vechta; Non-Presenting Author: Sandra Bosacki, Brock University

• Children’s and Adults’ Judgments about the Time Duration of Mental States - Presenting Author: Hannah Jean Kramer, Queen’s University Belfast; Non-Presenting Author: Hyowon Gweon, Stanford University; Non-Presenting Author: Jamil Zaki, Stanford University; Non-Presenting Author: Kristin Hansen Lagattuta, University of California - Davis

• Theory of Mind Development in the School Context: The role of teachers’ mental-state conversations. - Presenting Author: Serena Lecce, University of Pavia; Non-Presenting Author: Federica Bianco, University of Bergamo; Non-Presenting Author: Luca Ronchi, University of Pavia

• Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Links with Teacher- and Peer-rated Social Competence. - Presenting Author: Rory T. Devine, University of Birmingham; Non-Presenting Author: Imogen Grumley-Traynor, University of Birmingham; Non-Presenting Author: Irene Luque Aguilera, University of Birmingham; Non-Presenting Author: Tom Willetts, University of Birmingham