ABSTRACT

First-order and advanced theory of mind (ToM and AToM), and their structures and relations were investigated in 229 children aged 5–8 years. ToM was assessed using 6 tasks from the first-order ToM scale, while AToM was measured using an 18-item battery (higher-order false-belief understanding; strange stories; faux pas test; eyes test; interpretation of ambiguous figures). A confirmatory factor analysis replicated a structural AToM model with three distinct abilities: social reasoning, reasoning about ambiguity, and recognizing transgressions of social norms. After controlling for children’s inhibition and language skills, no significant associations were found between the diverse AToM factors. ToM was related to all aspects of AToM, but the correlations were only weak to moderate, suggesting that AToM is a construct in its own right. Substantial progress in AToM was made during early elementary school, showing that theory-of-mind development is not confined to the preschool years.

摘要

研究了229名5至8岁儿童的一阶和高级心智理论（ToM和AToM）及其结构和关系。使用一阶ToM量表中的6个任务评估了ToM，同时使用18个项目的电池（高阶错误信念理解，奇怪的故事，faux pas检验，眼睛测试，模棱两可的解释）对AToM进行了评估。验证性因素分析复制了具有三个不同能力的结构化AToM模型：社会推理，歧义推理和识别违反社会规范的能力。在控制了孩子的抑制力和语言能力之后，没有发现各种AToM因素之间的显着关联。ToM与AToM的各个方面都相关，但相关性只是弱到中等，这表明AToM本身就是一种构造。