ABSTRACT

The current research aims at constructing a developmentally sensitive mindreading scale (i.e., a battery of tasks measuring different aspects of mindreading ability in children from 1 to 3.5 years of age). Over 300 Polish children were tested at six-month intervals with 48 different tasks designed to measure mindreading ability (for a total of six measurement occasions, T1-T6; N_T1 = 357; M_ageT1 = 52,30 weeks; SD = 1,73; 201 (56%) boys, 156 (44%) girls). Using latent trait modelling, a latent mindreading factor was established. Support was found for satisfactory reliability of the scale that ultimately consisted of 31 tasks. The tasks were age-matched, as the information curves for latent factors for each of the six age ranges and the reliability of the composite constructs were mostly acceptable. The validity was also confirmed using correlational analyses, and the continuous development of mindreading was observed over the tested age ranges: from joint attention, through using gestures in communication and visual perspective taking, to false-belief understanding. The proposed scale is suitable for use in the investigation of the general pattern of the development of, and individual differences in, mindreading ability.

摘要

目前的研究旨在构建一个对发展敏感的读心量表（即一系列任务，测量 1 至 3.5 岁儿童读心能力的不同方面）。超过 300 名波兰儿童每六个月接受一次测试，测试了 48 项不同的任务，旨在测量读心能力（总共六个测量场合，T1-T6；N _T1  = 357；M _ageT1  = 52.30 周；SD = 1,73; 201 (56%) 名男孩，156 (44%) 名女孩)。使用潜在特征建模，建立了潜在的读心因子。最终由 31 项任务组成的量表的令人满意的可靠性得到了支持。这些任务是年龄匹配的，因为六个年龄范围中每一个的潜在因素的信息曲线和复合结构的可靠性大多是可以接受的。相关性分析也证实了有效性，并且在测试的年龄范围内观察到读心术的持续发展：从共同注意力，通过在交流和视觉视角采取中使用手势，到错误信念的理解。建议的量表适用于研究读心能力发展的一般模式和个体差异。