To fully participate in the human information-sharing ecosystem that allows for efficient knowledge dissemination and creation, children need to be able to teach others effectively. The current research is the first to investigate links between children’s teaching abilities and their developing theory of mind abilities in a non-Western sample. In a sample of 4- to 6-year-old Singaporean children (N = 49), we examined relations between specific components of theory of mind abilities and teaching ability on a social cognitive task. We found that both false belief understanding and the ability to make mental state inferences in a teaching context were associated with effective teaching even after controlling for age and language ability. These findings provide a nuanced picture of the links between mental state reasoning and teaching ability. More broadly, they provide evidence that these links extend beyond Western cultures and generalize to social-cognitive teaching contexts.

为了充分参与能够有效传播和创造知识的人类信息共享生态系统，儿童需要能够有效地教别人。目前的研究是第一个在非西方样本中调查儿童教学能力与其发展的心理能力理论之间的联系。在 4 至 6 岁新加坡儿童样本中（N = 49），我们研究了心理能力理论的特定组成部分与社会认知任务的教学能力之间的关系。我们发现，即使在控制了年龄和语言能力之后，错误信念理解和在教学环境中进行心理状态推断的能力也与有效教学相关。这些发现为精神状态推理和教学能力之间的联系提供了细致入微的图景。更广泛地说，它们提供的证据表明，这些联系超越了西方文化，并普遍适用于社会认知教学环境。