Abstract
Evidence that conversations about the mind foster improvements in theory of mind (ToM) is growing, but their efficacy in typically developing school-aged children has yet to be demonstrated. To address this gap, we designed a conversation-based training program for 9- and 10-year-olds and measured its effectiveness by pre- and post-test comparisons of performance on age-appropriate ToM tasks for two groups (matched at pre-test for gender, age, socioeconomic background, verbal ability, reading comprehension, executive functions, and ToM) who were assigned to either the intervention condition (. n=. 45) or an active control condition (. n=. 46). The intervention group showed significantly greater gains in ToM than the control group; this contrast was stable over 2. months, and (in a subsample) the improvement in ToM was independent of any changes in executive functions. Implications for the role of conversations about the mind in children's mental state reasoning are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 52-67 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |
Volume | 126 |
Early online date | 31 May 2014 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2014 |
Keywords
- Conversational approach
- Executive functions
- Intervention
- Maintenance
- Middle childhood
- Theory of mind
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology