Evaluation of theory of mind: A study with students from public and private schools

• Autor(a) principal: RODRIGUES, Marisa Cosenza
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: PELISSON, Maíze Carla Costa, SILVEIRA, Flávia Fraga, RIBEIRO, Nathalie Nehmy, SILVA, Renata de Lourdes Miguel da
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng; por
• Título da fonte: Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/estpsi/article/view/8161
• topic: Cognitive development; Philosophy of mind; Preschool students.; Desenvolvimento cognitivo; Filosofia da mente; Pré-escolares

This study assessed the development of the theory of mind in preschool children aged 4 and 5 years old, along with potential interactions among gender, age and whether children were from private or public schools. A total of 178 children (91 students from public schools and 87 from private schools) participated in the study. After securing ethical compliance with applicable guidelines, we applied the Theory-of-Mind-Scale. There was no evidence of diferences regarding gender (p < 0.38). Differences were found in regard to age (p < 0.001) and whether students were from private or public schools (p < 0.008). Five-year-old children performed better on the scale and children from private schools also performed better than those from public schools. The results show that the scale was sufficiently sensitive to capture the evolutionary sequence of the theory of mind and the relevance of socio-cultural factors. Because research in this field is still incipient, we emphasize the importance of further studies conducted with larger samples.