{"title":"Advanced theory of mind and children’s prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood: A training study","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106012","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Children’s advanced theory of mind (AToM) is concurrently associated with their prosocial lie-telling. However, the causal link between AToM and prosocial lie-telling has not yet been demonstrated. To address this gap, the current study adopted a training paradigm and investigated the role of AToM in children’s prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. A total of 66 9- and 10-year-old children who did not demonstrate any prosocial lie-telling in a disappointment gift paradigm at the baseline were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental group (<em>n</em> = 32) or an active control group (<em>n</em> = 34). The experimental group underwent a conversation-based training program of four sessions. The results showed significantly greater gains in AToM at the posttest for the experimental group children compared with the control group children, controlling for family socioeconomic status, children’s literacy score, working memory, and inhibition. More important, the experimental group children were more likely to tell prosocial lies than the control group, even after controlling for the pretest AToM and other covariates. However, the training effects faded at the 6-month follow-up test after the training’s completion. These findings provide the first evidence for the causal role of AToM in the development of prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. The fade-out effect is discussed in the context of educational interventions.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096524001528/pdfft?md5=af8606ec8d18d01d93fbc6c22ef024e2&pid=1-s2.0-S0022096524001528-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096524001528","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Children’s advanced theory of mind (AToM) is concurrently associated with their prosocial lie-telling. However, the causal link between AToM and prosocial lie-telling has not yet been demonstrated. To address this gap, the current study adopted a training paradigm and investigated the role of AToM in children’s prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. A total of 66 9- and 10-year-old children who did not demonstrate any prosocial lie-telling in a disappointment gift paradigm at the baseline were recruited and randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 32) or an active control group (n = 34). The experimental group underwent a conversation-based training program of four sessions. The results showed significantly greater gains in AToM at the posttest for the experimental group children compared with the control group children, controlling for family socioeconomic status, children’s literacy score, working memory, and inhibition. More important, the experimental group children were more likely to tell prosocial lies than the control group, even after controlling for the pretest AToM and other covariates. However, the training effects faded at the 6-month follow-up test after the training’s completion. These findings provide the first evidence for the causal role of AToM in the development of prosocial lie-telling in middle childhood. The fade-out effect is discussed in the context of educational interventions.
儿童的高级心智理论(AToM)与他们的亲社会说谎行为同时存在。然而,高级心智理论与亲社会性说谎之间的因果关系尚未得到证实。为了填补这一空白,本研究采用了一种训练范式,调查 AToM 在儿童中期亲社会性说谎中的作用。本研究共招募了 66 名 9 至 10 岁的儿童,他们在失望礼物范式中没有表现出任何亲社会说谎行为,研究人员将他们随机分配到实验组(32 人)或积极对照组(34 人)。实验组接受以对话为基础的训练计划,共进行四次训练。结果显示,在控制了家庭社会经济状况、儿童识字分数、工作记忆和抑制能力等因素后,实验组儿童的 AToM 在测试后明显高于对照组儿童。更重要的是,实验组儿童比对照组儿童更有可能说亲社会的谎言,即使在控制了测试前的 AToM 和其他协变量之后也是如此。然而,培训效果在培训结束后 6 个月的跟踪测试中逐渐消失。这些发现首次证明了 AToM 在儿童中期亲社会性说谎能力发展中的因果作用。我们将在教育干预的背景下讨论淡出效应。
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology is an excellent source of information concerning all aspects of the development of children. It includes empirical psychological research on cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. In addition, the journal periodically publishes Special Topic issues.