Children’s understanding of social world is dependent on the development of emotion knowledge (EK) and theory of mind (ToM), two intertwined abilities in early childhood (Eggum et al., 2011; O’Brien et al., 2011). Literature suggests that language has powerful connections with the development of these abilities (Milligan et al., 2007; Strand et al., 2016), however the direction of effects among language, EK, and ToM performances in the first years of life is still debated. The innovative purpose of this study was to test the effects of EK and language on young children’s ToM scores within a single comprehensive model, while taking into account age and gender. Participants were 147 children from 24 to 48 months (Mage= 35.5 months; SD=6.74 months). In the nursery school and preschool context, children were directly administered the AKT (Denham, 1986) as a measure of EK, two ToM tasks (the Diverse-desire Task by Wellman & Liu, 2004, and the True Belief Task by Wellman, 1990), and the PPVT-R (Stella et al., 2000) as a measure of language. Analyses were performed via structural equation modelling techniques. Data revealed a good fit of the model (χ2=1.31, RMSEA= .016, NFI = .976, NNFI = .982, CFI = .983) and it revealed that both children’s EK (β=.31, p=<.001) and language abilities (β=.30, p=<.001) had direct positive effects on ToM scores, while EK and language significantly co-varied (β=.74, p=<.001). Furthermore, age revealed statistically significant direct effects on EK (β=.81, p=<.001), language (β=.65, p=<.001), and ToM (β=.43, p=<.001). No statistically significant results were found in relation to gender with the target variables. The findings show the directions of relations among EK, language, and ToM and highlight the meaningful role of language in early childhood, supporting the impact of conversational studies carried out to promote social cognition skills in nursery schools and preschools.

Conte, E., Ornaghi, V., Grazzani, I., Pepe, A. (2019). The association between emotion knowledge and theory of mind in early years: The role of language abilities. In 19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology - Abstract Book (pp.243-243).

The association between emotion knowledge and theory of mind in early years: The role of language abilities

Conte, E
Primo
;
Ornaghi, V
Secondo
;
Grazzani, I
Penultimo
;
Pepe, A
Ultimo
2019

Abstract

Children’s understanding of social world is dependent on the development of emotion knowledge (EK) and theory of mind (ToM), two intertwined abilities in early childhood (Eggum et al., 2011; O’Brien et al., 2011). Literature suggests that language has powerful connections with the development of these abilities (Milligan et al., 2007; Strand et al., 2016), however the direction of effects among language, EK, and ToM performances in the first years of life is still debated. The innovative purpose of this study was to test the effects of EK and language on young children’s ToM scores within a single comprehensive model, while taking into account age and gender. Participants were 147 children from 24 to 48 months (Mage= 35.5 months; SD=6.74 months). In the nursery school and preschool context, children were directly administered the AKT (Denham, 1986) as a measure of EK, two ToM tasks (the Diverse-desire Task by Wellman & Liu, 2004, and the True Belief Task by Wellman, 1990), and the PPVT-R (Stella et al., 2000) as a measure of language. Analyses were performed via structural equation modelling techniques. Data revealed a good fit of the model (χ2=1.31, RMSEA= .016, NFI = .976, NNFI = .982, CFI = .983) and it revealed that both children’s EK (β=.31, p=<.001) and language abilities (β=.30, p=<.001) had direct positive effects on ToM scores, while EK and language significantly co-varied (β=.74, p=<.001). Furthermore, age revealed statistically significant direct effects on EK (β=.81, p=<.001), language (β=.65, p=<.001), and ToM (β=.43, p=<.001). No statistically significant results were found in relation to gender with the target variables. The findings show the directions of relations among EK, language, and ToM and highlight the meaningful role of language in early childhood, supporting the impact of conversational studies carried out to promote social cognition skills in nursery schools and preschools.
abstract + slide
social cognition, emotion knowledge, theory of mind, language, toddlers, preschoolers, structural equation modeling
English
19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology
2019
19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology - Abstract Book
2019
243
243
none
Conte, E., Ornaghi, V., Grazzani, I., Pepe, A. (2019). The association between emotion knowledge and theory of mind in early years: The role of language abilities. In 19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology - Abstract Book (pp.243-243).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/241357
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