语言与儿童心理理论关系的一种新观点

语言与心理理论的关系是儿童研究领域的研究者们长期探讨的话题,大量的实验结果表明二者的确存在密切的关系,但具体机制尚未弄清。该文介绍了探讨二者关系的一种新思路,即把心理理论重铸为对认知灵活性的测量,来考察语言在心理理论中的作用。文中介绍了语言的标签效应对认知灵活性影响的实验证据,并预期了在心理理论任务中使用语言标签可能出现的结果。     

心理理论和语言能力的关系

心理理论和语言能力的关系已日益引起研究者们的关注.文章综述了以非人灵长类动物、正常儿童和特殊人群为对象进行的有关心理理论和语言关系的研究,从比较和发展的角度进行了理论分析.提出一定的语言能力水平也许是通过心理理论测试的前提条件,但二者有着不同的发展规律,并表现为复杂的共存关系.     

儿童绘画与语言关系的发展研究综述

儿童绘画与儿童语言的关系,是儿童绘画心理及符号认知发展研究中的重点和难点问题。文章在简要回顾儿童绘画心理相关研究的基础之上,从绘画与语言都是符号、二者在发生和发展过程中的相似性以及二者心理发展阶段的一致性等方面介绍了儿童绘画与语言相互关系的研究。这些研究的结果表明,不同符号系统之间联系的焦点在于意义,意义是沟通两个符号系统的纽带。儿童绘画与语言的关系随着儿童的发展而变化。文章还分析了这些研究中存在的不足并提出了今后研究的思路。     

4、5岁儿童一般语言能力和心理理论关系的纵向研究

为探明汉语儿童语言和心理理论的发展, 追踪二者的动态关系及相互作用的方向, 本研究以80名4、5岁儿童为研究对象, 纵向探查了前后相隔6个月的儿童的一般语言能力和心理理论的发展状况, 并运用交叉-滞后组相关分析初步探查了二者是否存在因果关系及可能的作用方向。结果表明：4~5岁是汉语儿童心理理论发展的重要时期, 语言在这一阶段也得到快速发展。交叉-滞后组相关分析发现了4岁儿童语言和心理理论因果关系的证据, 但随着年龄的增长, 语言对心理理论的前提基础作用有所减弱, 5岁儿童没有表现出这种因果关系。     

中小学生学业成绩、自我概念和动机定向之间关系的研究

综述了五十年代以来西方教育心理学界对中小学生的学业成就、能力知觉、控制知觉和动机定向之间关系的研究、研究结果表明;学生的学业成就、能力知觉（包括能力评价和能力情感）、控制知觉（包括不可知控制和内控－依赖他人）和动机定向之间的关系以不可知控制为中心,存在着不同程度的因果关系及发展差异．这个结论对如何在教学中提高学生的学习效率有着重要的理论和实践意义。     

对话环境与心理理论发展

大量研究表明,心理理论和语言之间存在着密切的关系,其中对话环境是研究的重要内容之一。纵观国内外关于微观的家庭对话环境和宏观的社会文化环境对儿童心理理论影响的最新研究,表明对话是儿童心理理论充分发展的基础。未来关于儿童心理理论发展的研究,主要包括扩大研究主题,改善研究工具和揭示研究机制等。     

心理理论和元认知的关系述评

近年来,心理理论和元认知的发展问题已成为发展心理学界关注的热点问题。关于心理理论和元认知的发展关系问题,研究者存在争议。本文从心理理论和元认知的综合研究视角出发,对二者的含义、主要研究方法和关系进行了分析,从而为未来的相关研究提供一种角度。     

成人依恋与心理理论的关系:认知融合与经验性回避的中介作用

为探究成人依恋、认知融合、经验性回避与心理理论的关系及其作用机制,研究者采用实验法和问卷法对312名成年人进行了测量。研究结果表明：（1）不安全的成人依恋负向预测心理理论;（2）经验性回避在成人依恋与心理理论之间起中介作用;（3）认知融合在成人依恋与心理理论之间不存在中介作用;（4）成人依恋的两种类型（依恋回避、依恋焦虑）呈现出不同的链式中介作用：认知融合与经验性回避在依恋回避与心理理论之间起部分中介作用,而在依恋焦虑与心理理论之间起完全中介作用。研究从心理灵活性的角度考察成人依恋与心理理论的关系及其作用机制,并探究接纳承诺训练在提升社会认知能力上的实践意义。     

程式知识与幼儿心理理论的发展关系

研究探查56位3－5岁幼儿的程式知识、接受性言语能力以及他们在假装认识、外表－事实区分、错误信念和表征变化等心理理论（Theory of mind,ToM)任务上的表现,着重探究程式知识、言语能力与幼儿对心理状态的认识之间的发展关系。结果表明：（1）排除年龄因素后,程式知识对幼儿关于错误信念的认识、假装－事实的区分和假装者信念的推测有显著影响,但对关于外表－事实区分的影响不显著;（2）排除年龄因素后,言语能力对幼儿在各种心理理论任务上的表现的影响不显著。     

亲子互动中游戏参与方式、情感交流和儿童心理理论的关系

本研究通过亲子互动游戏观察来考查亲子游戏参与方式、情感交流与儿童心理理论发展的关系。实验结果如下:第一,控制了年龄因素后,儿童的亲子游戏参与方式中的主动参与和建议游戏两种方式与儿童心理理论发展之间存在显著的相关;而对于母亲来说,指导游戏的参与方式和儿童心理理论发展存在显著相关。第二,控制了年龄因素之后,儿童情感交流方面的分享积极情感和心理理论发展之间存在显著相关。而母亲这方面的指标和儿童心理理论发展没有显著相关。文章对上述结果进行了分析讨论。     

Concurrent Relations Between Perspective-Taking Skills,Desire Understanding,and Internal-State Vocabulary

Recent studies suggest that there appears to be a similar developmental sequence in the understanding of mental states in both internal-state language and in standard theory-of-mind tasks. These findings suggest possible developmental relations between children's ability to talk and think about the mind. Two experiments investigated the concurrent relations between internal-state vocabulary and theory-of-mind abilities in 30-month-old toddlers. In Experiment 1, children's internal-state language vocabulary was significantly and specifically related to their concurrent understanding of others' visual and emotional perspectives and was less strongly related to desire understanding. Experiment 2 replicated and extended these findings by examining the link between internal-state vocabulary and visual perspective-taking and comprehension of own versus other's desire, controlling for general verbal skills. Children with a more developed internal-state vocabulary performed better on perspective-taking tasks. These findings suggest that labeling and reasoning about mental states are related abilities at the early stages of theory-of-mind development.     

How language relates to belief,desire, and emotion understanding

Two experiments examined syntax and semantics as correlates of theory-of-mind (ToM). In Experiment 1 children’s language was examined at 3 years of age in relation to ToM at 3, 3.5, 4, and 5.5 years. Semantics predicted unique variance in later belief understanding but not desire understanding. Syntax did not explain unique variance in belief or desire. In Experiment 2 two measures of syntax and a measure of semantics were used with 65 3–5-year-olds. The syntax measures tested children’s understanding of word order and embedded clauses. They were related to false belief, but contrary to some predictions, were also related to emotion recognition. Performance on language control tasks with low syntactic demands correlated equally well with false belief. In both experiments performance on the syntax and semantics tasks was highly inter-correlated. We argue that ToM is related to general language ability rather than syntax or semantics per se.     

Self‐Regulation: Relations with Theory of Mind and Social Behaviour

It is argued that self‐regulation skill is necessary both for displaying constructive behaviour and for controlling negative social behaviour, and self‐regulation might affect social behaviours by increasing the ability to understand others' minds. In this research, in order to examine different aspects of self‐regulation and their similarities and differences in terms of their relations with other constructs, we focused on both effortful control and executive function and investigated their concurrent associations with socially competent and aggressive behaviours and theory of mind (ToM). The participants were 212 preschool children in Turkey. We assessed executive functions with behavioural measures and effortful control with mother reports. We used six tasks for comprehensive assessment of mental state understanding. Children's social competency and aggressive behaviour were assessed with teacher reports. Structural equation modelling results showed that when age and receptive language were controlled, ToM was significantly associated with social competence but not aggressive behaviour. Both effortful control and executive functions were significantly related to social competency and ToM; the pathways from each self‐regulation skill were similar in strength. ToM was linked with social competence, but it did not have a mediating role in the relations of self‐regulation with social competence. The findings highlighted the importance of self‐regulation for socio‐cognitive and social development in the preschool years. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the relationship between trait and ability emotional intelligence and theory of mind

Theoretical links between emotional knowledge and theory of mind (ToM) have previously been proposed. This study investigates this relationship using measures of both ability and trait emotional intelligence (EI). Our sample comprised 194 children, divided into two age groups (5–7 years and 8–10 years). Children participated in measures of false belief understanding, advanced tests of ToM, ability EI and trait EI, and a standardized language assessment. For both age groups, we found that only ability EI was related to false belief understanding. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that the understanding and managing branches of ability EI predicted unique variance in false belief understanding once controlling for age, language, and the other ability EI branches. Trait EI failed to display any association with false belief understanding. Ability and trait EI were associated with more advanced ToM tasks undertaken only by the older sample. These results offer support for previous research that has found a relationship between emotion perception and labelling and ToM. They also provide new knowledge: (1) higher order emotional knowledge, measured by ability EI, is associated with advanced ToM; and (2) emotional self efficacy, as measured by trait EI, is also important in advanced ToM. Furthermore, they provide the first account of associations between standardized EI measures and ToM.     

Executive Functions and Theory-of-Mind Among Deaf Children: Different Routes to Understanding Other Minds?

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of executive functions (EF) in theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in deaf children and adolescents. Four groups of deaf children aged 7–16 years, with different language backgrounds at home and at school, that is, bilingually instructed native signers, oralist-instructed native signers, and two groups of bilingually instructed late signers from Sweden and Estonia, respectively, were given eight ToM and four EF measures. The bilingually instructed native signers performed at a significantly higher level on the ToM measures than the other groups of deaf children. On the EF measures, there were no significant differences found between any of the groups, with one exception—the Swedish bilingual late signers had a significantly shorter average reaction time on the go-no-go inhibition task than the oralist native signers and the Estonian bilingual late signers. However, the Swedish children's better EF performance was not mirrored in better performance on ToM tasks. Our results indicate that despite all deaf children's good general cognitive abilities, there were still differences in their performance on ToM tasks that need to be explained in other terms. Thus, whatever the cause of late signers' difficulties with ToM, poor EF-skills seem to be of minor importance.     

Relations between theory of mind,mental state language and social adjustment in primary school children

The present study investigated the concurrent relations between theory of mind (ToM), mental state language (MSL) and social adjustment (assessed in terms of emotional instability, prosocial behaviour and aggressiveness) in a sample of 150 children between 8 and 11 years of age. The results showed no correlation between the performance on false belief tasks and the frequency of MSL in a narrative task. False belief understanding was unrelated with all measures of social adjustment, whereas the children’s use of MSL was negatively correlated with emotional instability and aggressiveness, above and beyond the influence of receptive language ability. These findings suggest that having a ToM ability is different from spontaneously using it during non-interactive narrative tasks, and that the two ToM measures are differently related to social competence in primary school children.     

Executive function and theory of mind: Predictive relations from ages 2 to 4

Despite robust associations between children's theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) skills, longitudinal studies examining this association remain scarce. In a socially diverse sample of 122 children (seen at ages 2, 3, and 4), this study examined (a) developmental stability of associations between ToM, EF, verbal ability, and social disadvantage; (b) continuity and change in ToM and EF; and (c) predictive relations between ToM and EF. Verbal ability and social disadvantage independently predicted changes in EF (but not ToM). Task scores improved with age and showed stable individual differences. The authors examined predictive relations between ToM and EF using partial correlations (controlling for age and verbal ability) and hierarchical regressions (that also controlled for social disadvantage and initial ToM and EF). The findings provide only partial support for the view that ToM is a prerequisite for EF but stronger support for the proposal that EF facilitates children's performance on ToM tasks.     

聋儿的心理理论发展特点及影响因素

目前,探究聋儿的心理理论（TheoryofMind,ToM）发展特点多从三个方面进行：一是分析聋儿与正常儿童及自闭症儿童ToM水平的差异;二是比较聋父母聋儿、口语聋儿及正常父母聋儿的ToM发展差异;三是分析聋儿对不同心理状态的理解水平。此外,对聋儿ToM发展影响因素的讨论,多是从聋儿交往、语言、训练等角度进行的