Emotion versus cognition: differential pathways to theory of mind for children with high versus low callous‐unemotional traits

Abstract

Background: Theory of mind (ToM) serves as a foundation for developing social cognition. Developmental theory suggests that early emotion understanding supports the development of ToM, but few studies have tested this question within longitudinal designs. Additionally, children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits directly challenge this theory as they appear to develop intact ToM despite deficits in emotion understanding. Inhibitory control is proposed as one possible compensatory mechanism for ToM development in children with high CU traits. Methods: We examined emotion understanding and inhibitory control at age 3 as predictors of ToM at age 6 and tested whether these pathways were different in children with high versus low levels of CU traits. Multimethod data included observations of child emotion understanding and inhibitory control and parent reports of CU traits drawn from a prospective, longitudinal study (N = 240, 48% female). Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, emotion understanding at age 3 significantly predicted ToM at age 6 only for children with low CU traits. Although there was a significant interaction between inhibitory control and CU traits in relation to later ToM, the simple slopes were not significant. Conclusions: We find prospective longitudinal evidence that emotion understanding is a developmental precursor of ToM. However, this pathway was not evident in children with high CU traits. Future research is needed to further explore potential mechanisms by which children with CU traits develop ToM with a potential focus on higher-order cognitive skills.

Low social affiliation predicts increases in callous‐unemotional behaviors in early childhood

“…Second, twin studies may not be representative of nontwin populations. However, the means and standard deviations of our CU traits measure are similar to those reported in nontwin samples of the same age (Satlof‐Bedrick, Waller, & Olson, 2019). Third, the BRS and IBR coding schemes included a single item that assessed for social fearfulness, which runs counter to theoretical models that propose low social affiliation and fearlessness as independent and unique risk factors for CU behaviors (Waller & Wagner, 2019).…”

Development of cool and hot theory of mind and cool and hot inhibitory control abilities from 3.5 to 6.5 years of age

“…Put differently, the development of these two facets of ToM would be interrelated such that hot ToM abilities might predict later cool ToM abilities [ 34 , 35 ]. However, the developmental dynamic of cool and hot ToM might be different in atypically developing children and other critical abilities such as IC could favor the development of cool ToM [ 57 ]. For instance, children with callous-unemotional traits develop efficient cool ToM abilities thanks to their IC abilities, despite having difficulties in hot ToM.…”

Initial Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Limited Prosocial Emotions Questionnaire (LPEQ)

“…Thus, the LPEQ may serve as valid assessment of LPE in boys as well as girls for whom very little research has been conducted (Georgiou et al, 2019; D. J. Hawes, Kimonis, et al, 2019; Satlof-Bedrick et al, 2019). Similarly, support for invariance across informant sex also emerged, suggesting that the LPEQ is also a valid assessment for male and female caregivers.…”