Theory of mind and loneliness: Effects of a conversation‐based training at school

Abstract

Conversation‐based training programmes are known to be effective in enhancing theory of mind (ToM). The possible consequences of such training programmes on the understanding of other constructs have rarely been investigated. The present research aimed to evaluate the effects of two different types of conversation‐based training on ToM and loneliness. Two hundred and ten fourth and fifth graders (52% boys; Mage = 9.66 years, SD = 0.85), randomly divided into two groups (ToM and no‐ToM training condition), were administered at a 5‐week intervention. ToM and loneliness were measured before and twice after the intervention (1 week and 2 months later). Linear mixed‐effects models showed that, soon after the intervention, children in the ToM training condition obtained significantly higher ToM scores and significantly lower loneliness scores compared to children in the no‐ToM training condition. Nonetheless, at the follow‐up, ToM and loneliness scores were not significantly different for the two training conditions. These findings suggest that a relatively short intervention based on group discussion of mental states is sufficient to improve mentalizing abilities and to tackle feelings of loneliness among fourth and fifth graders in the short but not in the long term.

The Development of Advanced Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Study From Age 5 to 10 Years

“…In particular, children begin to acquire morecomplex forms of false-belief understanding (Perner & Wimmer, 1985), they become more proficient in interpreting complex social situations (Baron-Cohen, O'Riordan, Stone, Jones, & Plaisted, 1999;Bosacki & Astington, 1999;Devine & Hughes, 2013;Happé, 1994), and they improve their ability to interpret mental states and emotions from facial expressions (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001). Many of these aspects of advanced ToM (AToM) are closely linked to children's social competences, including feelings of loneliness or the ability to form friendships (Bosacki, Moreira, Sitnik, Andrews, & Talwar, 2020;Caputi, Cugnata, & Brombin, 2020;Devine, White, Ensor, & Hughes, 2016;Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, & de Rosnay, 2015;Koerber & Osterhaus, 2020;Slaughter, Imuta, Peterson, & Henry, 2015). Despite its relevance for children's everyday experiences, there is a paucity of longitudinal work that narrowly tracks the development of AToM in middle childhood across multiple time points and over extensive periods of time.…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of social cognition training success across the healthy lifespan

“…In the lowest age bracket, thirteen studies investigated socio-cognitive training in children 27 – 39 . Eight studies were conducted in Europe 28 , 30 , 33 – 37 , 39 , two studies in The United States of America 27 , 29 , one in Canada 38 , and two studies in Asia 31 , 32 . The mean age of the investigated populations in this age range was 5.98 years (range 43–60 months).…”

“…The mean age of the investigated populations in this age range was 5.98 years (range 43–60 months). N = 10 studies reported training effects in kindergarten age (range:43–60 months); n = 3 studies included older children attending elementary school (range 7–9 years) 34 , 35 , 39 . Socio-cognitive training in both groups was labelled as either ToM-training, storytelling, or metacognitive intervention with the overall aim for children to further develop socio-cognitive skills using tasks where they had to reflect on other person’s mental states and beliefs.…”

“…Two to four training sessions per week were conducted 29 – 33 over five 27 to 20 weeks 28 . Training for children attending elementary school lasted 40–50 min to resemble the duration of a standard school lesson, and training was conducted up to five times per week 34 , 35 , 39 . Kindergarten age children participated in the training either individually 33 or in small groups of up to five children 27 – 32 , children in elementary school attended the training in small groups.…”

Advanced theory of mind in children with mild intellectual disability and deaf or hard of hearing children: A two‐year longitudinal study in middle childhood

“…The development of recursive reasoning (i.e., second-and higher-order false belief) and other linguistic measures of AToM (such as the strange stories; Happ e, 1994) have been related to diverse cognitive and social consequences, including children's ability to form friendships (Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, & de Rosnay, 2015), their feelings of loneliness (Caputi, Cugnata, & Brombin, 2021;Koerber & Osterhaus, 2020), and academic performance, including children's reading comprehension (Lecce, Bianco, & Hughes, 2021). Individual differences in performance on social-interpretative measures have been associated with social outcomes, as well as children's everyday social experiences and their academic functioning.…”