A Study On The Development Of Primary School Children's Theory Of Mind And Its Relation To Aggressive Behavior

In recent years, researchers pay more attention to the development of children's theory of mind (ToM). Most studies found that about 4-year-old children can pass the first-order false belief task and 7- to 8-year old children can pass the second-order false belief task. According to the Life-Span Perspective, the development of theory of mind is a life-span task. The ability of theory of mind will still develop after preschool period. However, we know little about the development of primary school children's theory of mind. Further research on primary school children's theory of mind should be carried out. Moreover, the relationship between theory of mind and aggressive behavior attracts researchers' attention. But different results were found. Some researchers found theory of mind ability of aggressive children is significantly worse than non-aggressive children's. However, some others found the difference did not reach the significant level.A comprehensive literature review is made with regard to the important empirical findings in the present study. On the base of analysis on previous studies, two studies were present. Study 1 administered the ToM Task which include the Faux Pas Task and the White Lie Task, and investigated the development of 90 primary school children's (30 in grade 2, 30 in grade 4, 30 in grade 6) theory of mind ability. In Study 2, 26 aggressive children and 26 non-aggressive children were drawn out and presented the ToM Tasks. The ToM ability between the aggressive children and the non-aggressive children was compared.The results showed:1. Overall, the primary school children's ability of theory of mind developed apparently with age, and different development trajectory was found in the faux pas task and the white lie task.2. Significant gender difference in the development of theory of mind is found. Girls' performance is significantly better than boys'. The developing speed of theory of mind is different in boys and girls.3. Overall, significant difference is found in the ability of theory of mind between aggressive and non-aggressive children. The latter achieved higher scores than the former.4. No significant difference is found in the ability of theory of mind between indirect-aggressive children , verbal-aggressive children and non-aggressive...