A Cross-Cultural Study Of Development Of ToM Of 3～6 Years Old Muslim And Han Children

The research of children's theory of mind has become a focus of developmental psychology nearly two decades. "Theory of Mind" does not simply mean a general scientific theory, but refers to the capability that individual could understand others' mental state by certain knowledge systems and predict and explain other's behaviors accordingly. Theory of mind is an effective social cognitive tool. It enables children to adapt to the social environment more effectively. It is the basic substance of individual as to exist in society. As foundation of children's social cognitive, the cultural factor of ToM is an important variable. Therefore, we need to do amount of cross-cultural research to draw general conclusions.The thesis use social and cultural structure theory as its theory foundation. This thesis adopted the classical ToM test for cross-cultural research, examined Muslim and Han children's ToM development level in Ningxia region, so as to gain factual information about ToM of children's whom come from different cultural backgrounds. The results are as follows:1. There are no striking differences about ToM development between Muslim and Han children.2. Age is the main factor of children's ToM. Muslim and Han children's ToM enhanced along with the age growth, and the whole trend is ascendant synchronously. However, the development speeds of Muslim children are lower than Han children.3. At the development speed of ToM, the Diaspora children are slower than kindergarteners.4. The ToM development of Diaspora Muslim girl is slow.Through further analysis, the author suggests that nation fusion is main factor for synchronous development of the Muslim and Han children. The shortage of kindergarten education is the crucial factor for Diaspora children's ToM development speed. In addition, parental education, family rearing styles also influence children's ToM development speed. Traditional discrimination about female is the important factors which lead to Diaspora Muslim girl's ToM development speed slow.In view of the above reasons, the author proposes the vigorous development of the kindergarten education in minority areas is the effective way to promote children's ToM. It is necessary to excavate the potentiality of games, stories discussion, conversation, etc. In addition, good family atmosphere is an important guarantee of children's ToM development. Moreover, the attention to Muslim girls' education is crucial to their ToM development.