Study On The Relationship Between Prosocial Behavior And Theory Of Mind Among Moderate Mental Retarded Children

Children’s social and cognitive development are two domain unfailing researcharea of developmental psychology. Prosocial behavior is one critical aspect ofsociality, as theory of mind to cognition, both of them play significant roles inchildren’s socialization. A number of researches focused on normal children’sprosocial behavior and theory of mind had been put into practice, however, researcheson mental retarded children in this area are relatively few, especially on therelationship of this two aspects.Thus, the relationship between prosocial behavior andtheory of mind of mental retarded children need to be revealed.This research investigated83moderate mental retarded children aged from7to15years old，used a method of experiment combination with questionnaire to studythe developmental status of mental retarded children’s prosocial behavior and theoryof mind, with the aim of investigating possible links between the two aspects. Basedon this research，we can concluded that:(1)In general, the development of mental retarded childre’ns prosocial behavioris increasing with age. Among the four kinds of typical prosocial behavior,“helping” is in the highest developmental level, followed by "shari"ng and"cooperation","comforting" is in the lowest level. There is no significant genderdifference of mental retarded children’s prosocial behavior.(2)Mothers and teachers assessed each mental retarded children by using thestrengths and difficulties questionnaire. The mean scores rated by mothers werehigher than those by teachers, but the difference is not remarkable. These scores weresignificant positive correlated with the level of mental retarded children’s prosocialbehavior which was performed in experiments. (3)In general, the development of mental retarded children’s theory of mind isincreasing with age.10to12years old is the key developmental peirod. There is nosignificant gender difference of mental retarded children’s theory of mind.(4)According to experiments, prosocial behavior and theory of mind of mentalretarded children were significant positive correlated. The level of theory of mind cansigniifcantly predicted mental retarded children’s prosocial response in expeirmentalcontext.(5)The mean scores of prosocial behavior and theory of mind were moderatelysigniifcant positive correlated rated by teachers. The level of theory of mind cansigniifcantly predicted mental retarded children’s prosocial behavior rated by teachers.(6)Mental retarded children’s four typical prosocial behavior were significantpositive correlated with theory of mind. The level of theory of mind can signiifcantlypredicted mental retarded children，s four typical prosocial behavior.