Explorando as relações entre teoria da mente, linguagem e competência social: um estudo com alunos do ensino fundamental

Abstract

The theory of mind is an interdisciplinary field of research that studies the ability to predict and explain one‘s own, as well as other person‘s actions through mental states. In the context of Psychology, the possible interfaces between this ability and relevant aspects of child development, such as language and social development, have recently been investigated. Aiming to contribute to a greater understanding of these relationships, the present study objective is to explore the possible relationships between the development of theory of mind, mental language and social competence. Additionally, it was also intended to investigate possible correlations between variables and differences by gender, as well as schools in students enrolled in the first year of fundamental education, in two public schools in Juiz de Fora, one located in a more peripheral region of the city - school 1 - and another in a central area - school 2. The study involved 85 children, with a mean age of 83 months-old, with 43 students being from School 1 and 42 from School 2. Participants were individually assessed through the use of the scale of theory of mind tasks, a book with narrative imaging to assess the mentalist language, and SSRS-BR scales to assess social competence from the perspective of the child and the teacher. The collected data was tabulated and analyzed quantitatively. The results indicated some differences by gender and by school for language and social competence variables; no differences were found with regard to these factors when considering performance on theory of mind tasks. As for correlations, we obtained significant associations for theory of mind and language, theory of mind and social competence as well as language and social competence. In summary, our data indicates that most participants obtained significant performance variables measured, suggesting that children are developing an understanding of mental states, using a rich mental language which may be considered mostly as socially competent. The results regarding factors sex and school strengthens the relevance of individual experiences. The associations observed between the measured variables suggest that theory of mind, language, and social competence are presented as interconnected, and factors related to the children's psychosocial adjustment. It is hoped that these findings will contribute to the national research involving the possible interfaces and also offer the subsidies that can generate actions that promote social cognitive development.