Willing and able? Theory of mind, social motivation and social competence in middle childhood and early adolescence

R.T. Devine; Ian Apperly

doi:10.1111/desc.13137

Willing and able? Theory of mind, social motivation and social competence in middle childhood and early adolescence

R.T. Devine, Ian Apperly

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This study investigated the links between theory of mind, social motivation and children’s social competence in middle childhood and early adolescence. Two hundred and sixty four children (136 girls, 128 boys) aged between 8 and 13 years (M Age = 10.88 years, SD = 1.45) completed theory-of-mind tests and self-report questionnaires measuring social motivation. Teachers rated children’s social competence at school. Teacher-rated social competence was associated with individual differences in both theory of mind and children’s motivation to develop and maintain social relationships. Results suggest that while individual differences in social motivation and theory of mind are partially overlapping, both theory-of-mind ability and social motivation contribute to successful social interaction at school.

Original language	English
Article number	e13137
Number of pages	14
Journal	Developmental Science
Volume	25
Issue number	1
Early online date	7 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13137
Publication status	Published - 7 Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was funded through a grant from the Wellcome Trust to Rory T. Devine (Grant Number: 215006/Z/18/Z). Thanks to Maria Alfaro Munoz for her assistance with recruitment and data collection and to Imogen Grumley Traynor and Irene Luque Aguilera for assistance with coding.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Developmental Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Keywords

Individual differences
Middle childhood
Social competence
Social motivation
adolescence
theory of mind (ToM)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience

Access to Document

10.1111/desc.13137Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

DevineR2021WillingFinal published version, 499 KBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Mindreading, Psychopathological and Social Adjustment in Middle Childhood
Devine, R.
THE WELLCOME TRUST
1/08/19 → 31/01/22
Project: Research

Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
Rory Devine (Invited speaker)
11 May 2021
Activity: Academic and Industrial events › Guest lecture or Invited talk

Cite this

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Willing and able? Theory of mind, social motivation and social competence in middle childhood and early adolescence

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Mindreading, Psychopathological and Social Adjustment in Middle Childhood

Activities

Theory of Mind in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Cite this