Are Emotion and Mind Understanding Differently Linked to Young Children's Social Adjustment? Relationships Between Behavioral Consequences of Emotions, False Belief, and SCBE

Abstract

According to empirical findings, emotional knowledge and false belief understanding seem to be differently linked to social adjustment. However, whereas false belief is assessed through the capacity to identify its behavioral consequences, emotion tasks usually rely on the comprehension of facial expressions and of the situational causes of emotions. The authors examined if the documented relationship between social adjustment and emotion knowledge in children extends to the understanding of behavioral consequences of emotions. Eighty French-speaking preschoolers undertook false belief and consequence-of-emotion tasks. Their social adjustment was measured by the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation. Children's language ability, their parent's level of education, and the familial socioeconomic score were taken into account. Results showed that children's social adjustment was significantly predicted by their knowledge of emotion, but not by their understanding of false belief. The findings confirm the special status of emotion among mental states for social adaptation and specify which dimensions of adaptation to peers and adults are predicted by the child's emotion understanding. They also suggest that the distinction between mind and emotion understanding may be conceptual rather than methodological.

Cognitive and affective components of Theory of Mind in preschoolers with oppositional defiance disorder: Clinical evidence

“…Children who are good at identifying and understanding other people's positive and negative emotions should interact successfully with them, be socially responsive and develop harmonious relationships in daily life. Moreover, when children are able to infer knowledge, intentions and beliefs and to understand false beliefs, this may help them to adopt other people's cognitive perspective and adjust their own behavior (Deneault and Ricard, 2013;Nader-Grosbois, et al, 2013;Wellman, et al, 2011). Children's abilities to understand emotions play an important role in their concurrent and later academic and social success, (Denham et al, 2012; and social and emotional aspects of preschoolers have recently been considered by researchers as crucial for concurrent and later well-being and mental health.…”

Impact of Short-term Training in Social Cognition in Preschoolers with Externalizing Behavior

“…Empirical studies have shown that children who are good at identifying and understanding other people"s emotions interact successfully with them and have good social adjustment (Cutting & Dunn, 1999;Deneault & Ricard, 2013;Nader-Grosbois, Houssa, & Mazzone, 2013). When children are able to take other people"s perspective and to infer and understand others" beliefs, they can adjust their own behavior in social situations.…”

“…According to the ToM model, preschoolers develop the ability to understand their own and other people"s mental states, to take other people"s perspective, and to infer what they know, believe, or feel (Deneault & Ricard, 2013;Denham & Burton, 2003;Denham et al, 2011;Flavell, 1999;Wellman, 1991). Empirical studies have shown that children who are good at identifying and understanding other people"s emotions interact successfully with them and have good social adjustment (Cutting & Dunn, 1999;Deneault & Ricard, 2013;Nader-Grosbois, Houssa, & Mazzone, 2013).…”

“…The relation between individual (e.g., cognition) or environmental (e.g., parenting) factors and EB (aggressiveness, agitation, disobedience, impulsiveness or opposition) have especially been documented (Roskam, Meunier, Stievenart, & Noë l, 2013). Particularly for individual factors, a high level of EB has generally been associated with dysfunctions in social cognition and in particular with deficits in the understanding of mental states and of social problem-solving situations (Deneault & Ricard, 2013;. Denham, Zinsser, & Bailey, 2011;Pettit, Dodge, & Brown, 1988;Yoon, Hughes, Gaur, & Thompson, 1999).…”

Differential Impact of an Executive-Function and a Social Cognition Training on Preschoolers with Externalizing Behavior Problems

“…In the current study, we refer to the Theory of Mind (ToM) and the Social Information Processing (SIP) models. ToM conceptions include the capacity to understand one's own and other's mental states, to infer other's mental states and then to adapt one's behavior to others social situations [11] [12]. Some studies have identified deficits in children with EB in the recognition of emotions and the understanding of causes and consequences of emotions [13] [14] [15], difficulties in interpreting other people's behavioral intentions [16], or deficits in the understanding of beliefs [17] [18].…”