Factorial structure of the ‘ToM Storybooks’: A test evaluating multiple components of Theory of Mind

Bulgarelli, Daniela; Testa, Silvia; Molina, Paola

doi:10.1111/bjdp.12062

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…The internal consistency [Cronbach’s alphas: ToM total score = 0.95, ToM sub-score 1 (emotion recognition) = 0.83, ToM sub-score 2 (physical/mental) = 0.88, ToM sub-score 3 (seeing knowing) = 0.51, ToM sub-score 4 (desires) = 0.84, ToM sub-score 5 (beliefs) = 0.89], test-retest reliability ( r = 0.86, p = 0.001 for typically developing children, r = 0.98 for children with PDD–NOS), inter-rater reliability (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.81–0.97), divergent and convergent validity are good (see also Blijd-Hoogewys et al, 2008, 2010). The ToM Storybooks has been translated in different languages, such as English, Finnish, French, Italian, and Spanish; and it has been standardized on two European populations, namely Dutch children (Blijd-Hoogewys et al, 2008) and Italian children (Molina and Bulgarelli, 2012; Bulgarelli et al, 2015). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-linearities in Theory-of-Mind Development

Blijd-Hoogewys

Geert

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Research on Theory-of-Mind (ToM) has mainly focused on ages of core ToM development. This article follows a quantitative approach focusing on the level of ToM understanding on a measurement scale, the ToM Storybooks, in 324 typically developing children between 3 and 11 years of age. It deals with the eventual occurrence of developmental non-linearities in ToM functioning, using smoothing techniques, dynamic growth model building and additional indicators, namely moving skewness, moving growth rate changes and moving variability. The ToM sum-scores showed an overall developmental trend that leveled off toward the age of 10 years. Within this overall trend two non-linearities in the group-based change pattern were found: a plateau at the age of around 56 months and a dip at the age of 72–78 months. These temporary regressions in ToM sum-score were accompanied by a decrease in growth rate and variability, and a change in skewness of the ToM data, all suggesting a developmental shift in ToM understanding. The temporary decreases also occurred in the different ToM sub-scores and most clearly so in the core ToM component of beliefs. It was also found that girls had an earlier growth spurt than boys and that the underlying developmental path was more salient in girls than in boys. The consequences of these findings are discussed from various theoretical points of view, with an emphasis on a dynamic systems interpretation of the underlying developmental paths.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-linearities in Theory-of-Mind Development

Blijd-Hoogewys

Geert

2017

Front. Psychol.

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“…At three separate sessions conducted within a month of each other, the children were individually assessed at kindergarten using four standardized tests: the ToM Storybooks (Molina and Bulgarelli, 2012a; Bulgarelli et al, 2015) were used to assess ToM and the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC, Pons and Harris, 2000; Albanese and Molina, 2013) to assess EU; the Leiter-R (Roid and Miller, 2002; US version: 1997) was used to assess non-verbal IQ; the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (Dunn and Dunn, 1981), in its Italian version (Stella et al, 2000) was used to assess receptive language, reported as Verbal Quotient (VQ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Cognition in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Experience and Individual Differences

Bulgarelli

Molina

2016

Front. Psychol.

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Social cognition is the way in which people process, remember, and use information in social contexts to explain and predict their own behavior and that of others. Children’s social cognition may be influenced by multiple factors, both external and internal to the child. In the current study, two aspects of social cognition were examined: Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of type of early care (0–3 years of age), maternal education, parents’ country of birth, and child’s language on the social cognition of 118 Italian preschoolers. To our knowledge, the joint effect of these variables on social cognition has not previously been investigated in the literature. The measures used to collect social cognition and linguistic data were not parent- or teacher-reports, but based on direct assessment of the children through two standardized tests, the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the ToM Storybooks. Relationships among the variables showed a complex pattern. Overall, maternal education and linguistic competence showed a systematic effect on social cognition; the linguistic competence mediated the effect of maternal education. In children who had experienced centre-base care in the first 3 years of life, the effect of maternal education disappeared, supporting the protective role of centre-base care for children with less educated mothers. The children with native and foreign parents did not significantly differ on the social cognition tasks. Limits of the study, possible educational outcomes and future research lines were discussed.

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“…Mental state talk is the set of terms used by people to attribute physiological (e.g., being hungry), perceptual (e.g., see), willing (e.g., desire), emotional (e.g., anger), cognitive (e.g., knowing), moral (e.g., judge), and socio‐relational (e.g., helping) state to others (Bretherton & Beegley, ; Bulgarelli, Testa, & Molina, ; Symons, ). MST is a reliable measure of children's ToM, as demonstrated by the significant correlation with standardized measures of ToM (Accorti Gamannossi & Pinto, ; Peterson & Slaughter, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of narrative competence on mental state talk in kindergarten and primary school children

Tarchi

Bigozzi

Pinto

2019

British J of Dev Psycho

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This study investigates the relationships between narrative competence and mental state talk at different age levels. Specifically, we explored whether a higher level of structure in narratives is associated with children's mental state talk, and whether this effect is moderated by age (kindergarten, lower and upper primary school). The participants in the study were 172 Italian children. The children were asked to tell a story and their productions were coded for narrative structural level and mental state talk. Data showed higher levels of narrative structure were associated with a higher frequency of emotional, cognitive, moral, and socio-relational terms. Results of the present study contributed to improve our understanding about how mental state talk and narrative competence are associated in different ways at different ages. This result suggests that children may develop in the ability to coordinate mental state talk and narrative structure as an effect of both, age and schooling.

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Factorial structure of the ‘ToM Storybooks’: A test evaluating multiple components of Theory of Mind

Cited by 17 publications

References 50 publications

Non-linearities in Theory-of-Mind Development

Non-linearities in Theory-of-Mind Development

Social Cognition in Preschoolers: Effects of Early Experience and Individual Differences

The influence of narrative competence on mental state talk in kindergarten and primary school children

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