Thinking of you: Relations between mind‐mindedness, theory of mind, and social anxiety traits in middle childhood and adulthood

Abstract

The mapping of developmental relations between social cognition and real‐world social behaviors has theoretical and practical importance. In the domain of social anxiety, however, studies examining links between social cognitive ability and anxiety have produced mixed results. One potential explanation is that varied facets of social cognition are differentially linked to social anxiety across development. To better understand how social cognition relates to social anxiety, we assessed multiple facets of two important social cognitive capacities—mind‐mindedness and theory of mind— in school‐aged children aged 7–12 and young adults aged 18–24. We also measured social anxiety traits. We found that, across ages, mind‐mindedness and theory of mind were not related to each other. Additionally, for children and adults, higher levels of social anxiety correlated with higher levels of mind‐mindedness toward close social partners, indicating an increased propensity to describe partners using mental state terms. By contrast, social anxiety was not correlated with theory of mind, which measured the ability to decipher or attribute mental states to photographs, videos, or story characters. These findings offer insight into how different components of social cognition are related and how more naturalistic measures of social cognition involving relationships may relate to social anxiety across development.

Social Cognition, Self-Perceptions, and Social Withdrawal in Adolescents

“…In contrast, other studies indicate that adolescents who prefer solitude are more likely to have low levels of emotion recognition and self-worth (Ronchi et al, 2020;Colonnesi et al, 2017). Finally, some studies show no relationships between social preferences and ToM and self-perceptions (Colonnesi et al, 2017), or between ToM and social anxiety (Pequet & Warnell, 2020). Accordingly, this study will address these gaps and contradictions in the literature on the affective theory of mind, social preferences, and self-perceptions in adolescents.…”

“…For example, few studies explore why some youth decide to be alone, or avoid or withdraw from others, whereas some move towards others -and what motivates their social decisions? Thus, as past studies suggest, socially withdrawn youth may evidence a performance rather than a competence deficit (Bowker et al, 2019;Pequet & Warnell, 2020;Wichmann et al, 2004). The present study builds on previous literature that shows socially withdrawn children may be more sensitive to others' mental states, communicative intentions, and judgements (Crozier, 1995;Poole et al, 2020), as well as being more likely to be more depressed, anxious and hold more negative self-perceptions than their more sociable age-mates (Cheek & Melchoir, 1990;Rubin et al, 2002).…”

“…For example, studies show links among social preferences for solitude and social play, the development of self-consciousness, and the onset of explicit ToM-related skills such as emotion recognition and perspective-taking start by the age of 4-5 years (Banerjee & Yuill, 1999;Viana et al, 2020). Thus, the experience of shyness and unsociability continues to play a role in adolescents' self-consciousness and social development because it requires the ability to reflect on the self as seen by others, as well as be concerned about social evaluation (Pequet & Warnell, 2020;Rubin & Asendorf, 1993).…”

“…In contrast, for boys, some adults may perceive shyness and unsociability as a negative personality characteristic, and shyness and unsociability may be more likely to be discouraged among boys as compared to girls (Coplan & Weeks, 2010;Doey et al, 2014). Despite the claims that suggest adolescent girls possess a less coherent and positive self-theory than boys (Koch et al, 2020;Heyder et al, 2020;Maccoby, 1998), and studies that show girls use more frequent mental state talk than boys (Hughes & Dunn, 1999;Pequet & Warnell, 2020), differential gender links between social-cognitive skills and self-perceptions, especially in connection with social withdrawal during adolescence require further study. Thus, this study examines the complex web of correlates among preferences for social withdrawal, self-perceptions, and emotion recognition in adolescents.…”

“…Despite the importance of studying the personal and social world of adolescents who self-select constructive solitude, or who tend to avoid or control their social experiences due to fear and anxiety (Ronchi et al, 2020), empirical support for the links between adolescents' preferences for social withdrawal and social-cognitive skills remains sparse, and the findings are inconsistent and variable (Bowker et al, 2016;Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993;Rubin et al, 2009;Pequet & Warnell, 2020;Wichmann et al, 2004). Studies show that throughout childhood and adolescence, mental state reasoning can be used as a social-cognitive mechanism for social orientations such as approaching or avoiding others (Thompson & Thornton, 2014).…”