scholarly journals Διερευνώντας τις σχέσεις ανάμεσα στη Θεωρία του Νου και στις Επιστημικές Πεποιθήσεις

Author(s):  
Νατάσσα Κυριακοπούλου ◽  
Στέλλα Βοσνιάδου

The present research investigated a) beliefs about the mind of others elementary school children’s (Theory of Mind), b) their epistemic beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing (Personal Epistemology), and c) the relationship between these two domains, in order to examine the hypothesis that Theory of Mind is a first step towards the development of a Personal Epistemology. Forty-six fifth graders were administered measures of their ability to attribute false beliefs to others and of their epistemic stance. The results showed statistically significantcorrelations between children’s ability to understand the beliefs of others and their epistemic beliefs. Furthermore, students performed better on Theory of Mind measures in relation to epistemic measures indicating that children more readily understand the constructivist nature of knowledge in the domain of Theory of Mind. The regression analyses carried out showed that Theory of Mind highly contributes to children’s epistemic stance.

2020 ◽  
pp. 003329412091348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Petrocchi ◽  
C. Filipponi ◽  
C. Antonietti ◽  
A. Levante ◽  
F. Lecciso

Research has provided direct and indirect evidence of associations between trust beliefs and social-perceptual theory of mind (ToM) and between social-perceptual ToM and interpersonal communication competence during childhood and adolescence. This research (a) developed a scale for evaluating trust beliefs in young Italian adults (Study 1) and (b) examined how social-perceptual ToM mediates the relationship between emotional trust beliefs and interpersonal communication competences such as assertiveness and empathy (Study 2). In Study 1, a sample of 168 university students ( M = 23.3, SD = 3 months) completed the Italian Adults’ Generalized Trust Beliefs (AGTB) scale and two second-order false beliefs tasks. In Study 2, 318 Italian university students ( M = 22.96 years, SD = 2 months) completed the AGTB scale, the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and items measuring assertiveness and empathy. As expected, the AGTB scale exhibited acceptable internal consistency, structural validity, and construct validity. Furthermore, path analysis confirmed the existence of the hypothesized paths between adults’ emotional trust beliefs, social-perceptual ToM, assertiveness, and empathy. This study also identified the effects of gender on the other variables, but sex did not moderate the relationships between variables.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Joseph Coleman ◽  
James Edward Bartlett ◽  
Jenny Holcombe ◽  
Sally B. Swanson ◽  
Andrew Ross Atkinson ◽  
...  

Research suggests trait absorption, individual differences in Theory of Mind (ToM), and orthopraxical training are important for explaining a variety of extraordinary experiences typically associated with religion. However, no studies exist quantifying ToM ability or testing its relationship with trait absorption in the prediction of what is arguably the most ubiquitous type of extraordinary experience—the mystical experience. To address this, two exploratory studies were conducted using a sample of meditators (N = 269) and undergraduate students (N = 123). In study one, regression analyses revealed weekly religious/spiritual practice, absorption, and mentalizing predict increased mystical experiences. Moreover, moderation analysis indicated the absorption-mysticism relationship is stronger among individuals with lower mentalizing ability. Study two only replicated the relationship of absorption and weekly practice with mysticism. These studies highlight the robust contribution of absorption in mystical experiences and suggest a more dynamic role for mentalizing than is accounted for in the current literature.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilona Bass ◽  
Alison Gopnik ◽  
Mason Hanson ◽  
Dhaya Ramarajan ◽  
Patrick Shafto ◽  
...  

Natural pedagogy emerges early in development, but good teaching requires tailoring evidence to learners’ knowledge. How does the ability to reason about others’ minds support early pedagogical evidence selection abilities? In three experiments (N = 205), we investigated preschool-aged children’s ability to consider others’ knowledge when selecting evidence in the service of teaching. Results from Experiment 1 revealed that four-year-olds reliably selected evidence to rectify others’ false beliefs, and provided causal explanations in their teaching, whereas three-year-olds did not. In Experiment 2, we tie children’s evidence selection abilities to Theory of Mind (ToM) development, above and beyond effects of age and numerical conservation abilities. In Experiment 3, we employed a 6-week training of children’s pedagogical evidence selection with a new teaching task, and further explored the relationship between these skills and children’s ToM abilities. We qualitatively replicated our results from Experiment 2, and report tentative evidence for a link between the pedagogical training and improvements in ToM. Together, our findings suggest important connections between reasoning about others’ minds and evidential reasoning in natural pedagogy in early childhood.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 2281-2292
Author(s):  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Xinchun Wu ◽  
Hongjun Chen ◽  
Peng Sun ◽  
Ruibo Xie ◽  
...  

Purpose This exploratory study aimed to investigate the potential impact of sentence-level comprehension and sentence-level fluency on passage comprehension of deaf students in elementary school. Method A total of 159 deaf students, 65 students ( M age = 13.46 years) in Grades 3 and 4 and 94 students ( M age = 14.95 years) in Grades 5 and 6, were assessed for nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, sentence-level comprehension, sentence-level fluency, and passage comprehension. Group differences were examined using t tests, whereas the predictive and mediating mechanisms were examined using regression modeling. Results The regression analyses showed that the effect of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension was not significant, whereas sentence-level fluency was an independent predictor in Grades 3–4. Sentence-level comprehension and fluency contributed significant variance to passage comprehension in Grades 5–6. Sentence-level fluency fully mediated the influence of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension in Grades 3–4, playing a partial mediating role in Grades 5–6. Conclusions The relative contributions of sentence-level comprehension and fluency to deaf students' passage comprehension varied, and sentence-level fluency mediated the relationship between sentence-level comprehension and passage comprehension.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Wertag ◽  
Denis Bratko

Abstract. Prosocial behavior is intended to benefit others rather than oneself and is positively linked to personality traits such as Agreeableness and Honesty-Humility, and usually negatively to the Dark Triad traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy). However, a significant proportion of the research in this area is conducted solely on self-report measures of prosocial behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between prosociality and the basic (i.e., HEXACO) and dark personality traits, comparing their contribution in predicting both self-reported prosociality and prosocial behavior. Results of the hierarchical regression analyses showed that the Dark Triad traits explain prosociality and prosocial behavior above and beyond the HEXACO traits, emphasizing the importance of the Dark Triad in the personality space.


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