Wyl Agnes
Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2014;63(9):730-7. doi: 10.13109/prkk.2014.63.9.730.
Both concepts, mentalization and the theory of mind, describe metacognitive processes. Mentalization mainly concerns the reflection of affective mental states. In contrast, theory of mind focuses on epistemic states such as beliefs, intentions and persuasions. Gender differences have proved to be relevant for both, the development of mentalization and the theory of mind. However, there are few studies and findings are inconsistent. In an own study, we investigated the relationship between early competences in metacognition (tested in a false-belief-task second order) and narrative skills of kindergarten children. Results show that children who had successfully passed the theory of mind test tended to face conflicts more directly in the stories. In consequence, these children showed less narrative avoidance. However, differences were only found in girls and not in boys. The precise understanding of developmental differences in metacognition between girls and boys may be an important aspect with regards to improving mentalization based therapy of children.
心理化和心理理论这两个概念都描述了元认知过程。心理化主要涉及情感心理状态的反映。相比之下，心理理论关注的是诸如信念、意图和说服力等认知状态。事实证明，性别差异与心理化和心理理论的发展都相关。然而，相关研究较少且结果不一致。在我们自己的一项研究中，我们调查了元认知早期能力（通过二阶错误信念任务进行测试）与幼儿园儿童叙事技巧之间的关系。结果表明，成功通过心理理论测试的儿童在故事中往往更直接地面对冲突。因此，这些儿童表现出较少的叙事回避。然而，差异仅在女孩中发现，男孩中未发现。精确理解男孩和女孩在元认知方面的发展差异，可能是改进基于心理化的儿童治疗的一个重要方面。
