Blijd-Hoogewys Els M A, van Geert Paul L C
INTER-PSYGroningen, Netherlands; Department of Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
Department of Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jan 4;7:1970. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01970. eCollection 2016.
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.
心理理论（ToM）的研究主要集中在核心ToM发展的年龄阶段。本文采用定量研究方法，聚焦于324名3至11岁发育正常儿童在测量量表“ToM故事书”上的ToM理解水平。研究运用平滑技术、动态增长模型构建以及额外指标（即移动偏度、移动增长率变化和移动变异性）来探讨ToM功能中最终出现的发育非线性情况。ToM总分显示出总体发展趋势，在10岁左右趋于平稳。在这一总体趋势中，发现了基于群体的变化模式中的两个非线性特征：大约56个月时出现一个平台期，72 - 78个月时出现一个低谷期。ToM总分的这些暂时下降伴随着增长率和变异性的降低，以及ToM数据偏度的变化，所有这些都表明ToM理解存在发展转变。不同的ToM子分数中也出现了暂时下降，在信念这一核心ToM成分中最为明显。研究还发现女孩比男孩有更早的生长突增，并且女孩潜在的发展路径比男孩更显著。本文从各种理论角度讨论了这些发现的结果，重点是对潜在发展路径的动态系统解释。
