Abstract
Mentalizing is the ability to represent mental states to navigate the social world. A reduced mentalizing ability is a risk factor for a variety of psychological issues. Several studies indicated deficits in social cognition in bullies and victims, specifically in mentalizing anger. However, only a few studies investigated mentalizing abilities related to both anger and happiness in pre-adolescence. Our study investigated possible differences in the ability to mentalize anger and happiness in preadolescent bullies and victims, compared to a control group. We interviewed 104 preadolescents (44% males; 56% females; M = 13.2 years; SD = 0.82) and administered the Olweus Questionnaire to identify bullies and victims. We applied a narrative approach to investigate the mental state language referred to anger and happiness. The results indicated a reduced ability to mentalize anger in bullies and victims compared to controls. Both bullies and victims tended to consider anger and happiness predominantly as behavioral conditions rather than a state of mind. These results highlight the need to promote effective intervention programs to prevent bullying by enhancing appropriate mentalization of emotions in pre-adolescents.
Highlights
Mentalizing is the ability to think about one’s own and others’ mental states [1]
It is a mental activity that allows the perceiving of human behavior in terms of mental states like needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, and goals [2,3]
Mentalizing is the reflective function of Theory of Mind, which might be conceived in terms of “representation of subjectivity” [4]
Summary
It is a mental activity that allows the perceiving of human behavior in terms of mental states like needs, desires, feelings, beliefs, and goals [2,3]. Mentalizing is the reflective function of Theory of Mind, which might be conceived in terms of “representation of subjectivity” [4]. The term Theory of Mind referred only to epistemic mental states, especially to false beliefs [5,6]. Mind, which includes different mental states like emotions and the role of emotions in self-regulation [7]. The ability to mentalize emotions is a component of a broader emotional competence. It allows obtaining access to emotions as affective mental states. It promotes an understanding of interpersonal behavior and self-regulation [3]
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