Theory of Mind or Social Information Processing Training: Which Is the Better Way to Foster Social Adjustment?

Emilie Jacobs,Nathalie Nader-Grosbois

doi:10.4236/psych.2020.119091

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) and Social information processing (SIP) are key sets of social cognition skills to develop good competences in social interactions and adjustment. In children with intellectual disabilities (IDs), socio-emotional competences are deficient and impaired their social inclusion. While it is known that some ToM or SIP trainings could be effective in population with IDs, no study investigated the transfer effects between ToM and SIP and the differentiated effect of ToM and SIP trainings on social adjustment. To address these goals, 45 elementary school children with IDs were recruited. They were randomly allocated to either one of the two experimental groups (ToM or SIP group) or to the control group. Each child and his or her parents completed measures at pre- and post-test to assess cognitive abilities, ToM and SIP skills and social adjustment. Results demonstrated a transfer effect varying depending on the nature of the understanding of mental states (affective or cognitive ToM) and of social situations (positive or negative) eliciting SIP. Findings give psychoeducational guidelines for interventions that aimed at fostering socio-emotional competences in children with IDs.

Highlights

Social cognition is defined as the ability to process a range of stimuli in order to assess people’s behavior and engage in social interaction (Happé, Cook, & Bird, 2017)
While it is known that some Theory of Mind (ToM) or Social information processing (SIP) trainings could be effective in population with intellectual disabilities (IDs), no study investigated the transfer effects between ToM and SIP and the differentiated effect of ToM and SIP trainings on social adjustment
We aimed to identify the causal contribution of ToM and SIP to each other and to social adjustment in children with IDs

Summary

Introduction

Social cognition is defined as the ability to process a range of stimuli in order to assess people’s behavior and engage in social interaction (Happé, Cook, & Bird, 2017). Children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have been found to display delay and deficit in affective and cognitive ToM respectively, with a significant interindividual variability in their profiles depending on their individual characteristics (Jacobs, Simon, & Nader-Grosbois, 2020). Jacobs, Simon and Nader-Grosbois (2020) observed that children with IDs who displayed specific strengths in ToM and SIP abilities had a higher developmental age and better socio-emotional skills. They emphasized specific significant links between ToM and SIP skills according to whether the social situation was described as positive (i.e. helping, prosocial) or negative (i.e. provocation, conflict, aggression, social exclusion). During the inference of mental states and when processing social information, cognitive and socio-perceptive processes

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