Children's Social Understanding Research Articles

How Do Children Play with Toy Trains and for What Benefits? A Scoping Review.

Children play with different toys in different ways which may be associated with different developmental outcomes. While existing work has investigated different categories of toys, differences may also be present within specific toy categories. Therefore, understanding how specific toys promote play behaviours and their associated developmental outcomes has important implications for teachers, parents, caregivers, and researchers. To better understand how children play with toy trains, whether groups of children show a particular preference for toy trains and what (if any) associated benefits there are for playing with toy trains, 36 studies published in psychology and educational databases up to December 2022 were reviewed. A key finding emerged regarding the importance of the structured, realistic, and familiar nature of toy trains being important for facilitating pretend play as well as social collaboration behaviours during social play. Whilst findings in relation to gender-stereotyped preferences for playing with toy trains were mixed and no gender differences were found in research investigating play styles, neurodivergent children were found to have a preference for toy trains. These findings are important given that certain play styles, pretend play in particular, have been associated with benefits in children's executive function, language, creativity, and social understanding.

Parental perceptions of social and emotional well-being of young children from Australian military families.

Many Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Veteran families are affected by the stressors of Defence family life, including frequent and prolonged parental deployments, and frequent relocations. To address a gap in information about Defence and Veteran (hereafter Defence) parents' knowledge, confidence and resources to support their young children's well-being and build their resilience. This study used a mixed methods design to explore Defence parent's perceptions of their young children's (aged 2-8 years) social and emotional well-being and understanding of their children's responses to unique stressors as well as their confidence in providing support. Data from 41 parents were available. Overall, parents reported positive well-being evaluation of their children. However, just over a third of parents also reported that their children rarely cope well on two indicators combined (adapting to new situations and sharing negative emotions with others). Significantly, more than half of the parents (61%) were only partially confident in their ability to assist their children to cope with unique stressors in military families. Qualitative data provided further insights into children's struggle with relocations and parental absence and the challenges parents face in supporting them. Parents reported having limited access to effective age- and culturally appropriate resources to support their young children. In a first-of-its kind study, we found that Australian Defence parents reported their young children were coping on most of the key well-being indicators. However, awareness of currently available supports for children remains a barrier as well as access to contextualised, age- and culturally appropriate resources are lacking. There is a need for access to free, quality, online, research-based Australian resources to support young children from Defence families, especially for those living in regional and rural locations and are less likely to have access to mental health and other specialist supports.

Theory of Mind and Young Children's Behaviour: Aggressive, Victimised, Prosocial, and Solitary.

Theory of mind (ToM) undergoes significant developments during childhood, particularly between the ages of four and seven years. A growing body of research has indicated that children's social understanding may be related to their social behaviour with peers, in line with Theory Theory which proposes that children's social cognition is influenced by and influences their peer interactions. The current study examined the relationship between ToM and behaviour among 193 children aged 4-7 years. Children carried out a battery of ToM tasks, and teaching staff reported on children's aggressive, prosocial, and solitary behaviour and victimisation experiences. Aggression was not directly related to ToM; prosocial behaviour was positively associated with ToM for girls but not boys. Solitary behaviour and victimisation were negatively related to ToM. When this was broken down by gender, there was only a significant association between solitary behaviour and ToM for boys. When controlling for the relationship between behaviours, the only significant predictor of ToM was solitary behaviour for boys. ToM was also a significant predictor of solitary behaviour for boys, demonstrating that there is a bidirectional relationship at play. The findings highlight the importance of looking across these four behaviour types and understanding the relationship between behaviour profiles and ToM for boys and girls separately.

When not helping is nice: Children's changing evaluations of helping during COVID-19.

A key aspect of children's moral and social understanding involves recognizing the value of helpful behaviors. COVID-19 has complicated this process; behaviors generally considered praiseworthy were considered problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined whether 6- to 12-year-olds (N = 228; residing in the United States) adapt their evaluations of helpful behavior in response to shifting norms. Specifically, we presented children with scenarios featuring helpful and unhelpful actions that involved physical interaction (e.g., hugging) or nonphysical interaction (e.g., recruiting a teacher); although all children were tested during the COVID-19 pandemic, stories portrayed individuals either before or during COVID-19. While children generally judged helpfulness positively and unhelpfulness negatively, children exhibited a selective shift in their judgments for COVID-19 scenarios: children considered helpfulness negatively and unhelpfulness positively if helping required physical interaction. These findings demonstrate that children flexibly tune their social evaluations of helping to align with evolving norms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

“The chug is coming through!” “There's two chuggas!”: A longitudinal study of the social function of imitation in children's play with siblings and friends

AbstractImitation is argued to have an important affiliative function in social relationships. However, children's tendency to imitate different play partners during naturalistic play and associations with social understanding have been overlooked. We investigated the frequency and context of imitation in a longitudinal study of 65 focal children (T1: M age = 56.4 months, SD = 5.71) during play with their older or younger sibling and a friend in two separate play sessions. Children were observed again approximately 3 years later (T2: n = 46, M age = 94.6 months; SD = 6.6). We coded focal children's verbal and nonverbal imitation of their play partner, their partner's response to being imitated, the context in which imitation occurred (e.g., pretense), and the focal child's social understanding (i.e., mental state references). Verbal imitation occurred more often than nonverbal imitation and was used most often during the contexts of play negotiations and pretense. Although focal children's imitation of both their siblings and friends increased significantly over time, children imitated friends more than siblings at T1. All play partners responded positively (i.e., smiling, laughing) most often to being imitated. Associations between focal child imitation and mental state talk with friends at T2 approached significance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the nature of imitation during children's play interactions and support assertions that imitation is a process whereby children build affiliation, mutuality, and shared meanings in their relationships.

Could, would, should: Theory of mind and deontic reasoning in Tongan children.

This study examined the developmental profiles of children's social reasoning about individual agentive and deontic concerns. Tongan children (N = 140, 47.9% male), aged 4–8 years, were given a set of mentalistic (standard theory‐of‐mind) and deontic reasoning tasks. On average, children found diverse desires, knowledge access, hidden emotion, and belief emotion easier than the false‐belief and diverse belief tasks. Tongan children were sensitive to social norms governing behavior, and this information was recruited for predicting behavior in a false‐belief task when embedded in a socially normative context. We discuss the potential for cultural mandates to shape children's social understanding and the impact of culture on our theoretical framing of children's development.

Mother‐child talk about mental states: The what, who, and how of conversations about the mind

AbstractResearch on parents’ mental state talk (MST) and children's social understanding is typically situated within a social constructivist approach, which asserts that parent‐child conversations around mental states promotes children's social understanding. However, prior research has provided a limited view of children's participation in these exchanges or the interaction among qualities of MST. This study examined 67 mothers’ MST while narrating a wordless book with their preschoolers (Mage = 4.51 years) and children's subsequent responses; children were 80% White and 49% female. We coded mothers’ MST for three qualities: (1) category (e.g., cognition), (2) referent (e.g., child), and (3) utterance function (e.g., open‐ended question). Using sequential analysis, we hypothesized that children would respond to mothers’ mental state input with MST or connected talk. We also examined relations among mothers’ mental state category and referent/function. Examining over 1700 utterance pairs, there was considerable matching between mother's and children's MST within categories, children responded in a connected way when MST focused on the child or cognition, and children tended to respond to open‐ended questions and closed questions, but not comments, about mental states. This study provides a novel method for analyzing parent‐child MST, suggests that particular qualities of mothers’ MST tend to co‐occur, and suggests that particular qualities of mental states are especially likely to engage children in MST.

Seven-year-olds' references to internal states when playing with toy figures and a video game.

References to internal states (e.g., thoughts, feelings, and desires) indicate children's appreciation of people's inner worlds. Many children spend time playing video games; however, the nature of children's speech when doing so has received little attention. We investigated the use of internal state language (ISL) as 251 seven‐year‐olds played with toy figures and a video game designed for the study. Although children used ISL more when playing with toy figures, children used ISL in both contexts, highlighting video game play as a context where children demonstrate their appreciation of inner worlds. Children's speech in the two contexts differed in how ISL was used: references to children's own internal states were more common when playing the video game, and the characters' internal states more common when playing with the toy figures. These findings are discussed with reference to the format of the play activities affording different opportunities to discuss internal states.Highlights In traditional play children refer to internal states, however, it is unclear whether this occurs when they play video games.Children referred to internal states when playing with toy figures and a video game, but did so more with the toys.Children's video game play can be used as a new context for the study of children's social understanding.

A Reciprocal and Dynamic Development Model for the Effects of Siblings on Children's Theory of Mind.

In the field of social influences on Theory of Mind (ToM), more research has focused on the role of parents, but less research has examined the impact of siblings on children’s social understanding. We review existing research related to what factors might affect sibling–ToM association and how these potential factors affect ToM. Based on the literature review, we propose an integrative model that unites three categories of factors (i.e., sibling structural variables, sibling individual variables, parental intervening variables) that might have effects on the sibling–ToM association and highlights mental-state talks during sibling interactions at the intersection of sibling-related variables and ToM. Furthermore, we propose some issues arising from this review that need to be clarified in future studies. Specifically, we hope to clarify the specific effects of older and younger siblings on children’s understanding of human minds, the similarities and differences of sibling–ToM association under different cultural backgrounds, and the impact of family social disadvantage (e.g., lower SES) on the sibling–ToM association. All these works would benefit from the verification, revision, and expansion of our reciprocal influence model for the sibling–ToM association.

Concurrent associations between mothers' references to internal states and children's social understanding in middle childhood.

Although it is well established that features of maternal speech are associated with children’s social understanding in the preschool years, few studies explore this relationship in middle childhood. Within the context of a prospective longitudinal study of a representative community sample of families (subsample n = 207, mean age = 82.88 months), we investigated concurrent associations between mothers’ internal state language and aspects of 7‐year‐olds’ social understanding, including children’s understanding of belief and spontaneous references to internal states during free play. When sociodemographic, maternal, and child characteristics were controlled, mothers’ references to their own cognitions were associated with dimensions of children’s social understanding. Our findings suggest that exposure to others’ perspectives contributes to children’s advanced understanding of minds, which has implications for interventions that foster social understanding.

Teoria da mente e habilidades sociais: estudo com crianças pré-escolares

A forma como a criança se relaciona socialmente está ligada à maneira como ela compreende o mundo social e, nesse sentido, busca-se conhecer como as mudanças que ocorrem na compreensão social da criança impactam seu comportamento na relação com outras pessoas. Este estudo teve o objetivo de verificar a existência de correlação entre o desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais e o da teoria da mente em crianças pré-escolares. Participaram da pesquisa 30 crianças de 5 anos de idade e suas professoras. Para a avaliação da teoria da mente foi utilizada a Escala de Tarefas, e para a avaliação das habilidades socais foi usado o Questionário de Comportamentos Socialmente Adequados, na sua versão para professores. Os resultados não mostraram associação entre as variáveis, sugerindo que a teoria da mente pode estar ligada a comportamentos sociais sem se expressar ou estar diretamente relacionada a um conjunto de habilidades sociais positivas.

The relation between parents' mental state talk and children's social understanding: A meta‐analysis

AbstractThough there is empirical support for the relation between parents' mental state talk to children and children's social understanding, including false belief understanding (FBU) and emotion understanding (EU), effect sizes range widely. The current meta‐analysis focused on the relation between parents' mental state talk and children's social understanding and moderators of this relation: parents' mental state talk content (e.g., cognitive vs. emotion talk), quality (e.g., appropriate vs. inappropriate), and context (e.g., book vs. reminiscing). Data from 22 studies examining FBU and 18 examining EU were examined. Participants included 2,298 children (<7 years). Analyses yielded a significant effect size for parents' mental state talk and children's FBU and EU. These relations were stronger under certain circumstances, particularly for children's FBU. For example, in terms of content, cognitive state talk was a stronger predictor of FBU and EU compared to talk about desires and emotions. For FBU, the strongest relations were present when parents' mental state talk was: (a) appropriate and explanatory compared to inappropriate and (b) in a book or self‐report context compared to reminiscing. The results of this study further refine the social constructivist view of social understanding and point to future avenues for research aimed at improving children's social understanding.

Examining mind-reading in the life span: from longitudinal to training studies

Examining mind-reading in the life span: from longitudinal to training studies

Association between theory of mind and mental state talk in preschoolers and later social competence and behaviour

AbstractThis study had 2 primary aims: (a) to investigate the concurrent links between preschool‐aged children's theory of mind (ToM) and mental state talk at 55 months and (b) to examine the longitudinal associations between preschool‐aged children's social understanding, as indicated by their ToM, and mental references, and their later social competence and behaviour at 69 months. Participants included 73 children and their mothers. ToM was assessed using a battery that consisted of 6 standardized tasks, and social competence and behaviour were assessed via teacher ratings. We observed an association between children's ToM and their mental state talk, specifically regarding cognition references during interactions with their mothers. Moreover, both children's ToM and mental references were longitudinally related to social competence and behaviour but only in girls. Our results support that ToM, which was assessed using false belief tasks, and the child's tendencies to refer to mental states during everyday interactions are 2 important related markers of children's social understanding and that both are linked to children's social competence and behaviour. The importance of considering gender‐specific effects when investigating children's social cognition is also highlighted.Highlights The relationship between preschoolers' social understanding and later social competence is examined. Both children's theory of mind and mental state talk were associated with later teacher‐rated social competence, but only for girls. Theory of mind and mental state talk seem to be related markers of children's social understanding, linked to social competence.

Differential parenting and children's social understanding

AbstractIn the current study, a curvilinear association was examined between differential parenting and children's social understanding as measured using standardized assessments and behavioral observations. Social understanding was comprised of theory‐of‐mind and behavior indicating understanding of others’ minds (i.e., cognitive sensitivity and internal state talk and reasoning during sibling interactions). Data came from a community sample of 372 children (51.6% males; M age = 5.57, SD = 0.77), their younger siblings (M age = 3.14, SD = 0.27), and their mothers who were observed in their homes. We hypothesized that in families with higher levels of differential parenting, both favored and disfavored older siblings would display poorer social understanding, but that disfavored children would be more negatively impacted. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis indicated an inverse linear effect, rather than a curvilinear relationship, between being favored by mother and siblings’ social understanding. Specifically, disfavored older children showed higher levels of social understanding when interacting with their favored younger sibling. This relationship remained significant after controlling for variables such as age, SES, and language. Findings suggest that differential parenting plays a role in children's ability to understand others.

Mother–Child Conversation and Children's Social Understanding During Middle Childhood

ABSTRACTThe authors investigated the relationship between mother–child conversation and children's social understanding during middle childhood. Thirty-eight mother–child pairs participated, including a younger group (5–7 years old) and an older group (8–10 years old). Children completed 2 measures of social understanding and mothers and children discussed 4 stories involving social dilemmas. Results indicated that compared to the younger group, the older group (a) performed better on both measures of social understanding and (b) produced more basic mental talk (i.e., talk about beliefs, emotions, personality traits, and desires), and more advanced mental talk (i.e., talk about contrasting perspectives, recursion and relationship between mental states, and advanced emotions). Mothers of older children also produced more basic and advanced mental talk. Mothers' advanced mental talk predicted both children's social understanding and children's advanced mental talk.

Theory of mind at home: linking authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles to children's social understanding

Building on Vinden's pioneering research [(2001). Parenting attitudes and children's understanding of mind: A comparison of Korean American and Anglo-American families. Cognitive Development, 16, 793–809], we examined how parents’ use of authoritative versus authoritarian styles of discipline related to their children's development of theory of mind (ToM). ToM was assessed using standard false belief tests and a developmental ToM Scale [Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of theory-of-mind tasks. Child Development, 75(2), 523–541] comprising five reliably sequential steps of ToM understanding from awareness of others’ desires through false belief to the recognition of hidden emotion that even 8-year-olds often have difficulty with. In contrast to previous largely null results, our results from a sample of 30 Anglo-Australian children aged 5–12 years and their 30 parents showed, for the first time, that there are significant negative links of child ToM with parental authoritarianism and significant positive links, independent of child age and language skill, between ToM understanding and authoritative parenting. These results contribute to a growing body of research on how family processes interconnect with children's social understanding and social adjustment.

Understanding the Self Through Siblings: Self‐awareness Mediates the Sibling Effect on Social Understanding

AbstractThis study addresses the role of sibling influence on social understanding in the second year of life, in a sample of families living inNewZealand who identify asPacificIsland (N= 43). We tested toddlers at 20 and 26 months on social understanding tasks, as well as their levels of self‐awareness on theStipek self‐concept questionnaire. We hypothesized that the presence of siblings provides a rich resource from which to learn about the mind. There were significant differences in children's social understanding and self‐awareness as a function of having older siblings. Further analyses revealed that the relation between older siblings and social understanding was mediated by toddlers' level of self‐awareness.

Social understanding and social lives: from toddlerhood through to the transition to school. By Claire Hughes. Psychology Press, Hove, East Sussex, 2011.

Social understanding and social lives: from toddlerhood through to the transition to school. By Claire Hughes. Psychology Press, Hove, East Sussex, 2011.

Patterns in Mother-Child Internal State Discourse across Four Contexts

Internal state language is a unique indicator of children's social understanding. In the current study, the role of context and type of internal state language was investigated. Mother-child internal state discourse in 32 middle-class Canadian families (child M age = 46.4 months) was examined across four contexts: (1) a reflective picture task, and (2) home interactions characterized by (a) neutral, (b) positive, and (c) negative exchanges. Type of mother and child internal state discourse (cognitions, goals, preferences, emotions) varied across and within the different contexts. The strength of the associations between different types of maternal and child talk also varied across and within contexts, which may illuminate the degree of responsiveness in mother-child discourse. Implications for developing greater family sensitivity to internal states, as well as links with current theory and research, are discussed.