Recent evidence showed that it is possible to help children's Theory of Mind (ToM) development during preschool and middle childhood. This study aimed to promote advanced mentalizing skills in children attending Year 2 of primary school through a ToM training programme based on narratives followed by multiple-choice questions and conversations…

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to humans' ability to recognize the existence of mental states, such as beliefs, emotions, and desires. The literature on ToM in aging and on the relationship between ToM and other cognitive functions, like executive functions, is not homogenous. The aim of the present study was to explore the course of ToM and to…

Cross-cultural research on theory of mind is relatively recent and largely restricted to comparisons of children from Western versus non-Western samples; much less is known about variation within Western cultures. This study compared 5- to 6-year-olds from Britain and Italy (matched for age, verbal age, gender, and maternal education; N=140), on…

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind skills by considering whether "costs" of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children's academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year…