engleski

Assessing theory of mind in late adolescence: Preliminary test data on a Croatian sample

The majority of research in theory of mind (ToM) has focused on young children, and only recently investigations have begun to look at ToM throughout the lifespan, including the period of adolescence. Researchers suggest that in the period of preadolescence a multidimensional approach in examination of social-cognitive processes underlying ToM should be adopted. Therefore, social understanding needs to be differentiated into various abilities, such as conceptual role taking, empathetic sensitivity, perception of a person as a psychological being with stable personality characteristics, and the ability to imagine multiple perspectives and alternatives. Bosacki (1998 ; Bosacki and Astington, 1999) used this approach in assessing ToM in preadolescence, employing a method of ambiguous vignettes describing common experiences, followed by written questions aimed at tapping different abilities comprising ToM. The coding scheme for participants’ responses was devised from a ToM perspective in order to quantify preadolescents’ mentalizing abilities. The aim of our study was to test whether this theoretical and methodological approach can be used in assessing ToM in late adolescence. Participants were 265 nineteen year old university students (86 girls and 179 boys). We devised a ToM test that comprised of two age-appropriate short stories depicting ambiguous everyday situations, followed by questions tapping four previously mentioned domains of social understanding. Psychometric properties and patterns of obtained results on this measure of ToM in late adolescence are presented and discussed, and compared with measures of social understanding used and results obtained in previous research with preadolescents.

theory of mind; assessment

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