Longitudinal Effects of Preschool Theory of Mind on Cognitive and Social Competencies in Elementary School

该项目是一项从婴儿到小学年龄的社会认知发展的纵向研究的结论。本课题的最终目的是通过学龄前儿童心理理论和元认知的个体差异来预测小学生的认知能力和社会能力。将对N=130名8岁儿童的学业和社会发展结果进行测试和评分量表评估，其中N= 76名儿童从幼儿时期开始参加研究，N= 54名儿童从4岁开始参加研究。一系列评估心理理论、元认知和道德理解的任务，以及控制措施，将被用来预测学校相关的发展结果，同时，为中心能力域的纵向调查提供结果测量。对个人发展的研究将以探索社会互动对目标能力发展的影响作为补充。纵向设计和项目前几个阶段收集的丰富数据库将允许一个真正的发展视角：由于在不同年龄使用的措施之间选择了紧密的，理论指导的对应关系，以解决心理领域的概念连续性问题，最终不仅可以调查前驱和结果关系，还可以发现中介和调节效应。这项研究将同样有助于更好地理解概念发展，以及通过学龄前和婴儿期（社会）认知发展的措施来预测学校的成功。

The project is the conclusion of a longitudinal study of social-cognitive development from infancy to elementary school age. The aim of the present, final project phase is the prediction of cognitive and social competencies in elementary school from individual differences in Theory of Mind and metacognition in preschool age. Academic and social developmental outcomes will be assessed by tests and rating scales in N=130 8-year-old children, of whom n=76 participated in the study since their early childhood and n=54 since they were 4 years old. A battery of tasks assessing Theory of Mind, metacognition and moral understanding, as well as control measures, will be used to predict school related developmental outcomes, and, at the same time, to provide outcome measures for the longitudinal investigation of the central competence domains. The study of individual development will be complemented by the exploration of the effects of social interaction on the development of the target competencies. The longitudinal design and the rich database which has been collected in the previous phases of the project will allow for a genuinely developmental perspective: Since a close, theoretically guided correspondence was chosen between the measures used at different ages in order to address the issue of conceptual continuity in the mental domain, it will be possible to eventually not only investigate precursor- and outcome relations, but also to discover mediating and moderating effects. The study will contribute equally to a better understanding of conceptual development, as well as to the prediction of success in school from measures of (social) cognitive development in preschool age and in infancy.