The Development of Theory of Mind in Saudi Children

Abstract

Theory of Mind is considered a person’s ability to understand his or her own mind and the minds of others, it includes a social-cognitive skill with implications for many aspects of children’s life, such as social competence, peer acceptance and early success in school. The aims of this research were to study the development of Theory of Mind and to investigate differences in the performance of Theory of Mind tasks across age groups and by gender in Saudi children. 264 children, ranging from 3–12 years of age, participated in this study and were divided into three age groups. A Theory of Mind task battery was conducted individually, and the overall results indicated age and gender differences among our participants, as girls perform better than boys, and the older age groups perform better than they younger groups.