The Development Characters And Intervention Of Theory Of Mind Of Preschool Children

Theory of mind (often abbreviated "TOM") is the perception of mental states ofoneself and others. Around the age of four, children enter a crucial phase ofdeveloping TOM, and it is of great importance to pay close attention to this phase interms of understanding others, avoiding egoism and socializing themselves for thechildren. The objective of the study:1. To study the characteristics of thedevelopment of TOM among children aging from three to five.2. To design andimplement a training program for developing TOM among children aged from threeto five, and to investigate whether the intervention training could effectively promotethe development of the TOM in order to provide new theories for research and givereferences to children’s education.By using stratified cluster sampling,90children aged from three to five from akindergarten in Shijiazhuang were involved into the study. The Research paradigm of“False Belief Task” by Wimmer and Perner modified in accordance with children’sperception was adopted in order to study the group characteristics of the children.60children were systematically given intervention according to the training program inthe forms of language expression, retelling, role play, cooperative interaction andteacher participation based on the influencing factors for the TOM of children. Thestudy was categorized into stages of three years old and four years old, with eachstage30children, who were further divided into experimental group and controlgroup (n=15). Pretest of TOM was firstly conducted before12times of intervention,and the effect of intervention was then evaluated. Based on statistics, the followingconclusions were drawn:1. The development of TOM varies significantly at different ages, and itincreases with the age. The age of three and four is a crucial stage for thedevelopment of TOM, and at the age of five, the TOM is almost mature. Thedevelopment of TOM among children shows no significant difference betweengenders. 2. The training program for developing TOM among children aged from three tofive can effectively improve the development of TOM. The effect of interventionvaries among children with different ages, with the age of four having the mostobvious effect. The intervention shows no significant difference between genders.