Children's understandings of characters' beliefs in persuasive arguments: links with gender and theory of mind

Abstract

This study investigated the role of gender plays in the relation between children's theory of mind (ToM) and persuasion. We explored children's use of the belief information of the characters involved within a persuasive situation. In two studies, children (four- to eight-year-olds) performed a comic strip task that described a persuasive situation. Results showed that the relations between ToM scores and persuasion abilities differed according to gender. First-order false-belief understanding and persuaded parent belief-relevant argument choices were significantly higher correlated in females (r (80) = .35, p < .001) than in males (r (77) = .10, p = .31). Results suggest complex gendered patterns among the relations between ToM and persuasion abilities. Implications for further research on the role of gender in ToM and persuasion are discussed.

Keywords:

• social development
• persuasion
• theory of mind
• gender differences

Notes on contributors

Anna Kołodziejczyk is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland. Her research interests include social and cognitive development and its role in the development of children social competences.

Sandra Leanne Bosacki is a Professor in the Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Her research interests include sociocognitive, emotional, moral, and spiritual development within diverse cultural and educational contexts. She is a contributing associate editor of the International Journal of Children's Spirituality, Assistant Editor of Journal of Adolescence, and the author of several books: The culture of classroom silence (2005), Children's emotional lives: Sensitive shadows in the classroom (2008), and Culture of ambiguity: Implications for self and social understanding in adolescence (2012).