Teaching children to understand metaphors as a path leading to theory of mind development

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to verify whether metaphors could be a tool in examining and teaching children's theory of mind (ToM) ability. Searching for sources of ToM development, we tried to stimulate mind-reading ability via metaphors. A group of 109 children participated in the project. Four and five-year-old participants (mean age 4 years, 11 months) were randomly divided into three groups: two experimental groups (with two kinds of prompts: direct, linguistic and indirect, contextual) and the controls. All the participating children were to solve three false beliefs and one metaphors test (with or without prompts). The results show that metaphors may provide an ecologically relevant and reliable tool for testing ToM in children. Although the methods employed to teach metaphors understanding proved ineffective, a critical analysis of the results provides important suggestions for further research.

Keywords:

• Theory of mind
• Metaphors understanding
• Conceptual change

This research was supported by a grant from the State Committee for Scientific Research: 0112/H01/2005/28.

Notes

¹Only those children who belonged to the extreme age groups were included.