The Relationship Between Psychological Understanding and Positive Social Behaviors

TLDR

This study investigates the relationship between preschoolers’ psychological understanding and their positive social behavior. The researchers assessed 67 children’s mental state and emotion understanding and measured their positive social behavior through classroom observation, teacher reports, and peer ratings. Mental state and emotion understanding were positively linked to teacher, observer, and peer ratings of social skills, but these associations largely disappeared after controlling for language ability except that psychological understanding still predicted unique variance in peer perceptions.

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the relationship between psychological understanding and positive social behavior in preschool children. A sample of 67 children were given measures of mental state understanding and emotion understanding. Positive social behavior was measured by classroom observation, teacher report and peer ratings. Both mental state understanding and emotion understanding were positively related to teacher ratings of social skills, behavioral observers’ global ratings of social skills and peer popularity. When language ability was partialled out of these relationships, many of the significant correlations disappeared; however, for variables related to peers’ perceptions, psychological understanding continued to predict unique variance. The results are discussed in terms of the multiple determinacy of positive social behaviors and the potential role of language in these processes.