Theory of Mind, reading fiction and the Zone of Proximal Development

Ingrid Vooglaid

 

 

 

 

Tartu 2021

Theory of Mind (ToM)

*a theory that one subject has of the thoughts and beliefs of another (Plastow, 2012) and of themselves, attributing states of mind (Premack & Woodruff, 1978);

 

*can be embedded: „Harry doubts, that Mary knows, that John thinks, that he wins“ (Premack & Woodruff, 1978, p. 515);

 

*importance: social functioning (Banerjee, Watling, & Caputi, 2011);

 

*closely related terms: mindreading, mentalization, mind-mindedness, thought theory.

ToM in reading fiction

*Two-directional influence. Understanding fiction depends on the ability to attribute mental and emotional states to characters (Mar et al., 2006) and to create a mental model of the characters (Schneider, 2001);

 

*creating a mental model depends on the reader`s existing knowledge of the world and of fiction (Schneider, 2001).

 

*Repeated contact with stories may help the reader understand connections between behaviour and inner states (Mar et al., 2006).

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

 

*Cultural development - a sequence of changes taking place with the influence of the cultural environment (Luria, 1928/1994, p. 47), a qualitative change in behaviour ( Vygotsky, 1929/1994, p. 58) and psychological habits. Development is expanded by the use of cultural tools for the use of cognitive abilities (Luria, 1928/1994, p. 51).

 

*ZPD: long term whole person development in cultural context, not short term scaffolding for testing tomorrow. In collaboration of child and adult, not in a top-down teaching relationship (Smagorinsky, 2018).

Enhancing children`s ToM through reading fiction

 

*A training program with short stories including mental states and group discussions of the mental state vocabulary can advance ToM in 9-10-year-olds (Lecce, Bianco, Devine, Hughes & Banerjee, 2014).

 

*Emotionally expressive read-aloud sessions followed by discussions of emotional aspects in the stories improved the emotional competency of 6-7-year-olds (Riquelme ja Montero, 2013)  and reading, working through and discussing one book with emotional content over eight weeks  also improved the emotional competency of 2. and 3. graders  (Kumschick jt, 2014).

 

*Exact, contextual definition of mental states, not just a large vocabulary. Supporting the understanding of social situations, not just pulling attention to mental states (Bianco, Lecce, & Banerjee, 2016).

Mediated reading

*A mediating adult is needed to raise the emotional competency of a child. So far teachers have been viewed as such adults (Bianco & Lecce, 2016; Kumschick et al., 2014; Riquelme & Montero, 2013), but it is important to study the effect of mediated reading at home, too (Riquelme & Montero, 2013).

 

*Fernyhough (2008): „other minds can be understood to the extent to which they interpenetrate in social and internalized dialogue.“

„... children’s ability to operate with simultaneously-held multiple perspectives in social reasoning is dependent upon their internalization of mediated interactions with others.“

„Engagement in dialogue, and therefore the internalization of dialogue, is accordingly a precursor rather than a consequence of later developments in SU.“

The future

Using fiction to enhance individual children`s ToM at home in collaboration of children and parents, considering long term whole person development in a given family`s context.

References

Banerjee, R., Watling, D., & Caputi, M. (2011). Peer Relations and the Understanding of Faux Pas: Longitudinal Evidence for Bidirectional Associations. Child Development, 82(6), 1887–1905.

Bianco, F., & Lecce, S. (2016). Translating child development research into practice: Can teachers foster children’s theory of mind in primary school? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 592–605.

Bianco, F., Lecce, S., & Banerjee, R. (2016). Conversations about mental states and theory

of mind development during middle childhood: A training study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 149. 41–61.

Fernyhough, C. (2008). Getting Vygotskian about theory of mind: Mediation, dialogue, and the development of social understanding. Developmental Review 28, 225–262.

Kumschick, I. R., Beck, L., Eid, M., Witte, G., Klann-Delius, G., Heuser, I., Steinlein, R., & Menninghaus, W. (2014). READING and FEELING: the effects of a literature-based intervention designed to increase emotional competence in second and third graders. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1448.

Lecce, S., Bianco, F., Devine R. T., Hughes, C., & Banerjee, R. (2014). Promoting theory of mind during middle childhood: A training program. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 126, 52–67.

 

 

 

References

Luria, A. (1994). The problem of the cultural behaviour of the child. In R. Van der Veer, & J. Valsiner (Eds.), The Vygotsky Reader (pp. 46-56). Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. (Orig: Luria, A. R. (1928). The problem of the cultural behaviour of the child. Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 35, 493-506.).

Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., dela Paz, J., & Peterson, J. B. (2006). Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of Research in Personality 40, 694–712.

Plastow, M. (2012), ‘Theory of Mind’: a theory of knowledge? Australasian Psychiatry, 20(3), 199–202.

Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 4, 515-526.

Riquelme, E., & Montero, I. (2013). Improving Emotional Competence Through Mediated Reading: Short Term Effects of a Children's Literature Program. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 20(3), 226-239.

Schneider, R. (2001). Toward a Cognitive Theory of Literary Character: The Dynamics of Mental-Model Construction. Style, 35(4), 607-639.

References

Smagorinsky, P. (2018). Is Instructional Scaffolding Actually Vygotskian, and Why Should It Matter to Literacy Teachers? Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy Vol. 62 No. 3, 253–257.

Vygotsky, L. (1994). The problem of the cultural development of the child. In R. Van der Veer, & J. Valsiner, The Vygotsky Reader (pp. 57-72). Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. (Orig.: Vygotsky, L. S. (1929). The problem of the cultural development of the child II. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 36, 415-432.).