유아의 마음의 이론과 관련 변인들과의 관계 = The Relationship between Preschoolers` Theory - of - Mind and relative variables

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to analyze the causal relationships of age, language ablility, social competence, parenting style, socioeconomic status, and sibling influence with preschoolers` theory of mind. The subjects were selected randomly from kindergartens and composed of three hundred 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds and their parents and teachers. The research instruments used to measure preschoolers` theory of mind were deception and false belief tasks. The major findings of this study were summarized as follows: children`s age, social competence, language ability, affection-rejection attitude in parenting style were directly related to performance on theory of mind while age, parenting style, socioeconomic status, the presence of siblings, and language ability were indirectly related to it. Taken altogether, it was found that children achieve an understanding of theory of mind in a certain period - around 4 years of age, and that age, social competence, language ability, and parenting style are major contributions to the acquisition of better understanding. It is also very improtant to note that s caring environment along with the factor mentioned above appears to be the best context in which children can practice and further develop their understanding of mind.