Theory of mind and empathy. Repercussions on peer acceptance in Pre-school Primary and Secondary Education children

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM) and empathy are skills that play a crucial role in social interaction. Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience are contributing to distinguishing between the cognitive and affective components of ToM and empathy, thus defining a conceptual relationship between them. This study analysed the impact of cognitive ToM, affective ToM, cognitive empathy, and affective empathy on the social acceptance of children. It also investigated the relative contribution of these factors in pre-school, primary school, and secondary school children. There were 127 participants in three age groups: 4 to 5 years (N = 31), 7 to 8 years (N = 38), and 12 to 14 years (N = 58). They were administered a selection of ToM tasks, the Basic Empathy Scale, and a sociometric questionnaire. The results confirmed a positive association between affective empathy and peer acceptance in the 4 to 5 year age group, a negative association between ToM and peer acceptance in the 7 to 8 year age group, and a positive association between cognitive empathy and peer acceptance in the 12 to 14 year age group. The attribution of mental states and empathy is useful in the perception of signals in the social environment and its appropriate use allows adaptation to the group. However, its relevance changes according to the different stages of development.