Impact of children's Theory of Mind on their social interaction and cognitive performance in cooperative problem-solving tasks

Investigating the impact of school-age children’s ToM (declarative knowledge) on the way they interact (procedural skills) with another child and their performance in cooperative problem-solving tasks is a valid way to advance our knowledge about the positive implication of children’s ToM on their social interaction and cognition. Coordinating actions and perspectives are an essential part of school activities, and schooling is not only crucial for the development of a declarative ToM, but also a relevant phase and social setting where children can apply the declarative knowledge about the mind they have acquired during the preschool years. The main aim of this thesis was to examine to what extent children’s ToM (i.e., cognitive and emotional aspects) impacts their performance and the way they interact in two cooperative problem-solving tasks: a spatial transformation and a sensorimotor problem. The results show positive relations between ToM and performance in both tasks, as well as between ToM and children’s openness to the partner’s perspective during socio-cognitive conflicts. The current study lends support to ToM as a socio-cognitive mechanism underlying cooperation by informing on the role of ToM for the way children interact and for their performance in problem-solving tasks