Does bilingualism predict development of theory of mind in 3- to 4-year-old preschoolers?

Thesis (M.A., Child Development (Theory and Research))--California State University, Sacramento, 2015.Theory of Mind explains how individuals recognize their own knowledge, intentions, emotions, beliefs, and allows individuals to understand or predict the behavior of other people (Levin, 2004; Meltzoff, 1999). The focus in this area in existing literature has been on false-belief tasks used for young 4- and 5-year-old children using verbal perspective-taking tasks. To measure Theory of Mind in younger children, the present study used visual perspective-taking rather than verbal perspective-taking tasks. Research has shown Theory of Mind and language are related. To address whether knowing two or more languages predicts Theory of Mind development in young children, 48 Head Start 3- to-4-year old preschoolers (26 monolingual and 22 bilingual) were assessed on three different visual Theory of Mind tasks. It was hypothesized that bilinguals would outperform monolinguals on tasks that require taking a perspective different from one???s own. The results did not show support for this hypothesis. Implications for future research and education are discussed.Child Development (Theory and Research