The Development of Theory of Mind in Deaf Children

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Vol. 39; no. 6; pp. 903 - 910
• Main Authors: Russell, P. A., Hosie, J. A., Gray, C. D., Scott, C., Hunter, N., Banks, J. S., Macaulay, M. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Cambridge University Press 01.09.1998; Blackwell; Pergamon Press; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age differences; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Deaf children; Deafness; Deafness - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Handicap; Humans; Male; Psychological Theory; Psychology and medicine; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social Perception; Task performance; Theory of mind; Deafness; early social experience; false belief; theory of mind; Human; Social development; Adolescent; Auditory disorder; ENT disease; Social aptitude; Theory of mind; Child; Age; Hearing loss
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1017/S0021963098002844

Deaf children aged 4 to 16 years were given a false-belief test of theory of mind. Although the children experienced difficulty with the test, relative to hearing children, confirming a report by Peterson and Siegal (1995), performance was age-related, with a significantly higher proportion of 13- to 16-year-olds passing the test. It was concluded that deaf children raised in a spoken language environment show a developmental delay in theory of mind acquisition. This delay is consistent with the assumption that their early opportunities for learning about mental states are relatively restricted and that the normal development of theory of mind is dependent upon such opportunities.