Theory of mind among disadvantaged children: Evidence from a field experiment

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Year: 2019
Volume: 166
Issue: C
Pages: 174-194

Score contribution per author:

0.402 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to correctly attribute mental states to others, is important in social interactions. We evaluate the development of ToM in about 800 mostly disadvantaged young children. We next conduct a field experiment with about 160 children in which we find that the low ToM rates for these disadvantaged children improve substantially in environments where the presence of other children is made salient. We see that ToM performance increases for both younger and older children in the treatment with strong salience, but that the treatment with weaker salience seems to be only effective in improving the ToM rates for older children.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeborg:v:166:y:2019:i:c:p:174-194
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-25