title: The curious relation between theory of mind and sharing in preschool age children.
abstract: Young children have long been known to act selfishly and gradually appear to become more generous across middle childhood. While this apparent change has been well documented, the underlying mechanisms supporting this remain unclear. The current study examined the role of early theory of mind and executive functioning in facilitating sharing in a large sample (N = 98) of preschoolers. Results reveal a curious relation between early false-belief understanding and sharing behavior. Contrary to many commonsense notions and predominant theories, competence in this ability is actually related to less sharing. Thus, the relation between developing theory of mind and sharing may not be as straightforward as it seems in preschool age children. It is precisely the children who can engage in theory of mind that decide to share less with others.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors: Jason M
authors: JM
authors: Cowell
authors: Department of Consumer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors: Anya
authors: A
authors: Samek
authors: Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors: John
authors: J
authors: List
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
authors: Jean
authors: J
authors: Decety
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000379:methods; D012919:Social Behavior; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*