The role of theory of mind in the development of humor understanding by children 4–6 years old

Authors

  • Anna Ulanova Institute of Psychology of Russian Academy of Sciences, 13, Yaroslavskaya ul., Moscow, 129366, Russian Federation https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8757-0916

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2019.405

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study on the relationship between understanding humor and theory of mind — a system of mental representations concerning mental phenomena (knowledge, emotions, intentions, etc.) that develops throughout life and is especially intense in childhood. The basis of the work is the assumption that theory of mind is a mental foundation that allows you to separate your own and other people's mental experience, and explain the cognitive mechanisms of humor. The participants were 40 children of two age groups (4 and 6 years old). Data was obtained on various aspects of understanding the mental world and intellectual development. Methodological tasks were also developed to evaluate the emotional and cognitive components of humor. For this purpose children's jokes were used containing an interaction of heores. The results illustrated age dynamics in the development of theory of mind and an understanding of humor (more pronounced in the case of the emotional component). Jokes were fairly difficult for children 4–6 years old according to the results, which indicated that the level of emotional understanding was below cognitive. Correlation analysis showed a connection between the general indicator of understanding of mental states and humor, while a closer relationship was found with the cognitive component of understanding. In general, the results support the idea of cognitive mechanisms of perception of humor described in Russian literature and expand the empirical database collected by foreign researchers.

Keywords:

theory of mind, understanding of mental states, understanding of humor, understanding of comedic, preschool age

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

References

Литература

Мартин Р. Психология юмора / пер. с англ. под ред. Л. В. Куликова. СПб.: Питер, 2009. 480 с.

Ruch W. The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic. Walter de Gruyter, 1998. 498 p.

Mireault G., Poutre M., Sargent H. M., Dias C., Perdue B., Myrick A. Humour perception and creation between parents and 3 to 6 month old infants // Infant and Child Development. 2012. Vol. 21 (4). P. 338–347.

Recchia H. E., Howe N., Ross H. S., Alexander S. Children's understanding and production of verbal irony in family conversations // British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 2010. Vol. 28 (2). P. 255–274.

Hoicka E. The pragmatic development of humor // Pragmatic development in first language acquisition. 2014. P. 219–237. URL: https://www.benjamins.com/catalog/tilar.10 (дата обращения: 19.10.2019).

Hoicka E., Wang S. Fifteen-month-old infants match vocal cues to intentional actions // Journal of Cognition and Development. 2011. Vol. 12 (3). P. 299–314.

Leekam S. R. Jokes and lies: Children's understanding of intentional falsehood // Natural theories of mind: Evolution, development and simulation of everyday mindreading. Cambridge, MA, US: Basil Blackwell, 1991. P. 159–174.

Щербакова О. В., Осорина М. В. Юмористический компонент как фактор повышения сложности интеллектуальных задач (на примере теста Д. Векслера) // Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Серия 12. Психология. Социология. Педагогика. 2009. Вып. 1, № 1. С. 108–115.

Белоглазова Е. В., Шмулевич Л. И. Когнитивные условия восприятия интеллектуального юмора // Вестник Ленинградского государственного университета им. А. С. Пушкина. 2014. T. 1 (3). С. 183–190.

Артемьева Т. В., Ильина А. О. Понимание юмора и диалектические действия: исследование взаимосвязей // Образование и саморазвитие. 2012. № 5. С. 114–118.

Mayes L. C., Klin A., Cohen D. J. The effect of humour on children's developing theory of mind // British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 1994. Vol. 12 (4). P. 555–561.

Korkmaz B. Theory of mind and neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood // Pediatric Research. 2011. Vol. 69 (5). P. 101R–108R.

Сергиенко Е. А., Лебедева Е. И., Прусакова О. А. Модель психического как основа становления понимания себя и другого в онтогенезе человека. М.: Институт психологии РАН, 2009. 415 c.

Happé F. G. E. Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: A test of relevance theory // Cognition. 1993. Vol. 48 (2). P. 101–119.

Baron-Cohen S. Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge: MIT press, 1997.

Sullivan K., Winner E., Hopfield N. How children tell a lie from a joke: The role of second order mental state attributions // British journal of developmental psychology. 1995. Vol. 13 (2). P. 191–204.

Уланова А. Ю. Модель психического как ментальный механизм коммуникативной успешности детей дошкольного возраста: дис. … канд. психол. наук. М., 2015. 201 c.

Hutchins T. L., Prelock P. A., Chace W. Test-retest reliability of a theory of mind task battery for children with autism spectrum disorders // Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities. 2008. Vol. 23 (4). P. 195–206.

Samson A. A. C. The influence of empathizing and systemizing on humor processing: Theory of Mind and humor // Humor. 2012. Vol. 25 (1). P. 75–98.


References

Martin R. Psychology of humor. Rus. Ed. St. Petersburg, Piter Publ., 2009. 480 p. (In Russian)

Ruch W. The sense of humor: Explorations of a personality characteristic. Zurich, Walter de Gruyter, 1998. 498 p.

Mireault G., Poutre M., Sargent H. M., Dias C., Perdue B., Myrick A. Humour perception and creation between parents and 3 to 6 month old infants. Infant and Child Development, 2012, vol. 21 (4), pp. 338–347.

Recchia H. E., Howe N., Ross H. S., Alexander S. Children's understanding and production of verbal irony in family conversations. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2010, vol. 28 (2), pp. 255–274.

Hoicka E. The pragmatic development of humor. Pragmatic development in first language acquisition, 2014, pp. 219–237. Available at: https://www.benjamins.com/catalog/tilar.10 (accessed: 19.10.2019).

Hoicka E., Wang S. Fifteen-month-old infants match vocal cues to intentional actions. Journal of Cognition and Development, 2011, vol. 12 (3), pp. 299–314.

Leekam S. R. Jokes and lies: Children's understanding of intentional falsehood. Natural theories of mind: Evolution, development and simulation of everyday mindreading. Cambridge, MA, US, Basil Blackwell, 1991, pp. 159–174.

Shcherbakova O. V., Osorina M. V. Humorous component as a factor which increases the complexity of intellectual tasks (on the material of WAIS and WISC-III). Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University, 2009, vol. 1 (1), pp. 108–115. (In Russian)

Beloglazova E. V., Shmulevich L. I. Cognitive conditions of perception of intellectual humor. Vestnik Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. A. S. Pushkina, 2014, vol. 1 (3), pp. 183–190. (In Russian)

Artem'eva T. V., Il'ina A. O. Understanding humor and dialectic actions: research relationships. Obrazovanie i samorazvitie, 2012, no. 5, pp. 114–118. (In Russian)

Mayes L. C., Klin A., Cohen D. J. The effect of humour on children's developing theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1994, vol. 12 (4), pp. 555–561.

Korkmaz B. Theory of mind and neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. Pediatric Research, 2011, vol. 69, (5), pp. 101R–108R.

Sergienko E. A., Lebedeva E. I., Prusakova O. A. Mental model as a basis for understanding of self and other in ontogenesis. Moscow, Institute of psychology RAS Publ. 2009. 415 p. (In Russian)

Happé F. G. E. Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: A test of relevance theory. Cognition, 1993, vol. 48 (2), pp. 101–119.

Baron-Cohen S. Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge, MIT press. 1997.

Sullivan K., Winner E., Hopfield N. How children tell a lie from a joke: The role of second order mental state attributions. British journal of developmental psychology, 1995, vol. 13 (2), pp. 191–204.

Ulanova A. Iu. The mental model as a mental mechanism for the communicative success of preschool children: PhD diss. (Psychology) . Moscow, 2015. 201 p. (In Russian)

Hutchins T. L., Prelock P. A., Chace W. Test-retest reliability of a theory of mind task battery for children with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on autism and other developmental disabilities , 2008, vol. 23 (4), pp. 195–206.

Samson A. A. C. The influence of empathizing and systemizing on humor processing: Theory of Mind and humor. Humor, 2012, vol. 25 (1), pp. 75–98.

Published

2019-12-02

How to Cite

Ulanova, A. (2019). The role of theory of mind in the development of humor understanding by children 4–6 years old. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 9(4), 390–400. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2019.405

Issue

Section

Empirical and Experimental Research