ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

›› 2010, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (6): 914-923.

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The Influence of Family Microsystems on Children’s Theory of Mind: Factors, Process and Mechanism

SHANG Chong-Chen;MO Shu-Liang   

  1. School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, and Hubei Human Development and Mental Health Key Laboratory, Wuhan 430079, China
  • Received:2009-11-23 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2010-06-15 Published:2010-06-15
  • Contact: MO Shu-Liang

Abstract: Based on research about the influence of family on children’s theory of mind at home and abroad, the family microsystems can be divided into three sub-microsystems: (1) family demography sub-microsystem that includes family socioeconomic status and sibling number and type, (2) parent-child interactive sub-microsystem involving attachment type, parenting style, emotional expression and parent-child play, and (3) sibling-child interactive sub-microsystem including cooperation-conflict and pretend play. The mechanism model of family microsystems’ impact on child’s theory of mind can be assumed as follows: the family socioeconomic status and the sibling number and type in the family demography sub-microsystem influence the child’s ToM through the parent-child interactive sub-microsystem and the sibling-child interactive sub-microsystem respectively, all the factors in these two sub-microsystems influence the child’s ToM through the mediator of Mind-Mindedness. This mechanism model should be tested in the future.

Key words: family microsystems, theory of mind, mechanism