Chapter published in:
Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills: Studies in intervention
Edited by Edy Veneziano and Ageliki Nicolopoulou
[Studies in Narrative 25] 2019
► pp. 109–128

Chapter 5
Enhancing mental state language and emotion understanding of toddlers’ social cognition

The role of narrative and conversation

| University of Milano-Bicocca
| University of Milano-Bicocca
| University of Milano-Bicocca
| University of Milano-Bicocca
| University of Milano-Bicocca
This study investigated whether conversing about emotions in day-care center enhanced toddlers’ spontaneous use of mental state language and emotion understanding, both of which are key components of social cognition. In the course of a three-month intervention, the children assigned to the experimental condition (N = 29) participated daily in bookreading sessions of stories with high emotional content. Bookreadings were followed by a conversation, held in small groups, about the emotional states featured in the stories. The children assigned to the control condition (N = 28), after listening to the same stories, engaged in free play. At post-test, children in the experimental condition significantly outperformed the control group on measures of mental state language and emotion understanding, even after controlling for verbal abilities and age. These findings suggest the value of having children as young as 2–3 years participate in conversational activities about emotional experiences and inner states.
Keywords: social cognition, mental state language, emotional lexicon, emotion understanding, intervention study
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Mental state language and emotion understanding: Longitudinal and intervention studies
  • The present study
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Research phases, instruments and materials
      • The Child’s first vocabulary (primo Vocabolario del bambino, PVB)
      • The intervention phase
    • Fidelity to instructions of teachers’ interventions
  • Results
    • Children’s mental state language production
    • Emotion understanding
  • Discussion
  • Limitations and educational implications
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 06 May 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.06gra
References
Adriàn, J. E., Clemente, R. A., & Villanueva, L.
(2007) Mothers’ use of cognitive state verbs in picture-book reading and the development of children’s understanding of mind: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 78(4), 1052–1067. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Aram, D., Dwairy-Jarrous, M., & Khalaily, M.
(2015) The effect of shared reading intervention on social understanding and narrative skills in Arab preschoolers. Paper presented at the International Conference on Narrative and interaction: Promoting and assessing the development of language, literacy and socio-cognitive skills . Paris, 10–12 June.
Aram, D., Fine, Y., & Ziv, M.
(2013) Enhancing parent-child shared book reading interactions: Promoting references to the book’s plot and socio-cognitive themes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(1), 111–122. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Astington, J. W., & Pelletier, J.
(2005) Theory of mind, language, and learning in the early years: Developmental origins of school readiness. In B. D. Homer, & C. Tamis-Lemonda (Eds.), The development of social cognition and communication (pp.205–230). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bartsch, K., & Wellman, H. M.
(1995) Children talk about the mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M.
(1982) Talking about internal states: The acquisition of an explicit theory of mind. Developmental Psychology, 18(6), 906–992. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Buttelmann, D., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M.
(2009) Eighteen-month-old infants show false belief understanding in an active helping paradigm. Cognition, 112, 337–342. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Camodeca, M., & Coppola, G.
(2010) C ompetenza socio-emotiva e difficoltà di relazione in età prescolare: Un approccio multidimensionale [Socioemotional competence and relational difficulties in the preschool years: A multidimensional approach]. In E. Baumgartner (Ed.), Gli esordi della competenza emotiva (pp.51–74). Milano: LED.Google Scholar
Caselli, C., Pasqualetti, P., & Stefanini, S.
(2007) PVB. Primo vocabolario del bambino. [PVB. The child’s early vocabulary]. Milano: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Cigala, A., Mori, A., & Fangareggi, F.
(2015) Learning others’ point of view: Perspective taking and prosocial behaviour in preschoolers. Early Child Development and Care, 185(8), 1199–1215. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Rosnay, M., & Hughes, C.
(2006) Conversation and theory of mind: Do children talk their way to social-cognitive understanding? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(1), 7–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Denham, S.
(1986) Social cognition, prosocial behavior, and emotion in preschoolers: Contextual validation. Child Development, 57(1), 194–201. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1998) Emotional development in young children. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
(2006) Social-emotional competence as support for school readiness: What is it and how do we assess it? Early Education and Development, 17(1), 57–89. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., Brown, J., & Beardsall, L.
(1991a) Family talk about feeling states and children’s later understanding of others’ emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27(3), 448–455. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J., Brown, J., Slomkowsky, C., Tesla, C., & Youngblade, L.
(1991b) Young children’s understanding of other people’s feelings and beliefs: Individual differences and their antecedents. Child Development, 62(6), 1352–1366. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ensor, R., & Hughes, C.
(2008) Content or connectedness? Early family talk and theory of mind in the toddler and preschool years. Child Development, 79(1), 201–216. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fivush, R., Haden, C. A., & Reese, E.
(2006) Elaborating on elaborations: Role of maternal reminiscing style in cognitive and socioemotional development. Child Development, 77(6), 1568–1588. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Garner, J. L., Jones, D. C., Gaddy, G., & Rennie, K. M.
(1997) Low-income mothers’ conversations about emotions and their children’s emotional competence. Social Development, 6(1), 37–52. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Grazzani Gavazzi, I., & Ornaghi, V.
(2011) Emotional state talk and emotion understanding: A training study with preschool children. Journal of Child Language, 38, 1124–1139. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Grazzani, I., Ornaghi, V., Agliati, A., and Brazzelli, E.
(2016) How to foster toddlers’ mental-state talk, emotion understanding and prosocial behavior: a conversation-based intervention at nursery school. Infancy, 21, 199–227. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C.
(2011) Social understanding and social lives. From toddlerhood through to the transition to school. New York, NY: Psychology Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Devine, R. T.
(2015) A social perspective on theory of mind. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.) New York, NY: Wiley. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, C., & Dunn, J.
(1998) Understanding mind and emotion: Longitudinal association with mental-state talk between friends. Developmental Psychology,34(5), 1026–1037. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Izard, C. E., Fine, S. E., Schultz, D., Mostow, A. J., Ackerman, B. P., & Youngstrom, E.
(2001) Emotion knowledge as a predictor of social behavior and academic competence in children at risk. Psychological Science, 12(1), 18–23. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Klinnert, M. D., Emde, R. N., Butterfield, P., & Campos, J. J.
(1986) Social referencing: The infant’s use of emotional signals from a friendly adult with mother present. Developmental Psychology, 22(4), 427–432. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Laible, D.
(2004) Mother-child discourse in two contexts: Links with child temperament, attachment security, and socioemotional competence. Developmental Psychology, 40(6), 979–992. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Misailidi P., Papoudi, D., & Brouzos, A.
(2013) Mind what teachers say: Kindergarten teachers’ use of mental state language during picture story narration. Early Education and Development, 24(8), 1161–1174. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Brazzelli, E., Grazzani, I., Agliati, A., and Lucarelli, M.
(2017) Does training toddlers in emotion knowledge lead to changes in their prosocial and aggressive behavior toward peers at nursery? Early Education and Development, 28, 396–414. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Brockmeier, J., & Grazzani Gavazzi, I.
(2011) The role of language games in children’s understanding of mental states: A training study. Journal of Cognition and Development, 12(2), 239–259. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Brockmeier, J., & Grazzani, I.
(2014) Enhancing social cognition by training children in emotion understanding: A primary school study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 119(1), 26–39. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ornaghi, V., Grazzani, I., Cherubin, E., Conte, E., & Piralli, F.
(2015) Let’s talk about emotions. The effect of conversational training on preschoolers’ emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation. Social Development, 24(1), 166–183. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Poulin-Dubois, D., Chiarella, S. S., & Polonia, A.
(2009) Toddlers’ vocabulary about the mind: A cross-linguistic study using the internal state language questionnaire. Rivista di Psicolinguistica Applicata/Journal of Applied Psycholinguistics, 9(3), 47–60.Google Scholar
Repacholi, B., & Gopnik, A.
(1997) Early reasoning about desires: Evidence from 14 and 18 month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 33(1), 12–21. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tomasello, M.
(2009) Why we cooperate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Veneziano, E.
(2009) Language and internal states: A long developmental history at different levels of functioning. Rivista di Psicoliguistica Applicata/Journal of Applied Psycholinguistics, 9(3), 15–34.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Conte, Elisabetta, Veronica Ornaghi, Ilaria Grazzani, Alessandro Pepe & Valeria Cavioni
2019. Emotion Knowledge, Theory of Mind, and Language in Young Children: Testing a Comprehensive Conceptual Model. Frontiers in Psychology 10 Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 08 may 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.