Studies on the Relation between the Development of Theory of Mind and Deception of the Preschoolers

This study adapted two standard task of theory of mind and two tasks of deception and chose 3-6-years-old preschoolers as subjects,discussed the relation between preschooler's theory of mind and deception.The results followed as below:(1) The performance of preschoolers are disaccord in the different false-belief tasks,but there is the general developmental trend:3-year-olds can not own the ability of theory of mind,the important developmental period of theory of mind is age 4～5.(2) 3-year-olds cannot hold deception of concealing intention,but 4-year-olds can.(3) 3-year-olds can deny having looking the toy,but it is not until age 6 that children could begin to own the competence of the feigning ignorance.(4) There is the significant correlation between theory of mind and concealing intention,but there is not the significant correlation between theory of mind and denial of looking or feigning ignorance.