Theory of mind and symbolic functions in different activities of preschoolers: age specificity

The article deals with the problem of correlation between the mental world understanding (the approach of the «theory of mind») and symbolic functions in preschool age. Both symbolic functions and the theory of mind are based on the capacity for mental representation, necessary to separate reality from internal representations, as well as to manage them and to plan one’s own behavior. This paper presents the results of research on age specificity in the development of individual aspects of symbolic functions and their relationship with the theory of mind at different stages of development. Symbolic functions are studied in three main types of preschoolers’ activities: pretend play, drawing and communication. We developed and tested methods for each of the activities, which allowed us to give a comprehensive assessment of the corresponding abilities in children aged from 3 to 6 years old. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 110 respondents. The results showed differences between indicators of the symbolic functions development in different types of activities in groups characterized by different levels of the theory of mind. The number of connections between the theory of mind and indicators of the symbolic functions development increases at the age of six. The greatest number of connections was found when assessing the understanding of false belief, which is a key marker of the theory of mind. We also found a tendency to later incorporation of the theory of mind into the understanding of symbolic means than into the use. In general, the data allows us to combine previously scattered ideas about the manifestation of symbolic functions in different types of activities and present the specificity of their changes during the development from a low to a high level of the theory of mind.