Theory of Mind (ToM) is crucial for social competence. Although the acquisitional steps of the I-order reasoning has been widely investigated in literature (Apperly et al., 2011; Wellman & Liu, 2004), II-order reasoning remains less explored. This research addresses this gap combining true and false beliefs (B+, B-) with positive and negative desires (D+, D-).
53 children (M age = 8.13, DS = 1.09, Grades 2 and 4 of primary school) were tested on verbal abilities, executive functions, II-order traditional tasks, Yoni task, and the computerized Belief x Desire II-Order task.
Results suggest that B+D+ condition was the best managed (M = 1.60, DS = .599). In all the other conditions, Grade 4 children performed significantly better than Grade 2 children (B+D-, p <.001; B-D+, p <.001; B-D-, p <.001). There were significant effects of belief, F (1,51) = 29.24, p < .001, ηp2 = .364, favoring true belief, .47 95% CI [.29, .64], of Desire, F (1,51) = 8.02, p = .007, ηp2 = .136, favoring positive desire, .24 95% CI [.07, .41], and also of the interaction Belief x Desire, F (1,51) = 15.30, p < .001, ηp2 = .231. Positive correlations were found for B+D+ with vocabulary (r = .28, p = .042) and reading comprehension (r = .34, p = .014). For B-D- with working memory (r = .27, p = .049) and The ice-cream seller (r = .13, p = .023). For all conditions, despite B+D-, with The Chocolate Bar. For B-D+ with Yoni Task affective (r = .28, p = .005) and cognitive (r = .38, p = .045) ToM.
These results contribute to understanding the acquisitional path of II-order recursive thinking in school-aged children, laying the groundwork for the development of a II-order ToM scale.