Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Jennifer Ma

Reader 2

Jillian Janowiak

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

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© 2024 Elyse Shan

Abstract

Do children diagnosed with language impairment have a theory of mind (ToM) deficit as compared to their typically developing peers? This study proposes that this question cannot be answered without considering the psychometrics of theory of mind measures. Specifically, false belief tasks (the most classic theory of mind measure) may not assess ToM completely while measures high in linguistic complexity may assess language abilities instead of ToM, which would mean that these types of measures are low in psychometric validity. To test these ideas, language impaired and typically developing children will be administered false belief tasks and a comprehensive ToM measure (which includes multiple aspects of theory of mind). Scores from the false belief tasks alone will be compared with scores from comprehensive measures; the linguistic complexity of the measures will also be manipulated. Ultimately, it is anticipated that results will suggest that previous studies’ chosen measures were low in validity and thus may have found false theory of mind deficits for language impaired children. Further, because theory of mind deficits have been used to portray neurodivergent populations as lacking empathy, dissemination of these results would help the public better understand this underrepresented group.

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