Research has shown that theory of mind tends to develop in typically-developing children at about the age of 4 years. However, language appears to play a great role in this, particularly as deaf children, particularly those born to hearing parents, display extreme delays in theory of mind development, while bilinguals have been found to develop at a somewhat faster rate than monolinguals. Additionally, effects of culture on theory of mind development remain somewhat unclear, as there have been mixed results in past research. Theory of mind has also been correlated with metalinguistic ability and executive functioning skills, leading to multiple hypotheses regarding what drives theory of mind development. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to examine the relationships between theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning, as well as to evaluate how language and culture play a role in these relationships. Four studies were conducted in an attempt to seek answers to six research questions surrounding this aim. Study1 evaluated theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning among hearing nursery children in Central Scotland. Study 2 was aimed at evaluating these same skills among deaf children in the U.S. and U.K., as well as developing a scaling of theory of mind abilities among deaf children. Study 3 assessed these skills among deaf Ghanaian children, as well as evaluating theory of mind abilities among a group of hearing Ghanaian children. Finally, Study 4 compared monolingual and bilingual children on theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning. Results show that there is a strong link between theory of mind and metalinguistic awareness among hearing children that is not explained by executive functioning skills. This relationship was not apparent among deaf children, who struggle more with theory of mind than metalinguistic awareness. The deaf children in Ghana were delayed compared to their Western peers; hearing Ghanaian children were delayed compared to their Western peers as well, but only slightly. Bilingual children and monolingual children performed similarly on false belief and set-shifting tasks; however, monolingual children outperformed bilinguals on metalinguistic awareness and inhibition tasks, possibly due to low verbal mental age among the monolinguals. Results of the four studies suggest that language does play a part in the relationship between theory of mind and metalinguistic awareness. Due to limited data, cultural effects remain unclear. It is proposed that deaf children’s struggle with theory of mind stems from their difficulty with abstract concepts.

Le transcodage des nombres chez l’enfant est un domaine peu exploré. L’objectif général de ce travail de thèse était de tester les principales prédictions permises par le modèle de transcodage ADAPT de Barrouillet et al. (2004) notamment sa version ADAPTBASIC concernant le transcodage au début de l’apprentissage. ADAPT, à la différence des autres modèles de transcodage numérique (e.g., McCloskey 1992) est un modèle développemental, asémantique et procédural. Le transcodage étudié est celui qui permet de passer de la forme verbale à la forme arabe des nombres. Les travaux menés durant cette thèse questionnent l’acquisition du transcodage et son développement avec l’apprentissage, ainsi que l’impact des différences inter-linguistiques et individuelles. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, nous avons adopté une approche développementale dans laquelle nous avons exploré les connaissances de transcodage des enfants Français en début d’apprentissage scolaire à l’aide d’une dictée de nombres. Ensuite, nous avons procédé à une approche longitudinale pour suivre l’acquisition du système de transcodage et de ses règles. Dans une approche inter-linguistique, nous avons confronté les résultats obtenus auprès d’enfants Français aux résultats obtenus auprès d’enfants Allemands et Syriens. Enfin, nous avons testé l’impact des différences individuelles des capacités mémorielles sur le transcodage. Les résultats apportent une contribution dans ce domaine et permettent de mieux comprendre que le transcodage est un processus qui se développe sous l’influence de différences individuelles et linguistiques. / Number transcoding in children is a domain rarely investigated. The PhD goal is to test the main predictions allowed by the transcoding model “ADAPT” of Barrouillet et al. (2004) in particular its ADAPTBASIC version concerning transcoding at the beginning of learning. Unlike the other transcoding models (e.g., McCloskey on 1992), ADAPT is a developmental, asemantic and procedural model. In this research the concerned transcoding allows to shift the verbal form of number to Arabic form. This thesis questions the acquisition of transcoding and its development with learning, as well as the impact of the inter-linguistic and individual differences. To reach these objectives, we adopted a developmental approach in which we explored number transcoding in French children at the beginning of school learning by means of a number dictation. Then we adopted a longitudinal approach to follow the acquisition of the transcoding system and its rules. In an inter-linguistic approach, we compared the results obtained in French children with the results obtained in German and Syrian children. Finally, we evaluated the impact of individual differences in memory capacities on number transcoding. The results constitute a contribution in this domain and allow to understand that the transcoding is a process which develops under the influence of individual and linguistic differences

Le « child-therapist » évoque un enfant qui sacrifie son psychisme et ainsi son développement pour la survie du système familial. Cette thèse cherche à explorer son vécu et à mieux comprendre ce qu’il vit. A travers la méthode d’observation et une analyse utilisant la méthode d’IPA (Interpretational Phenomenological Analysis), je questionne son développement psychique, sa mentalisation et la colère latente qu’il peut ressentir envers ses parents. Cette recherche a révélé que certains child-therapists se développent à travers un conditionnement, c’est-à-dire à partir des tâtonnements vers des comportements désirés, ainsi que des comportements qui réduisent les tensions au sein de la famille. Aussi, en présence de ses parents, il démontre de fausses capacités de mentalisation. Enfin, sans exception, il porte une colère envers ses parents défaillants. Cette recherche a donc élucidé le fonctionnement mental du child-therapist. / The child-therapist speaks of a child who sacrifices his own psychical development for the survival of his or her family. This dissertation sets out to understand the mind of the child. Using the observational method and the IPA (Interpretational Phenomenological Analysis) to analyse the data,I set out to investigate his or her development, his or her mentalization capacities and a latent anger that he or she could harbour towards his or her parents. This research showed that the child develops through a form of conditioning. In addition, he or she exhibits false mentalization capacities, but only in the presence of his or her parents. Lastly, the child holds anger and resentment towards his parents that failed him or her. This study helped shed light on the mind of the child-therapist.

Many children experience symptoms of mental health problems and a significant proportion reach clinical thresholds of psychological disorder. It has been argued that the rising incidence of these problems and widespread failure to scale effective treatments for those in need means that prevention and early intervention in the development of emotional and behavioural problems is a public health priority. Child development is shaped by many forces, including for example parenting and peer relationships, this PhD is very specifically interested in the consequences of stress for children’s emotions and behaviour. Although the effects of stress are largely deemed negative, striking individual differences are almost universally observed. In the context of equivalent stressors, some children experience poorer outcomes, some remain relatively unaffected and others appear to experience better outcomes. Understanding what causes these differences is important for advancing our knowledge of the stress process, and is also key to designing services to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. This PhD has four aims. Firstly, it examines the relationship between two routine, school- based stressors and children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes. Secondly, it investigates the role of the cognitive appraisal process in accounting for individual differences in those outcomes. Thirdly, it examines the conditions under which cognitive appraisal operates, both in terms of its role as an organiser of coping efforts and cortisol (a stress hormone) as well as the extent to which children display consistency in their appraisals across contexts. Fourthly, it outlines the implications of the study for policy and practice efforts to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. The empirical study was designed as a prospective longitudinal study, following 66 children over the course of one year in which they experienced two routine, school-based stressors (KS2 exams and transition). Participants were recruited via opportunity sampling methods, and a combination of psychological and physiological data were collected at four time points.

This study investigated the role of specialist provisions for pupils with social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) in fostering resilience. The role schools play in resilience development was considered by measuring the association between the length of time a student had been in school with the strength of their resilience measured by a standardised test of resilience. Furthermore, possible ways in which resilience might develop in school were explored by looking at the possible mediating variables of having a sense of connection to school and having a significant peer relationship in school. The role of trait emotional intelligence (TEI) was also explored in this model by adding individual TEI as a moderating factor. Thirty-eight pupils from two SEBD schools took part in completing self-report questionnaires with the researcher. The length of time pupils spent in specialist schools was found to be predictive of both resilience resources and vulnerability, however none of the proposed variables explained this association. Exploratory analysis found TEI alone to be the most significant predictor of resilience outcomes. The theoretical implications are considered. The difficulties in measuring resilience as a construct are discussed, as well as the importance of completing research with this population, despite the challenges.

There has been a rise in anxiety amongst typically developing children in recent years. Existing research has suggested a link between the increase of television viewing, and the increase in childhood anxiety. This thesis confirms the plausibility of this hypothesis; a meta-analysis found a small but consistent effect of viewing “scary” television on children's internalizing responses. Existing cognitive models of emotional processing in anxious individuals identify attention, interpretation, and memory preferences towards emotionally negative materials as potential mediators. Whilst attention and interpretation preferences have been well evidenced, the link between anxiety and negativity preferences in memory is more tenuous, particularly in typically developing children. A positive-negative asymmetry in memory is well established in adults; however, the extent to which children process and remember positive, negative and neutral stimuli differentially is relatively unexplored. The Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm has been utilised to allow analysis of memory accuracy and response bias. There were several key findings within this thesis. In line with previous research, a preference away from negatively valenced material was found when simple word list stimuli was used. When narratives were used as a richer source of material, memory performance was greater for negatively, than positively valenced stimuli. However, when two sources differing on richness of information (visual vs narrative stimuli), and valence (positive vs negative) were presented simultaneously, the modality effect became dominant; the richer source of material was discriminated with higher accuracy, regardless of valence. When this effect was followed up, no evidence of a mood interaction within emotional memory was found. Semantic elaboration was explored as a potential mechanism behind valence effects in memory. However, no positive findings were identified. Age, gender and trait anxiety did not reliably moderate valence effects on memory. This thesis adds to the small body of knowledge focusing on children's emotional memory, particularly by including response bias analyses. It highlights the complex nature of emotional processing in children and some of the factors contributing to accuracy. Further research should explore in greater depth how valence effects differ for various types of stimuli, and under which circumstances these effects can be overridden. Mechanisms behind these valence effects are also yet to be unpicked.

Cette étude se propose de créer un outil de mesure de l'attachement, sur la base d'une complétion d'histoires à partir d'un support photographique : le CHEAP (Complétions d'Histoires pour Évaluation de l'Attachement avec Photos). Ce test, adapté aux personnes porteuses de déficience intellectuelle, requiert peu de capacités d'abstraction et sa durée de passation est courte. Un modèle de réponse à l'item (PCM ; Wright & Masters, 1982) a de plus permis d'obtenir une procédure de cotation simple d'utilisation et rapide. Cet instrument possède également de bonnes propriétés sychométriques. Dans un deuxième temps, le CHEAP a permis de conclure que les adolescents porteurs de Trisomie 21(N=26) et les enfants contrôles (N=27) présenteraient des représentations d'attachement moins sécures que les adolescents témoins (N=64). Par ailleurs, l'étude a permis de mettre en évidence que les adolescents porteurs de T21 ontdavantage de difficultés aux épreuves d'efficience intellectuelle et de vocabulaire et que le nombre de comportements difficiles rapporté par leurs parents est plus élevé que pour les autres groupes (N=96 pour les mères, N=61 pour les pères, pour les trois groupes réunis). En revanche leurs parents ressentent autant d'émotions positives envers leurenfant que ceux des autres groupes, ne sont pas plus stressés que les parents d'adolescents contrôles et présentent les mêmes patterns d'attachement que dans les autres groupes. Ensuite, une analyse de la covariance a montré qu'un des facteurs impliqué dans l'insécurité d'attachement est l'efficience intellectuelle. D'autre part, plus la séparation d'avec les parents à la naissance a été longue, plus grande est la sécurité d'attachement, ce qui témoigne d'une certaine forme de résilience. Finalement, le Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (Marvin & Pianta, 1996) a été utilisé pour la première fois en français lors d'entretiens avec les parents des adolescents porteurs de Trisomie 21, suite à quoi des pistes concernant l'annonce du diagnostic ont été proposées. / This study aims at creating a new tool for assessment of attachment based on a story completion task and photographs: the CHEAP (story completion for assessment of attachment with photos). This test is designed for people with intellectual disabilities, as it requires few abstraction abilities and little time. A simple and fast scoring procedure was made available with the help of an item response theory model (PCM; Wright & Masters, 1982). This instrument also showed goodpsychometric properties. As a second step, using the CHEAP led to the conclusion that teenagers living with Down dyndrome (N=26) and children from the control group (N=27) were more at risk of having insecure representations of attachment than control adolescents (N=64). This study also demonstrated that teenagers with Down Syndrome had more difficulties when they were taking intellectual ability and vocabulary tests and that the number of challenging behaviours reported by their parents was higher than in other groups (N=96 for mothers, N=61 fathers, for three groups altogether). On the other hand, their parents have as mamy positive feelings towards their children as parents of other groups, show the same level of stress as parents of control adolescents, and have the same patterns of attachment as parents from othergroups. Next, a covariance analysis was conducted: having an intellectual disability is one of the factors implicated in insecurity of attachment. Furthermore, the longer children were separated from their parents after birth, the more secure theyare later, which could be a proof of a certain resiliency. Finally, the Reaction to Diagnosis Interview (Marvin & Pianta, 1996) was proposed for the first time in the French language to parents of teenagers with Down Syndrome. This offered suggestions for possible improvements regarding announcement of the diagnosis.

Η διπλωματική μας εργασία έχει ως θέμα της «οι αντιλήψεις των παιδιών ηλικίας 11 ετών σχετικά με το περιεχόμενο ενός κλασικού παιδικού μυθιστορήματος της Πηνελόπης Δέλτα, του «Τρελαντώνη». Το θέμα της είναι πρωτότυπο καθώς από την βιβλιογραφική μας ανασκόπηση δεν εντοπίσαμε να έχει γίνει και να έχει δημοσιευτεί παρόμοια έρευνα στο παρελθόν. Ο λόγος που ασχοληθήκαμε με την μελέτη του εν λόγω θέματος ήταν το γεγονός ότι ο «Τρελαντώνης» είναι ένα παιδικό μυθιστόρημα ιδιαίτερα αγαπητό στα παιδιά του δημοτικού από το 1932 μέχρι σήμερα, παρόλο που η ιστορία που περιγράφει έχει πραγματοποιηθεί όταν η Πηνελόπη Δέλτα ήταν ακόμη παιδί, δηλαδή στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα. Μελετώντας προσεκτικά όλα τα κεφάλαια του βιβλίου ξεχωρίσαμε ορισμένες έννοιες που θωρήσαμε ενδιαφέρουσες και θα επιθυμούσαμε να ανακαλύψουμε πώς τις αντιλαμβάνονται τα παιδιά σήμερα. Αυτές είναι η έννοια της ντροπής, του αξιωματικού, του βασιλιά και της ζητιανιάς που υπάρχουν μέσα στα αποσπάσματα-σκηνές του βιβλίου που διαλέξαμε να διαβάσουμε στα παιδιά στα πλαίσια μιας ηχογραφημένης συνέντευξης μαζί τους. Επομένως για την διερεύνηση του συγκεκριμένου θέματος πραγματοποιήσαμε συνέντευξη σε 41 αγόρια και κορίτσια ηλικίας 11 ετών από τον διευρυμένο σύμφωνα με τον Καλλικράτη, Δήμο Πατρέων. Προφανώς τα αποτελέσματα στα οποία καταλήξαμε μπορεί να μην οδηγούν σε γενικεύσεις αλλά έχουν ενδιαφέρον ως ενδείξεις. / -

The transition to secondary school can represent a significant life event for many adolescents and can adversely affect their psychological adjustment and wellbeing. Little is known about how adjustment to this transition can be facilitated for young people. The review paper critically evaluated the evidence-base for school transition programmes that target pupil's mental wellbeing. A keyword search of abstract databases was conducted and 20 studies were evaluated. The majority of studies could not conclude that their intervention improved mental wellbeing to a statistically significant level, and numerous methodological limitations weaken the existing evidence-base. However, the most promising areas of research pertain to intervening with the parents and teachers of adolescents experiencing school transition. Further research should investigate this further. The empirical paper employed a qualitative methodology to examine how adolescents make sense of and create meaning from their experience of going to boarding school, and to explore what can be done to facilitate this adjustment. Ten female and male adolescents were interviewed in their second year of attending boarding school. The interviews, analysed using lnterpretative Phenomenological Analysis, yielded three superordinate themes: 1) 'Home is where the heart is', which captures adolescents experiences of homesickness, the stronger relationships formed with their family, and the development of new attachment figures with their house matron and peers, 2) 'Living in a bubble', which reflects a feeling of being constrained at boarding school and an awareness of it being a hierarchical environment, and 3) 'Gaining familiarity with the place and just being me' as adolescents appeared to positively adjust over time. Results are discussed in terms of attachment, coping and adjustment theories and models of psychosocial development. Clinical and organisational implications for professionals working in boarding schools, as well as suggestions for future research arc discussed.

L’étude de la prise de décision sous incertitude en psychologie vise à identifier les processus permettant à l’individu d’atteindre un but en sélectionnant une conduite parmi plusieurs alternatives, lorsqu’il existe une incertitude quant aux conséquences respectives de ces différentes conduites. Nos hypothèses se centrent sur le rôle des fonctions exécutives et du raisonnement logico-mathématique chez l’enfant de 5 à 11 ans. Nous abordons cette thématique sous l’angle des approches différentielle (variabilité inter- et intra-individuelle) et développementale (changement micro- et macrogénétique). Quatre études sont présentées. Les deux premières soulignent le rôle de la mémoire de travail dans la résolution de la tâche du casino chez l’enfant de 8 à 11 ans, et émettent quelques réserves quant au rôle des fonctions exécutives à cette même épreuve chez les enfants de 5 à 7 ans (approche longitudinale). La troisième étude vise à étudier les stratégies des enfants de 5 et 6 ans à l’épreuve de quantification des probabilités à partir d’une analyse conjointe des variations individuelles et situationnelles. Nous identifions plusieurs stratégies correspondant à des niveaux de développement distincts, et nous montrons que les enfants les plus âgés témoignent d’une plus grande flexibilité stratégique en réponse aux variations situationnelles. Enfin, la dernière étude cherche à rendre compte des conduites des enfants de 6 à 11 ans à la tâche du casino à partir du modèle de la valence espérée. La perspective est idiographique et se focalise d’abord sur un modèle individuel, avant d’aboutir à une comparaison des seuls individus chez lesquels ce modèle individuel semble pertinent. / The study of decision making under uncertainty in psychology attempts to identify the various processes by which individuals select a course of action among several alternative possibilities in order to reach a particular goal, when the outcomes of this course of action are uncertain. We hypothesize that executive function and logical-mathematical reasoning may play a role in decision making under uncertainty in children aged 5 to 11. We adopt an individual differences approach (between- end within-individual variability) combined with a developmental approach (micro- ans macrogenetic change). Four studies have been conducted. The first two studies underline working memory role in a gambling task in children aged 8 to 11, and cast some doubts on executive function implication in this gambling task in children aged 5 to 7 (test/retest approach). The third study aims to identify the strategies children aged 5 to 6 use in a probability quantification task. By considering both individual and situational variations, we identify various strategies that relates to distinct developmental levels. We show that older children display a greater strategic flexibility in response to situational variations. Finally, the fourth study seeks to investigate decision making in a gambling task with the Expected Valence model in children aged 6 to 11. Our idiographic approach first focuses on an individual model, and then compares the only children whose decisions were appropriately captured by the individual model.