Les cinq études détaillées au cours de cette thèse interrogent divers aspects de la théorie de l’esprit, de la conscience de soi ainsi que du lien (multiple ou unique) qui unit ces deux capacités sociocognitives si particulières. Les deux premières études mettent en évidence différentes variables qui peuvent – ou non- influencer l’attribution d’intention et de fausse croyance à autrui. La troisième étude porte plus précisément sur les différents composants de la conscience de soi et sur leur trajectoire développementale. La quatrième étude interroge le lien développemental entre la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi, alors que la dernière étude questionne la présence de ce lien chez les chimpanzés (Pan Troglodytes). Nous démontrerons, tout au long de cette thèse, que la théorie de l’esprit et la conscience de soi sont composées de différents éléments et que leur acquisition est graduelle. / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse par articles étudie les origines de la sophistication politique. Les chapitres un, deux et trois étudient l'impact d'une série de variables sur les connaissances politiques tandis que le chapitre quatre examine l'impact des connaissances politiques sur la façon dont les individus mettent à jour leurs opinions. Le premier article explore les effets de l'éducation collégiale, l'intérêt politique et les capacités cognitives sur le développement des connaissances politiques. Nous montrons que l'enseignement collégial général a un impact relativement petit sur le développement des connaissances politiques, mais l'enseignement collégial en sciences sociales et humaines a un impact positif sur la connaissance politique, mettant en évidence un effet substantiel de l'éducation. De plus, nous démontrons que les habiletés cognitives déterminent le niveau de connaissances générales, tandis que l'intérêt politique et l'éducation affectent également la variation des connaissances politiques au fil du temps. Le deuxième article étudie l'impact des aptitudes verbales à l'âge de cinq ans sur trois indicateurs importants de la sophistication politique: les connaissances politiques à 16 ans, ainsi que l'intérêt politique et la participation à 30 ans. Il est démontré que les aptitudes verbales à l'âge de 5 ans ont un impact fort et non linéaire sur les connaissances politiques à 16 ans, et l'intérêt politique à 30 ans, tandis que leur impact sur la participation future est fort et linéaire. Enfin, l'impact des variables parentales sur les connaissances politiques est considérablement réduit lorsque les compétences verbales précoces sont prises en compte. Le troisième article examine l'impact de l'ouverture aux expériences sur la sophistication politique. Il est soutenu que c'est l'intellectualisme qui explique la relation trouvée entre l'ouverture et l'information politique dans les recherches passées et que les nouvelles recherches utilisant le Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) ne devraient pas reproduire ce résultat. L'article soutient que c'est parce que l'échelle TIPI évalue l'aspect esthétique de l'ouverture et est mal adapté pour capturer sa composante intellectuelle. Il est également démontré que l'impact de l'intellectualisme en tant que trait de personnalité tient aussi lorsque les habiletés cognitives sont prises en compte. Le dernier article a deux objectifs. Le premier est de considérer l'impact des connaissances politiques sur les perceptions du biais médiatique. Le second est d'étendre la recherche sur les perceptions des biais médiatiques à un électorat non américain. Nous constatons que, comme c'est le cas aux États-Unis, les conservateurs sont plus enclins à croire en l'existence de biais médiatiques. Il est également démontré que les citoyens les plus informés sont plus susceptibles de penser que les médias sont biaisés, mais ils ne sont pas plus susceptibles de percevoir ces biais lorsqu'ils ne sont pas d'accord avec un journaliste. Par conséquent, il appert que les citoyens plus informés ne sont pas plus susceptibles de faire montre de raisonnement motivé. / This thesis by articles investigates the origins of political sophistication. Chapters one, two, and three investigate the impact of a series of variables on political knowledge, while Chapter four looks at the impact of political knowledge on how individuals update their opinions. The first paper explores the effects of college education, political interest, and cognitive abilities on the development of political knowledge. It is shown that general college education has a minimal impact on political knowledge development, but college education in social sciences and humanities has a positive impact on political knowledge, highlighting a substantive effect of education. Moreover, it is shown that cognitive skills determine one's general knowledge level, while political interest and education also affect political knowledge variation over time. The second paper looks at the impact of early verbal skills on political sophistication. This paper investigates the impact of verbal skills at five years of age on three important indicators of political sophistication: political knowledge at 16, as well as political interest and turnout at 30. It is shown that verbal skills at 5 years of age have a strong and non-linear impact on political knowledge at 16, and political interest at 30, while their impact on future turnout is strong and linear. Finally, the impact of parental variables on political knowledge is significantly reduced when early verbal skills are accounted for. The third article looks at the impact of openness to experience on political sophistication. This paper seeks to investigate this relation by distinguishing two different aspects of openness to experience that are sometimes overlooked: the aesthetic and the intellectual components of openness. It is argued that the latter explains the relation found between openness and political knowledge in past research, and that new research using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) should not be expected to replicate this finding. The paper argues that this is because the TIPI scale assesses the aesthetic aspect of openness and is ill suited to capture its intellectual component. It is also shown that the impact of intellectualism as a personality trait also holds when cognitive skills are taken into account. The last paper has two goals. The first is to consider the impact of political knowledge on perceptions of media bias. The second is to extend research on media bias perceptions to a non-American electorate. It is shown that, as found in the US, Conservatives are more prone to believe in the existence of media bias. It is also shown that the most knowledgeable citizens are more likely to think that the media are biased, but they are not more likely to perceive bias when they disagree with a journalist. These results hold true even when a variety of potential confounding factors such as personality traits are taken into account.

Emotions and its effect on the individual’s general functioning are a key concept of humanity. The modern child is confronted with all kinds of emotional developmental tasks with direct influence on his ultimate figuration to adulthood. Emotion is an internal experience in contrast to the fact that various reactions are displayed externally as a result thereof. Children’s behavior demonstrates that which are experienced internally. It might also be a way to conceal especially those emotions. Emotional awareness manifests through demonstration or concealing of inner feelings. The child’s external reactions to inner feelings must be based on knowledge of what is being experienced. Behavior is mostly a reaction to ignorance of the inner experience which might manifest in anxiety attacks, anger and emotional episodes. Empowerment of the child to recognize and experience emotions enables him to gain insight of emotions as a natural part of human nature. This causes him to develop the ability to express emotion in a socially acceptable manner. The process of emotional awareness alerts the child to the fact those specific emotions results in specific bodily experiences. Emotional awareness is an indication of the child’s knowledge of emotions and its impact in emotional, physical and psychological reactions. It provides an explanation for anxieties and fears which enables the child to own these feelings and take control of it. The middle childhood phase is the period that follows the achievement of a mass of developmental skills like the mastery of language, control over bodily functions and cognitive abilities. These abilities are refined in this phase. Emotional awareness and especially concepts of self and the purpose of individuals in the systems that surrounds him evolves. Considerable part of the child’s day during this phase, is spent at school. Emotional wellbeing can thus efficiently be recognized and addressed by the educational system. The educator’s knowledge of emotional awareness will ensure meaningful emotional development of learners. Results obtained from questionaires completed by educators in primary education indicates a need for understanding of problem behavior in children. The need for education on emotional awareness and techniques for development of emotional awareness in learners is also expressed. The focus of this study is thus on the concept of educators regarding the emotional awareness of learners; the role of emotional awareness in the child’s development and the educators knowledge regarding development of emotional skills and promotion of emotional awareness. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / MSD / unrestricted

Choisir un partenaire sexuel est une décision importante pour un animal. Parce que cette décision va considérablement affecter son succès reproducteur, l’individu doit se baser sur un ensemble de traits qui reflètent la qualité du partenaire. Depuis peu, une attention particulière est portée sur l’importance de la cognition dans le contexte de choix de partenaire. En effet, la capacité à percevoir, intégrer, mémoriser et utiliser l’information disponible dans l’environnement permet aux individus de répondre de manière appropriée aux problèmes qu’ils rencontrent et d’ajuster leur comportement en conséquent. Si les femelles retirent un bénéfice à s’apparier avec des mâles capables de répondre aux changements de leur environnement, ces derniers pourraient avoir un accès privilégié à l’appariement lors du choix de partenaire des femelles. Certaines évidences appuient cette idée en démontrant notamment des relations positives entre les capacités cognitives des mâles et leur succès d’appariement et reproducteur et en révélant des préférences sexuelles femelles pour des traits cognitifs mâles. Cependant, ces résultats restent très contrastés, particulièrement chez les animaux non humains où l’importance du choix de partenaire dans l’évolution de la cognition n’est pas encore clairement définie. L’objectif de ma thèse était donc d’explorer le rôle du choix de partenaire dans l’évolution de la cognition mâle et femelle en combinant l’approche observationnelle sur une espèce d’oiseaux monogame et l’approche théorique en utilisant un modèle à base d’agents. Plus précisément, en réalisant des expériences en laboratoire sur le Diamant mandarin (Taeniopygia guttata), j’ai notamment testé si les femelles démontrent une préférence pour des mâles capables d’ajuster leur comportement d’approvisionnement en réponse à un changement environnemental. J’ai ensuite examiné, dépendamment de leurs propres capacités cognitives, si les femelles expriment des préférences pour des mâles performants dans quatre tests psychométriques différents. J’ai finalement exploré les rôles respectifs de la sélection naturelle et intersexuelle en simulant l’évolution de la cognition sous différents scénarios environnementaux. Les résultats de cette thèse ont révélé que les femelles diamants mandarin exprimaient une préférence pour les mâles capables d’ajuster leur comportement d’approvisionnement ainsi que les mâles performants dans certaines tâches cognitives. Cependant, ces préférences n’étaient pas unanimes et dépendaient des propres capacités cognitives des femelles à performer dans ces différentes situations. À l’échelle évolutive, la sélection intersexuelle à travers le choix de partenaire modifiait les patrons d’évolution de la cognition prédits lorsque la sélection naturelle opérait seule. En effet, elle favorisait l’évolution de bonnes capacités cognitives lorsque les contraintes environnementales étaient faibles, mais maintenait de la diversité cognitive lorsque ces contraintes étaient élevées. Dans l’ensemble, ces résultats suggèrent que le choix de partenaire jouerait un rôle important dans l’évolution et le maintien de diversité cognitive au sein des populations. Néanmoins, les conséquences évolutives du choix de partenaire sur les capacités cognitives des individus dépendraient de l’avantage adaptatif à s’apparier avec un mâle plus performant, c’est-à-dire de la capacité cognitive mâle considérée, des caractéristiques des femelles et de l’environnement dans lequel ce choix est fait. / Choosing a mate is an important decision for an animal. Because this decision significantly affects an individual’s reproductive success, it must base its choice according to different traits that reflect the quality of potential mates. Recently, a particular attention has been given to cognitive traits in mate choice context. Indeed, the ability to perceive, integrate, memorize and use the information available in the environment allows individuals to act properly when facing a problem and to adjust their behaviours accordingly. Given that females could benefit from choosing males capable of responding to environmental changes, those with good cognitive abilities should have privileged access to females in mate choice contexts. Some evidence supports this idea by revealing positive relationships between males’ cognitive abilities and their mating and reproductive success as well as female mating preference for male cognitive abilities. However, these results stay contrasted, particularly in non-human animals for which the importance of mate choice in the evolution of cognition is still not clearly defined. The objective of my PhD was to explore the role of mate choice in the evolution of male and female cognition by combining an observational approach using a monogamous bird species and a theoretical approach using an agent-based model. Specifically, by running laboratory experiments on zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), I tested whether females demonstrated a mate preference for males able to adjust their foraging behaviour following an environmental change. Then, I investigated whether females, depending on their own cognitive abilities, demonstrated a mate preference for better performers in four different psychometric tests. I finally explored the relative role of natural and sexual selection by simulating the evolution of cognition under different environmental scenarios. The results of this PhD project revealed that zebra finch females preferred males exhibiting greater behavioural plasticity in their foraging tactic use as well as males performing better in several cognitive tasks. However, females’ preference for cognitive abilities was not unanimous but depended on females’ own abilities to perform in these tasks. At the evolutionary scale, intersexual selection through mate choice changed the evolutive patterns observed under natural selection alone. In fact, intersexual selection promoted good cognitive abilities under most favourable environments but maintained cognitive diversity under the harsher ones. Taken together, these results suggest that mate choice plays an important role in the evolution and maintenance of cognitive diversity within populations. Nevertheless, the evolutive consequences of mate choice on individual cognitive abilities should depend on i) the adaptive value of mating with a male with better performance, and thus, on the cognitive ability considered, ii) the female characteristics and iii) the local environment during mate choice.

No description available.

Abstract There has been an increase in the number of studies investigating the relationship between chronotype, cognitive abilities and academic achievement in different populations. It has been found that an individual’s natural tendency to prefer morning or evening activities is associated with circadian rhythms. The current literature review aims to further review and explore individual differences in chronotype in relation to cognitive abilities and academic achievement and an overview of current evidence on different moderators in chronotypes. The systematic literature review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and the Study Quality Assessment tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional studies from the National Institute of Health was employed to assess the quality of the studies included. The systematic literature review identified three studies with 2162 health students from various countries that were eligible for inclusion. Due to the heterogeneity of the studies included, a meta-analysis could not be performed. One of the three studies’ reports was marked with fair quality as some data were missing from their report while the other two were marked to be good quality. The research on individual differences in relation to chronotype, cognitive abilities and academic achievement was not conclusive; however, a positive but weak correlation between cognitive abilities and academic achievement was found when GPA score was considered. Additionally, a significant correlation was identified between learning styles and chronotypes with eveningness obtaining a higher percentage in auditory learning than morningness. On the other hand, morningness obtained higher scores on visual learning styles than eveningness. This correlation was influenced by their chronotype. This systematic review observed differences in outcomes, which could not be compared due to the small sample size, more research into the relationship is required to fill the research gap and determine the effects of these inconsistencies in the relationships / Sammanfattning Det har skett en ökning av antalet studier som undersöker sambandet mellan kronotyp, kognitiva förmågor och akademisk utförande i olika populationer och det har visat att en individs naturliga tendens att föredra morgon eller kvälls aktiviteter är förknippad med dygnsrytmer. Den aktuella litteraturöversikten syftar till att ytterligare granska och undersöka kronotyp i relation till kognitiv förmågor och akademisk prestation samt att ge en översikt över aktuella bevis på olika moderator variabler i kronotyper. Den systematiska litteraturen granskning utfördes efter de riktlinjerna i Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) och Study Quality Assessment tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional studies from the National Institute of Health användas för att bedöma kvaliteten på de inkluderade studierna. Den systematiska översikten identifierade tre studier med 2162 friska individer med olika nationalitet som mötte inklusionskriterierna. På grund av studiernas heterogentitet kunde en meta-analys inte utföras. En av de tre studierna rapporterar var märkt med rimlig kvalitet eftersom vissa data saknades i artikeln medan de andra två bedömdes ha god validitet. Forskningen om sambandet mellan kronotyp, kognitiva förmågor och akademiska presentation var inte övertygande; dock fann man ett positivt, men svagt samband mellan kognitiva förmågor och academiska prestation när GPA-poäng beaktades. Dessutom identifierades en signifikant korrelation mellan inlärningsstilar och kronotyper, där kvällskänslan fick en högre andel i auditiv inlärning än morgonkänslan. Å andra sidan fick morgonen högre poäng på visuella stilar än kvällskänslan. Denna korrelation påverkades av deras kronotype. Denna systematiska översikten observerade skillnader i resultat som inte kunde jämföras på grund av den lilla urvalsstorlekan, mer forskning om sambandet behövs för att fylla forskningsluckan och fastställa effekterna av dessa inkonsekvenser i relationerna

This thesis deals with one of the most debated topics of the Personnel Psychology - the personnel selection. The aim of the thesis is to provide an exhaustive overview of the designing process of the selection procedures with special attention being paid to the various methods of selecting employees. Attention was primarily paid to the effort that the knowledge of the otherwise common methods of selecting employees be put in the new framework and the latest ways of their application. Particular emphasis has been put upon the new approaches to the method of interview, cognitive abilities testing, detection of individual personality at work and new methods in designing assessment centers. An interesting chapter is the use of emotional factors as selection criteria and the application of the attachment theory to work. Considerable extent of the thesis is also devoted to the methods of job analysis and competency modeling, their comparison and applications. Based on the previous theoretical treatise the empirical part attempts at creating a competency model for senior executives in the hotel industry and proposes possible ways of its practical use.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others’ mental states and thus to predict their behavior (Perner, 1991). Therefore, ToM is essential for the adequate adjustment of behavior in social situations. ToM can be divided into: 1) cognitive ToM encompassing inferences about intentions and beliefs and 2) affective ToM encompassing inferences about emotions (Shamay-Tsoory, Harari, Aharon-Peretz, & Levkovitz, 2010). Well-functioning skills of both ToM aspects are much-needed in the developmental period of adolescence because in this age phase peer relationships become more important and romantic relationships arise (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Importantly, affective psychopathological disorders often have their onset in adolescence. ToM development in adolescence might be based on underlying cognitive mechanisms such as the ability to inhibit one’s own thoughts in order to understand another person’s thoughts (Carlson & Moses, 2001). Another possible mechanism relates to functional brain development across adolescence (Blakemore, 2008). Therefore, neurocognitive mechanisms may underlie ongoing ToM development in adolescence. First studies indicate an ongoing behavioral and functional brain development of ToM (e.g. Blakemore, 2008). However, ToM development in adolescence and how this might relate to underlying (neuro)cognitive functions remains largely underexamined. The major aims of the current thesis were first to answer the overall question whether there is an ongoing development of ToM in adolescence. This question relates to both behavioral and functional brain development. As a second major aim, the present work sought to elucidate possible (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ongoing ToM development across adolescence. Specifically, these cognitive mechanisms might be basic cognitive functions as well as executive functions. Additionally, the present work aimed at exploring potential (neuro)cognitive mechanisms through an integration of both behavioral and functional brain studies. The current experimental work spans three cross-sectional studies investigating adolescents (aged around 12-15 years) and young adults (aged around 18-22 years) to examine for the first time both the behavioral (studies I and II) and functional brain development of ToM (study III) in adolescence and its underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. In all three studies, more complex, advanced ToM tasks were employed to avoid ceiling effects. Study I was aimed at investigating if cognitive and affective ToM continues to develop in adolescence and at exploring if basic cognitive variables such as verbal ability, speed of processing, and working memory capacity underlie such development. Hence, two groups of adolescents and young adults completed tasks of ToM and basic cognitive abilities. Large age effects were revealed on both measures of ToM: adolescents performed lower than adults. These age differences remained significant after controlling for basic cognitive variables. However, verbal ability covaried with performance in affective ToM. Overall, results support the hypothesis of an ongoing development of ToM from adolescence to adulthood on both cognitive and affective aspects. Results may further indicate verbal ability being a basic cognitive mechanism of affective ToM. Study II was designed to further explore if affective ToM, as measured with a dynamic realistic task, continues to develop across adolescence. Importantly, this study sought to explore executive functions as higher cognitive mechanisms of developing affective ToM across adolescence. A large group spanning adolescents and young adults evaluated affective mental states depicted by actors in video clips. Additionally, participants were examined with three subcomponents of executive functions, inhibition, updating, and shifting following the classification of Miyake et al. (2000). Affective ToM performance was positively related to age and all three executive functions. Specifically, inhibition explained the largest amount of variance in age related differences of affective ToM performance. Overall, these results indicate the importance of inhibition as key underlying mechanism of developing an advanced affective ToM in adolescence. Study III set out to explore the functional brain development of affective ToM in adolescence by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The affective ToM measure was the behavioral developmentally sensitive task from study II. An additional control condition consisted of the same emotional stimuli with the instruction to focus on physical information. This study faced methodical challenges of developmental fMRI studies by matching performance of groups. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) was significantly less deactivated in adolescents in comparison to adults, which might suggest that adolescents seem to rely more on self-referential processes for affective ToM. Furthermore, adolescents compared to adults showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the control condition, indicating that adolescents might be distracted by the emotional content and therefore needed to focus more on the physical content of the stimulus. These findings suggest affective ToM continues to develop on the functional brain level and reveals different underlying neurocognitive strategies for adolescents in contrast to adults. In summary, the current thesis investigated whether ToM continues to develop in adolescence until young adulthood and explored underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. Findings suggest that there is indeed an ongoing development of both the cognitive and affective aspect of ToM, which importantly contributes to the conceptual debate. Moreover, the second benefit to the debate is to demonstrate how this change may occur. As a basic cognitive mechanism verbal ability and as an executive functioning mechanism inhibition was revealed. Furthermore, neurocognitive mechanisms in form of different underlying neurocognitive strategies of adolescents compared to adults were shown. Taken together, ToM development in adolescence seems to mirror a different adaptive cognitive style in adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012). This seems to be important for solving the wealth of socio-emotional developmental tasks that are relevant for this age span.

No description available.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others’ mental states and thus to predict their behavior (Perner, 1991). Therefore, ToM is essential for the adequate adjustment of behavior in social situations. ToM can be divided into: 1) cognitive ToM encompassing inferences about intentions and beliefs and 2) affective ToM encompassing inferences about emotions (Shamay-Tsoory, Harari, Aharon-Peretz, & Levkovitz, 2010). Well-functioning skills of both ToM aspects are much-needed in the developmental period of adolescence because in this age phase peer relationships become more important and romantic relationships arise (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). Importantly, affective psychopathological disorders often have their onset in adolescence. ToM development in adolescence might be based on underlying cognitive mechanisms such as the ability to inhibit one’s own thoughts in order to understand another person’s thoughts (Carlson & Moses, 2001). Another possible mechanism relates to functional brain development across adolescence (Blakemore, 2008). Therefore, neurocognitive mechanisms may underlie ongoing ToM development in adolescence. First studies indicate an ongoing behavioral and functional brain development of ToM (e.g. Blakemore, 2008). However, ToM development in adolescence and how this might relate to underlying (neuro)cognitive functions remains largely underexamined. The major aims of the current thesis were first to answer the overall question whether there is an ongoing development of ToM in adolescence. This question relates to both behavioral and functional brain development. As a second major aim, the present work sought to elucidate possible (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ongoing ToM development across adolescence. Specifically, these cognitive mechanisms might be basic cognitive functions as well as executive functions. Additionally, the present work aimed at exploring potential (neuro)cognitive mechanisms through an integration of both behavioral and functional brain studies. The current experimental work spans three cross-sectional studies investigating adolescents (aged around 12-15 years) and young adults (aged around 18-22 years) to examine for the first time both the behavioral (studies I and II) and functional brain development of ToM (study III) in adolescence and its underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. In all three studies, more complex, advanced ToM tasks were employed to avoid ceiling effects. Study I was aimed at investigating if cognitive and affective ToM continues to develop in adolescence and at exploring if basic cognitive variables such as verbal ability, speed of processing, and working memory capacity underlie such development. Hence, two groups of adolescents and young adults completed tasks of ToM and basic cognitive abilities. Large age effects were revealed on both measures of ToM: adolescents performed lower than adults. These age differences remained significant after controlling for basic cognitive variables. However, verbal ability covaried with performance in affective ToM. Overall, results support the hypothesis of an ongoing development of ToM from adolescence to adulthood on both cognitive and affective aspects. Results may further indicate verbal ability being a basic cognitive mechanism of affective ToM. Study II was designed to further explore if affective ToM, as measured with a dynamic realistic task, continues to develop across adolescence. Importantly, this study sought to explore executive functions as higher cognitive mechanisms of developing affective ToM across adolescence. A large group spanning adolescents and young adults evaluated affective mental states depicted by actors in video clips. Additionally, participants were examined with three subcomponents of executive functions, inhibition, updating, and shifting following the classification of Miyake et al. (2000). Affective ToM performance was positively related to age and all three executive functions. Specifically, inhibition explained the largest amount of variance in age related differences of affective ToM performance. Overall, these results indicate the importance of inhibition as key underlying mechanism of developing an advanced affective ToM in adolescence. Study III set out to explore the functional brain development of affective ToM in adolescence by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The affective ToM measure was the behavioral developmentally sensitive task from study II. An additional control condition consisted of the same emotional stimuli with the instruction to focus on physical information. This study faced methodical challenges of developmental fMRI studies by matching performance of groups. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) was significantly less deactivated in adolescents in comparison to adults, which might suggest that adolescents seem to rely more on self-referential processes for affective ToM. Furthermore, adolescents compared to adults showed greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the control condition, indicating that adolescents might be distracted by the emotional content and therefore needed to focus more on the physical content of the stimulus. These findings suggest affective ToM continues to develop on the functional brain level and reveals different underlying neurocognitive strategies for adolescents in contrast to adults. In summary, the current thesis investigated whether ToM continues to develop in adolescence until young adulthood and explored underlying (neuro)cognitive mechanisms. Findings suggest that there is indeed an ongoing development of both the cognitive and affective aspect of ToM, which importantly contributes to the conceptual debate. Moreover, the second benefit to the debate is to demonstrate how this change may occur. As a basic cognitive mechanism verbal ability and as an executive functioning mechanism inhibition was revealed. Furthermore, neurocognitive mechanisms in form of different underlying neurocognitive strategies of adolescents compared to adults were shown. Taken together, ToM development in adolescence seems to mirror a different adaptive cognitive style in adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012). This seems to be important for solving the wealth of socio-emotional developmental tasks that are relevant for this age span.:Abstract 1 1 General Introduction 4 1.1 Concept of ToM: cognitive and affective aspects 7 1.2 ToM Development 8 1.2.1 ToM Development until Adolescence 9 1.2.2 ToM Development in Adolescence 12 1.3 Cognitive Mechanisms 14 1.3.1 Basic Cognitive Functions 15 1.3.2 Executive Functions 17 1.4 Neurocognitive Mechanisms 19 1.4.1 Functional brain development of ToM 20 1.4.2 Integrating behavioral and functional brain studies 21 2 Outline and Central Questions 24 2.1 Does ToM continue to develop in adolescence? 24 2.1.1 Does ToM continue to develop on the behavioral level? 24 2.1.2 Does ToM continue to develop on the level of brain function? 25 2.2 What are (neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ToM development in adolescence? 26 2.2.1 What are basic cognitive and executive functioning mechanisms? 26 2.2.2 Can mechanisms be concluded from the integration of behavioral data and functional brain processes? 26 3 Study I – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Basic Cognitive Mechanisms 28 3.1 Introduction 28 3.2 Method 32 3.2.1 Participants 32 3.2.2 Materials 33 3.3 Results 36 3.3.1 Age Effects 36 3.3.2 Influence of puberty on social cognition 37 3.3.3 Controlling for Basic Cognitive Abilities 39 3.4 Discussion 40 3.4.1 Overview 40 3.4.2 Age differences in social cognition 40 3.4.3 Influence of puberty on social cognition 42 3.4.4 Covariates of age differences in social cognition 42 3.4.5 Conclusions 43 4 Study II – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Executive Functioning Mechanisms 45 4.1 Introduction 45 4.2 Method 49 4.2.1 Participants 49 4.2.2 Materials 49 4.3 Results 52 4.3.1 Decomposing the Age Effect in Affective Theory of Mind 54 4.4 Discussion 55 4.4.1 Overview 55 4.4.2 Conclusions 57 5 Study III – ToM Development in Adolescence and its Neurocognitive Mechanisms 59 5.1 Introduction 59 5.2 Method 61 5.2.1 Participants 61 5.2.2 Stimuli, design and procedure 62 5.2.3 Statistical analysis of behavioral data 65 5.2.4 Functional imaging 65 5.2.5 Statistical analysis of fMRI data 66 5.3 Results 67 5.3.1 Behavioral results 67 5.3.2 fMRI results 68 5.4 Discussion 71 5.4.1 Developmental differences in brain activations 71 5.4.2 Conclusions 74 6 General Discussion 75 6.1 Summary of empirical findings 75 6.2 Discussion and integration of the main empirical findings 76 6.2.1 Continued ToM development in adolescence 76 6.2.2 (Neuro)cognitive mechanisms of ToM development in adolescence 80 6.3 Implications and outlook 89 6.3.1 Current findings and their conceptual fit to present models of ToM 90 6.3.2 Underpinning the concept of cognitive and affective ToM 91 6.3.3 Conceptual and methodical implications of performance matching 92 6.3.4 The role of puberty on ToM 94 6.3.5 Predicting other’s economic behavior 95 6.3.6 Structural brain development 96 6.3.7 Applied perspective 97 6.4 Summary 98 References 99