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“Theory of mind” (ToM) has become an important theoretical construct in developmental psychology. It refers to the everyday ability to make sense of human behaviour, through an understanding of people as mentalising beings. This understanding is often assessed through a classic false belief test, though there is vast individual difference in the age at which this test is passed: most children pass the task at around the age of 4 years, with a range in the age of competence anywhere from 3 to 5 years in typically developing children. Given this considerable variation, much research in this field has examined factors which predict these individual differences, with one such line of enquiry focussing on social interaction experiences which might predict false belief task success. Research along this vein has examined factors such as family conversations and maternal language, though the aim of the current thesis was to examine the role of uniquely childish social interactions that might foster ToM. This focus was inspired by the finding that children who have siblings develop ToM precociously compared to singleton (only) children, suggesting that child-to-child interactions may indeed be particularly important for ToM development. Two uniquely childish interactions were chosen for examination: pretend play and conflict. While examining each of these social interactions, a somewhat novel methodological approach of a parent questionnaire was adopted, rather than direct, observational methods. Thus a secondary aim of the current thesis was to determine if the rich resource of parents could be usefully tapped to obtain information about child interactions. The first 2 empirical chapters of this thesis focussed on pretend play. The first chapter examined the question of whether pretence and ToM are linked in a cognitive sense, that is, whether understanding in pretence precedes understanding in belief, and whether these 2 areas of understanding are related to each other. This was achieved through 4 experiments, which replicated then modified the procedures of Custer (1996) and Hickling, Wellman and Gottfried (1997), using a sample of 210 children. The results of the experiments within this chapter suggested that pretence understanding did not precede belief understanding. However, pretence understanding was associated with ToM, begging the question as to why this might be so. The proposition offered was that the social and communication qualities of pretence might be more pertinent to ToM development than its representational qualities. Thus, in the second study of the current thesis, pretence was re-examined in relation to ToM, though this time, the social engagement attributes of this activity were focussed on. A total of 50 children were tested on their language ability and false belief, while their mothers completed a questionnaire about their play behaviour with their closest-in-age sibling. The results suggested that only social pretend play was related to ToM, not solitary pretend play. Moreover, within the context of social pretence, only games that were likely to involve role play were found to be related to ToM, other themes of pretence were not. In combination, the results of Study 1 and 2 of the thesis gave limited support to the proposed association between pretend play and theory of mind. Only social, role-play pretence was found to be relevant. Given that role play pretence is known to involve negotiations of roles and plans of action, it was proffered that children’s conflictual interactions with their peers might be a more fruitful area to explore in relation to ToM development. Therefore, the third and fourth studies in this thesis shifted focus towards children’s conflict interactions. In the third study, 54 children were tested on their language ability and false belief performance, while their mothers concurrently completed a questionnaire about children’s conflict behaviours with their closest-in-age sibling. The emotional qualities of children’s disputes with their siblings served as the primary focus of investigation, though other elements such as overall frequency, diversity, and mode of resolution were also examined. The results suggested that children who were able to remain relatively calm emotionally, both during and at the end of their sibling disputes, had the most advanced ToM understanding. The interesting and novel findings of Study 3 prompted further investigation of conflict interactions in relation to ToM. In study 4, a sample of 69 children was examined. Parents completed a questionnaire about sibling and peer disputes conjointly, which included rating the emotional qualities of these disputes as well as their child’s reasoning strategies during these interactions. Children were tested on their language ability, ToM and executive functioning. The results of this final study indicated that children with more advanced reasoning styles performed better on tests of false belief, and contrary to Study 3, the emotional qualities of their disputes were not significantly related to false belief. However, there was significant overlap between children’s reasoning style and the emotional qualities of their peer and sibling disputes, in that, children who had more advanced reasoning abilities tended to have calmer emotions during their conflicts. A further, novel finding of study 4 was the fact that the association between children’s argument styles and their false belief performance was mediated by their executive functioning skills for inhibitory control. Strengths and limitations are addressed in the final general discussion chapter. It is concluded that, although the questionnaire procedure adopted in the current thesis requires further validation, and longitudinal follow on of the results are warranted, the current thesis has substantially added to the extant literature. It has done so by providing a thorough analysis of 2 uniquely childish social interactions in relation to ToM, and through consideration of mediational influences of inhibitory control on these associations. In achieving these aims, the current thesis has suggested that parent questionnaires show promise as a means of obtaining rich information about children’s social interactions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-161).

This thesis explored whether youth mentoring could be used as a crime prevention strategy for Ontario. It examined risk factors for youth crime and social bonding theory, the effectiveness of selected programs to prevent crime and best practices, and Ontario government reports on effective crime prevention. It also explored youth mentoring in practice with some mentors from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa and Sudbury Ontario. The analysis of the literature on risk factors for youth crime identified a number of individual, relationship, community, and societal level factors that correlate with the likelihood of a young person engaging in crime. Travis Hirschi’s social bonding theory provided a lens to understand the contribution mentoring can have on preventing crime through attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief with parents and schools. The evidence-based research on the effectiveness of selected programs that had a mentoring component showed that the likelihood of offending could be reduced with other well-being indicators. Research on mentoring relationships showed that when mentors focused on the assets of the youth and were committed to the relationship, they could foster a lasting emotional bond. Best practices of an effective youth mentoring program included outreaching to vulnerable youth, involving parents, screening and training mentors, matching mentors and mentees based on background, having mentoring connected to a larger strategy, following a developmental approach, and developing standards for implementation. The recent reports from the Province of Ontario on crime prevention and community safety use much of the same evidence on risk factors and social development programs to confirm that prevention is an effective way to reduce crime. These reports also point to strong public support for government investment in prevention and education over punishment. The semi-structured interviews with mentoring practitioners in Sudbury and Ottawa, Ontario analyzed the methods used by mentors volunteering with high-risk youth in the Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based program. Results showed the organizational procedure, youth and risk factors, the bonding process between mentors and mentees, and challenges of mentoring at-risk youth were important. Mentors had positive beliefs on the impacts mentoring had on preventing crime and violence. Therefore, youth mentoring is a crime prevention strategy consistent with evidence and government reports and so is viable, but will require political support and investment upstream to make a difference across the province.

This thesis describes a research project undertaken in a school located in a deprive neighbourhood of Bogota, the capital of Colombia. The project investigated the effects of musical experiences on social and musical development by means of a mixed methods approach involving children, parents, and teachers. The project comprises three studies: an experimental intervention study; and interviews study and a psycho-musicological study. The experimental intervention study was carried out with two groups of 52 children between six to eight years old; the experimental group followed a music programme of a singing workshop in which children made musical improvisations. The interviews study carried out interviews with the children, parent and teacher conducted during the intervention programme. The psycho-musicological case study analyse the musical improvisations of six of the children. Data analysis includes the statistical analysis of the children‘s tests (Harter´s Perceived Competence Scale for Children, 1999)and Self-Efficacy in Music, Hargreaves et al., 2002), qualitative analysis of parents‘, children‘s and teachers‘ interviews and a psycho-musicological analysis of children‘s musical improvisations (Ockelford, 2007) and its relation to children‘s cognitive and socio-emotional development. The principal findings are that the cognitive component of the self-identity of children who undertook the music programme increased. This appears to be related to the children‘s cultural environment, their parents‘ attitudes, and the idiosyncratic ways in which they use music to express themselves. Music appears to help them to be resilient, to manage the challenges they face, and to adapt to changes in the environment.

The service sector in the world economy is growing and becomes increasingly important. It is widely recognised that the success and vitality of the service sector are the essential factors in measuring an economy’s progress, its quality and its future. Improving service quality is therefore considered an essential strategy for success and survival in today’s competitive economic environment. Small businesses are equally important for a country’s economy. They play an important role in the economic and social development of countries. The correct location for small businesses can contribute to their success and, many consider shopping centres as a good location for their businesses. The landlords however, have a huge impact on small business tenants’ success in shopping centres. Although landlords of shopping centres realise the importance of accommodating small independent businesses in their centres, it is argued that they are at a competitive disadvantage regarding the service they receive in comparison with that of bigger anchor tenants. There are several research studies on the measurement of service quality in several service sectors, but none has addressed the quality of service rendered by landlords of shopping centres to their small business tenants. The purpose of this study is to measure the perceived service quality that small business tenants in shopping centres receive from landlords. The study will also determine whether the existing SERVPERF and FAIRSERV service quality models will be suitable to measure the service quality that landlords render to small business tenants. The findings of the empirical study have revealed that small business tenants in shopping centres are in general dissatisfied with the service that they receive from their landlords. Factor analysis was done to determine the factors or dimensions of service quality that small business tenants deemed as important. From this study it became clear that small business tenants in shopping centres are concerned about mainly two aspects of the service they receive from landlords, namely intangible aspects as well as marketing and tangible aspects. This study has therefore proved that the five dimensions of SERVPERF and the one dimension of FAIRSERV cannot be applied directly to measure the perceived service quality that small business tenants receive from their landlords. The One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was also executed to illustrate statistical differences between various variables. The contribution of this study to the science, as well as its possible limitations and areas for future research, is also discussed. This study further shows that, although small business tenants are dissatisfied with the service they receive from landlords, they have indicated that they will stay on as tenants in the centres. The reason for this is that it is simply too expensive for them to move to another location and also because shopping centres are good locations for their businesses. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Business Management / unrestricted