Examination of the theory of mind development in 4-6 years of children in terms of various variables

The basis of the research is to examine the development of theory of mind in children aged 4-6 in terms of various variables. Within this framework, it has been investigated whether there is a difference in theory of mind development in terms of children's age, gender, duration of pre-school education, number of siblings, birth order, family type, caregiver, parents' age, education level and working status. For this research, the general survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used and the research was carried out with 207 children in the 4-6 age group with normal development, who were educated in the pre-school education institutions affiliated to the Maltepe, Üsküdar and Sultanbeyli District Directorates of National Education in Istanbul in the 2021-2022 academic year. As a data collection tool in the research; The personal information form filled in by the children's parents, the teacher form filled in by the children's teachers, and the Theory of Mind Scale were used. In the data analysis part, firstly, the normality distributions were examined and it was determined that the data did not show a normal distribution. For this reason, analyzes were performed with nonparametric tests. In conclusion; It has been observed that the development of theory of mind in children aged 4-6 years does not differ in terms of the child's age, gender, duration of preschool education, the number of siblings, the child's birth order, the child's family structure and the person who takes care of the child. However, it has been determined that there is a significant difference in the information access task in favor of those who play these games in the categories of intelligence games and house games according to the child's game preference., in the open false belief task in favor of those aged 45 and over, according to the age of the mother, in the task of accessing information in favor of university graduates, according to the educational status of the father, and in the task of not having their own belief according to the category of father's working status, in favor of those who did not work In the last part of the study, the results obtained were stated one by one and suggestions were made to researchers, educators and families under the heading of suggestions. It is aimed that the data revealed as a result of this research will provide source data to teachers, families, researchers who will work in this field, similar studies to be conducted and other experts. Keywords: Development, preschool period, theory of mind