TY - JOUR
T1 - Empathy, sex and fluid intelligence as predictors of theory of mind
AU - Ibanez, Agustin
AU - Huepe, David
AU - Gempp, René
AU - Gutiérrez, Virna
AU - Rivera-Rei, Alvaro
AU - Toledo, Maria Isabel
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was partially supported by FONDECYT (1100641) to MIT; and by CONICET, FONDECYT (1130920) and INECO Foundation Grants to AI. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of those grants.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) are affected by a variety of factors. We investigated the relationship between empathy, sex and fluid intelligence (FI) as predictors of ToM in a random probabilistic sample of secondary students. First, we explored whether sex, as well as high, average or low levels of empathy and FI affect ToM performance. Furthermore, we assessed the contribution of empathy, sex and FI in predicting ToM by using a path analysis. This method allows testing of causal models of directed dependencies among a set of variables. The causal dependencies of empathy, sex and fluid intelligence were confirmed and identified. In addition, the model confirmed the direct effect of empathy, sex and fluid intelligence on ToM; and the indirect effect of sex mediated by empathy. Thus, individual differences in ToM levels are partially attributable to sex, empathy and fluid intelligence variability, raising important considerations for clinical research as well as ToM's theoretical models of domain specificity.
AB - Individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) are affected by a variety of factors. We investigated the relationship between empathy, sex and fluid intelligence (FI) as predictors of ToM in a random probabilistic sample of secondary students. First, we explored whether sex, as well as high, average or low levels of empathy and FI affect ToM performance. Furthermore, we assessed the contribution of empathy, sex and FI in predicting ToM by using a path analysis. This method allows testing of causal models of directed dependencies among a set of variables. The causal dependencies of empathy, sex and fluid intelligence were confirmed and identified. In addition, the model confirmed the direct effect of empathy, sex and fluid intelligence on ToM; and the indirect effect of sex mediated by empathy. Thus, individual differences in ToM levels are partially attributable to sex, empathy and fluid intelligence variability, raising important considerations for clinical research as well as ToM's theoretical models of domain specificity.
KW - Empathy
KW - Fluid intelligence
KW - Individual differences
KW - Path analysis
KW - Sex
KW - ToM
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871766530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.022
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.022
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871766530
SN - 0191-8869
VL - 54
SP - 616
EP - 621
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
IS - 5
ER -