AUTHOR=Schroeder Scott R. 

TITLE=Do Bilinguals Have an Advantage in Theory of Mind? A Meta-Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Communication

VOLUME=Volume 3 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2018.00036

DOI=10.3389/fcomm.2018.00036

ISSN=2297-900X

ABSTRACT=<p>Bilingualism might help children develop Theory of Mind, but the evidence is mixed. To address the disagreement in the literature, a meta-analysis was conducted on studies that compared bilingual and monolingual children on false belief and other Theory of Mind tests. The meta-analysis of 16 studies and 1,283 children revealed a small bilingual advantage (Cohen's <italic>d</italic> = 0.22, <italic>p</italic> = 0.050). A secondary analysis was conducted on studies (<italic>k</italic> = 8) that statistically adjusted the Theory of Mind scores to correct for a bilingual disadvantage in language proficiency. This secondary analysis indicated a medium-size bilingual advantage (Cohen's <italic>d</italic> = 0.58, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). There was no evidence for publication bias in either analysis. Taken together, the results provide support for a beneficial effect of acquiring two languages on mental state reasoning. Explanations for this bilingual advantage, which include bilingual-monolingual differences in executive functioning, metalinguistic awareness, and socio-pragmatic abilities, are discussed.</p>