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Mind-reading kids more popular at school

Adored children Children who are good at reading other's minds are more popular among their peers at school, a new study has found.

But the link between this ability and popularity is stronger in girls than in boys, according to the new research, published today in the journal Child Development.

The ability to tell what people are feeling, thinking and wanting is a basic precursor to emotional intelligence in adults, says developmental psychologist Professor Virginia Slaughter, of the University of Queensland.

"Sometimes in the literature people will talk about mind reading," says Slaughter.

It has been argued that children who possess advanced abilities in this area are viewed favourably by others of their own age.

But after 20 studies involving over 2000 children looking at this question, the jury has been out as to whether this is the case.

Slaughter and colleagues have now confirmed the link after carrying out a meta-analysis of these studies.

Study design

The studies all had a similar design and involved children being anonymously rated by both other children and teachers.

Children were asked to nominate who they liked the best, and teachers were asked which child they thought was most popular.

Then each child's abilities to figure out what people are thinking or feeling was measured, according to their responses to a range of scenarios.

For example, in one scenario, it starts to rain just as a girl arrives to pick a friend up to go to a picnic and she says to her friend 'Wonderful day for a picnic'. The children in the study would have to explain what the girl meant by saying that.

"Children who tend to be good at those sorts of tasks, relative to their peers, also tend to be rated by teachers and peers as being more popular," says Slaughter.

"It's not surprising," she says. "This basic ability should give you many opportunities to behave in ways that make you more popular."

"It means you will notice when someone is confused and explain something to them, or to recognise when someone isn't getting their way and maybe change the situation so they are more satisfied," says Slaughter.

She emphasises, however, the studies are unable to determine whether good mind-reading abilities lead to popularity, or the other way around.

You might be popular for some other reason (your looks or the fact you always have a bag of sweets) and this somehow helps develop your mind-reading abilities.

More to popularity

Slaughter emphasises that having such abilities is not the only factor involved in popularity.

She says their contribution to peer popularity is "relatively small", being about 9 per cent in girls and 2 per cent in boys.

Slaughter says a weaker link between this ability and popularity in boys compared to girls could be explained by the type of relationships they form.

"Girls' friendships are much more interpersonally oriented," she says. "There's a lot more both positive and negative relationship negotiation going on. When boys are punching each other, girls are gossiping nastily about each other."

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