Associations between theory of mind and emotion regulation in argentinean adults

Abstract

Theory of Mind is a construct closely related to the cognitive aspect of human empathy, which refers to the ability to represent and interpret mental states in others. The term Emotion Regulation includes all processes aimed to modulate the intensity and duration of different aspects of emotional experience. Clinical evidence suggests that theory of mind alterations and emotion regulation difficulties co-occur in several psychiatric disorders. In addition, it has been suggested that both abilities might be developmentally related, with theory of mind deficits leading to emotional dysregulation. The present study is the first to examine the associations between performance in a theory of mind experimental task (the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale scores, in a non-clinical sample of argentinean adults. We found small, but significant associations between Theory of Mind and Emotion Regulation, indicating that those subjects with higher Theory of Mind scores were better at inhibiting impulsive reactions and identifying their own emotions. In addition, these associations were indepedent of sex, age and education level. These results are congruent (although they do not confirm) with the hypothesis of a developmental link between Theory of Mind and Emotion Regulation.