Does personality and self-esteem influence theory of mind considering age and gender?

Tsai, Yi Lin (2025) Does personality and self-esteem influence theory of mind considering age and gender? Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Human life is said to give credit to theory of mind ability (ToM) that allows human to interpret social stimuli to fit into the society by inferring thoughts of and intentions of others. Emerging evidence demonstrates that exposure to stimuli is a key to ToM development while an increased tendency to withdraw from social situations in introverts is suggested. Studies also show that self-esteem plays an important role in social skills as well.

Aims: The current study aimed to gain a better understanding of to what extent that personality traits (introverts and extraverts) and self-esteem have an impact on ToM considering age and gender.

Method: 46 participants aged between 19 to 60 recruited through convenient sampling method completed The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, McCroskey’s Introversion Scale and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET).

Results: Results showed that there was no difference in ToM between introverts and extraverts. ToM was not associated with age and no difference in ToM was found in the 3 age-groups. Introverts showed a higher level of self-esteem to a statistically significant degree compared to extraverts. There was no association between ToM and self-esteem within introverts. Males had significantly shorter reaction time in emotion identification, however ToM in males did no differ from females considering the number of correctly identified emotions. Neither personality traits nor self-esteem predicted ToM.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of further investigation on the influence of personality traits on ToM. Stereotypes toward introverts often blind people to see their strengths. Introverts may not correlate with deteriorated ToM as expected. The findings also propose that self-esteem may moderate the relationship between introverts and ToM. However, the current findings need to be examined further due to little to no evidence provided in previous research to date. Future studies may seek to fill the gap.

Item Type:	Thesis (Undergraduate)
Supervisors:	Name Email Kelly, Michelle UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Theory of mind (ToM); introverts; extraverts; personality traits; self-esteem; age; gender
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Emotions H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman > Gender
Divisions:	School of Business (- 2025) > BA (Honours) in Psychology
Depositing User:	Ciara O'Brien
Date Deposited:	11 Nov 2025 15:27
Last Modified:	11 Nov 2025 15:27
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/8921

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