Although the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression has been theorized, empirical findings have not revealed a clear link between these constructs. In the current meta-analytic review, we integrated findings from 83 studies (141 effect sizes) involving 41,650 participants from 18 countries to elucidate the association between ToM and aggression in typically developing children, adolescents, and adults. We found a significant negative association between ToM and aggression overall (r = −0.15). Moreover, each type and function of aggression were negatively associated with Theory of Mind (ToM). Bullying—a distinct form of aggression—was not associated with ToM. The strength of the association between overall aggression and ToM varied as a function of methodological variables: First, studies that used self-report questionnaires to measure ToM and aggression yielded the strongest effect sizes, compared to those that used task-based assessments or questionnaires completed by others (parents, teachers, peers). Second, there was a difference in the ToM measurement with the measures examining ToM with non-false belief understanding tasks yielding a stronger mean effect than those that focused exclusively on false-belief understanding. Third, the magnitude of the negative association was found to increase with participants' age, though significant negative associations between ToM and aggression held across the lifespan. These results point to the critical link between ToM and aggressive tendencies and suggest the value in implementing interventions to improve mental state understanding across the age range to foster positive social interactions.

尽管心理理论 (ToM) 与攻击性之间的关联已被理论化，但实证研究结果尚未揭示这些结构之间的明确联系。在当前的荟萃分析综述中，我们整合了 83 项研究（141 个效应量）的结果，涉及来自 18 个国家的 41,650 名参与者，以阐明 ToM 与典型发育中的儿童、青少年和成人的攻击行为之间的关联。我们发现 ToM 和总体攻击性之间存在显着的负相关关系（r  = -0.15）。此外，每种攻击类型和功能都与心理理论（ToM）呈负相关。欺凌——一种独特的攻击形式——与 ToM 无关。整体攻击性与 ToM 之间的关联强度随方法变量的变化而变化：首先，与使用基于任务的评估或完成的问卷的研究相比，使用自我报告问卷来衡量 ToM 和攻击性的研究产生了最强的效应量由其他人（父母、老师、同龄人）。其次，ToM 测量与通过非错误信念理解任务检查 ToM 的测量结果存在差异，与那些专门关注错误信念理解的任务相比，其平均效果更强。第三，尽管 ToM 与攻击行为之间在整个生命周期中都存在显着的负相关，但负相关的程度被发现随着参与者年龄的增长而增加。这些结果指出了 ToM 与攻击倾向之间的关键联系，并表明了实施干预措施以提高整个年龄段的心理状态理解以促进积极的社会互动的价值。