Does Theory of Mind Predict Social Withdrawal in 4–5‐Year‐Old Children? The Moderating Role of Emotion Contagion

ABSTRACT Guided by the Reflective–Impulsive Model (RIM), the present study examined how Theory of Mind (ToM), as a reflective cognitive resource, interacts with emotion contagion (EC), as an impulsive affective mechanism, to predict three subtypes of social withdrawal, shy withdrawal, unsociability, and passive withdrawal, in 4–5‐year‐old children. Participants were 286 preschool children (126 boys; M age = 5.02 years) from Beijing. Teachers reported children's social withdrawal and EC using the Early Childhood Social Behavior Questionnaire and the EC subscale of the Children's Empathy Questionnaire , respectively. In addition, children's ToM was assessed via a false‐belief task. Hierarchical regression analyses tested the main and interactive effects of ToM and EC on each withdrawal subtype. Results revealed that EC moderated the associations between ToM and all three subtypes of social withdrawal. Specifically, among children high in EC, ToM was positively associated with shy withdrawal and unsociability but negatively associated with passive withdrawal. In contrast, among children low in EC, higher ToM predicted lower shy withdrawal. By integrating cognitive and affective processes within the RIM framework, this study highlights EC as a key motivational mechanism that shapes how mental‐state understanding is translated into social behavior.