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Culture and the sequence of steps in theory of mind development
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- American Psychological Association, 2011.
-
Abstract
- To examine cultural contrasts in the ordered sequence of conceptual developments leading to theory of mind (ToM), we compared 135 3- to 6-year-olds (77 Australians; 58 Iranians) on an established 5-step ToM scale (Wellman & Liu, 2004). There was a cross-cultural difference in the sequencing of ToM steps but not in overall rates of ToM mastery. In line with our predictions, the children from Iran conformed to a distinctive sequence previously observed only in children in China. In contrast to the case with children from Australia (and the United States), knowledge access was understood earlier than opinion diversity in children from Iran, consistent with this collectivist culture's emphasis on filial respect, dispute avoidance, and acquiring knowledge. Having a sibling was linked with faster overall ToM progress in Australia only and was not related to scale sequences in either culture.
- Subjects :
- Cross-Cultural Comparison
Male
Parents
media_common.quotation_subject
Theory of Mind
Psychology, Child
Iran
Neuropsychological Tests
Developmental psychology
Child Development
Theory of mind
Cultural diversity
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Humans
Sibling
Child
Life-span and Life-course Studies
Demography
media_common
Psychological Tests
Siblings
Australia
Collectivism
Child development
Cross-cultural studies
Child, Preschool
Scale (social sciences)
Female
Psychology
Social psychology
Diversity (politics)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bd8649c9e0512b710d164b856fed5b1f