Context-Sensitivity Influences German and Chinese Preschoolers’ Comprehension of Indirect Communication

Bibliographic Data

ID19005955
AuthorsC Schulze (0000-0001-9151-4792, Leipzig University, corresponding author), David Buttelmann (0000-0002-0915-7114, University of Bern), Liqi Zhu (0000-0001-6004-9672, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China), Henrik Saalbach (0000-0003-4387-9214, Leipzig University)
Year2022
Volume53
Issue10
Pages1257-1276
Publication date2022-06-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0221 • E-ISSN: 1552-5422
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00220221221104952
OpenAlexW4292495223
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited62

Making inferences in communication is a highly context-dependent endeavor. Previous research found cultural variations for context-sensitivity as well as for communication comprehension. However, the relative impact of culture and context-sensitivity on communication comprehension has not been investigated so far. The current study aimed at investigating this interplay and tested 4- and 6-year-old children from Germany ( n = 132) and China ( n = 129). Context-sensitivity was measured with an adapted version of the Ebbinghaus illusion. In this task, children have to discriminate the size of two target circles that only appear to be of similar size due to context circles surrounding the target circles. As expected, performance scores indicated higher degrees of context-sensitivity in Chinese compared to German children and that 6-year-olds were more context-sensitive than 4-year-olds. Further, in an object-choice communication-comprehension task, children watched videos with puppets performing every-day activities (e.g., pet care) and had to choose between two options (e.g., dog or rabbit). A puppet expressed what she wanted either directly (“I want the rabbit”) or indirectly (“I have a carrot”). The children had to choose one option to give to the puppet. In both cultures, 6-year-olds outperformed 4-year-olds and children understood direct communication better than indirect communication. Culture was found to affect children’s processing speed of direct communication. Moreover, culture influenced children’s context-sensitivity while context-sensitivity influenced children’s accuracy in the indirect (but not the direct) communication task. These findings demonstrate that taking context into account is especially important when we are confronted with indirect communication

Affect (linguistics) · Cognitive psychology · Comprehension · Context (archaeology) · Context effect · Developmental psychology · Geography · German · Linguistics · Sensitivity (control systems) · Task (project management) · Child and Animal Learning Development · Communication · Computer Science · Cultural Differences and Values · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology

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