A Cultural Conundrum
Delayed False-Belief Understanding in Filipino Children
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2314752 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ma Regina L de Gracia (0000-0001-9365-2478, The University of Sydney), Candida C Peterson (0000-0001-7870-1219, The University of Queensland, corresponding author), Marc De Rosnay (0000-0001-8333-9541, University of Wollongong) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 929-940 |
| Publication date | 2016-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0221 • E-ISSN: 1552-5422 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022022116655790 |
| OpenAlex | W2463505838 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 36 |
Theory of mind (ToM) is the child's representational understanding of mental states (e.g., true and false beliefs) and how these influence people's overt behavior. Past research in numerous Western and a few non-Western cultures has suggested that children throughout the world master a key milestone in ToM development, false-belief understanding, by age 5 to 6 years. However, before drawing theoretical conclusions about such apparent cross-cultural synchrony in timing, investigation of a broader range of non-Western cultures is crucial. We selected the Philippines because there has been no known previous study of ToM development in this population. A sample of 78 Filipino children aged 3 through 6 years took three standard false-belief tests and a measure of language ability in their mother tongue. The results revealed strikingly poor ToM performance. Only 12% of the full sample ( Mage = 4.95 years) passed any false-belief test at all, and only 15% of those older than 5 years ( Mage = 5.54 years; n = 39) displayed ToM by passing two out of three tests. ToM was unrelated to parents' educational background, family size, and child language ability. Nor could methodological factors (e.g., type of false-belief test used) readily explain Filipino children's exceptionally slow false-belief mastery. Further study is clearly needed to confirm and extend these intriguing results. Based on past evidence from other cultures, possible influences of parental conversation and socialization styles warrant further exploration in the Filipino context
Cognition · Context (archaeology · Conversation · Developmental psychology · False belief · Milestone · Population · Socialization · Sociology · Test (biology · Theory of mind · Warrant · Child and Animal Learning Development · Cultural Differences and Values · Demography · History · Language Development and Disorders · Psychology · Social Psychology
Making Minds
Parental Beliefs and Children's School Performance
Scaling of Theory-of-Mind Tasks
Scaling of Theory-of-Mind Understandings in Chinese Children
Language and Theory of Mind
Steps in Theory-of-Mind Development for Children With Deafness or Autism
Cultural Variations in Parenting
Meta-Analysis of Theory-of-Mind Development
Cross-cultural differences in childrearing goals
The Development of Theory of Mind Reasoning in Micronesian Children
Further Reflections on Reading Other Minds
Iranian Mothers' Disciplinary Strategies and Theory of Mind in Children
Cultural and Family Influences on Children's Theory of Mind Development
Theory of Mind and Self-Concept
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,44 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2024 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |