Bilateral (Hong Kong): Theory of mind development and use in children from Hong Kong and the UK - A latent variable study

Acquiring a theory of mind (i.e., recognizing that human behaviour is governed by mental states such as beliefs and desires) enables young children to understand and engage in a wide range of sophisticated social interactions, including lies, jokes and shared pretend play. The litmus test for having a theory of mind has, for many years, been success on tasks involving predicting or explaining mistaken beliefs. In the West, children typically begin to pass such tasks between their 3rd and 5th birthdays. Yet findings from a recent meta-analysis suggest that Chinese preschoolers pass false belief tasks up to 2 years later, with children in Hong Kong performing even more poorly than their peers in mainland China. These findings have led to concerns that the intensely academic focus adopted by Hong Kong preschools may be constraining children's sociocognitive development. However, before seeking explanations for this striking cross-cultural contrast, at least two sets of methodological issues need to be addressed.
First, very few studies have used carefully matched samples or applied statistical tests to establish whether contrasts simply reflect inappropriate translations or differing response styles / social norms. In addition, such studies rarely include direct measures of the environment (e.g., parental practices and expectations), even though these are needed to explain WHY there are group contrasts. Second, new task paradigms have shown that from as early as 15- to 18-months of age, children show looking and helping behaviours that appear to indicate false-belief awareness, such that failure on traditional false-belief tasks does not necessarily mean poor understanding of mind. To date, these novel paradigms have yet to be used in direct cross-cultural comparisons. Moreover, research with adults suggests that Chinese adults actually show superior use of 'theory of mind' skills, suggesting that any cultural contrasts observed in pre-schoolers are likely to be developmentally specific.
There is, therefore, a pressing need both to increase the methodological rigour of existing research and to integrate cultural and developmental perspectives. This proposal uses two psychometric studies to address these twin challenges. Study 1 extends the developmental scope of this research field by comparing theory of mind use in 10-year-old children from the UK and Hong Kong, using a task battery that includes a newly developed silent film task. Study 1 also includes a battery of other cognitive tests (e.g., tests of language ability and executive function) and multi-informant, multi-measure ratings of social competence. In this way, Study 1 will also shed light on the cultural universality / specificity of the correlates of variation in older children's understanding of mind.Study 2 also has twin aims. The first of these is to test competing theoretical accounts of why children's spontaneous behaviours (e.g., looking, helping) appear to indicate a rudimentary understanding of mind long before they respond correctly to traditional false-belief tasks. Next, the most robust paradigms will be administered to pre-schoolers in Hong Kong (matched with their UK peers for age and verbal ability) to investigate the nature, magnitude and origins of cultural contrasts in children's understanding of mind.
This collaborative venture promises to be fruitful as it brings together researchers with diverse areas of expertise (e.g., experimental task design, cognitive assessments, psychometrics). In addition, by partnering with researchers at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, the applicants are well placed to ensure that policy-relevant findings are disseminated efficiently to educational practitioners in Hong Kong; positive relations developed with the Faculty of Education in Cambridge will have a similar effectiveness of impact in the UK.

The impetus for this proposal came from the PI's visit to the HK Institute of Education in July 2011; the focus of which was professional concern about the lack of opportunities for play within Hong Kong preschools - thus the ground is already prepared for evidence-based discussions about whether there is a need for curriculum reform in Hong Kong, and whether this reform should be focused specifically on pre-schoolers, or should also include older children. By partnering up with researchers at the HK Institute of Education, the PI is well-placed to communicate findings directly with educational practtitioners (and those responsible for training teachers) in Hong Kong. The PI also has positive relationships with the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, and has been a regular contributor to their professional development workshops, which are well attended by teaching professionals in East Anglia. Thus the short term beneficiaries in both countries consist primarily of educational practitioners. In the UK and Hong Kong, policy-makers have recognized the need to invest in the social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL in UK, and APASO, Assessment Program for Affective and Social Outcomes commissioned by the Education Bureau in HK), but progress to date has been hampered by the lack of effective outcome measures. By developing a battery of psychometrically robust instruments for assessing children's acquisition (and use) of theory of mind, this proposal will have a positive impact on existing intervention programmes (e.g., Sure Start), such that in the long term, beneficiaries from this study will include large numbers of children in both countries, including children who lag behind their peers in their social and emotional understanding. In addition, the proposed study will, throughout the lifetime of the grant, have a positive impact on the researchers themselves, as the international dialogue required for effective collaboration will lead to a widening of horizons, both intellectually and socially. More specifically, each applicant brings a distinct set of skills and expertise, such that this bilateral project is likely to broaden and enhance the knowledge base of individual applicants. Finally, the applicants are all engaged in programmes for public outreach (e.g., via the Science Week and Festival of Ideas hosted by the University of Cambridge, and the Hong Kong University Grant Council's Knowledge Transfer Initiative), such that the beneficiaries from this research will extend beyond educational professionals (and their pupils) to include members of the general public in each country.