Children’s theory of mind (ToM) unfolds reliably through a sequence of conceptual milestones including, but not limited to, false belief. Sequences vary with culture, one observed previously in Western cultures (Australia, the United States) and another in two non-Western cultures, China and Iran. Two explanations for cross-cultural sequence differences have been suggested: (a) collectivism versus individualism or (b) authoritarian versus authoritative parenting. However, neither has been directly tested empirically. Our goal was to do so. Children (n = 122, aged 4-6) in Indonesia (a collectivist culture) took Wellman and Liu’s ToM Scale. Their mothers completed two self-report measures evaluating their attitudes to (a) collectivism/individualism and (b) authoritarian versus authoritative parenting. Indonesian mothers preferred collectivism to individualism and authoritativeness to authoritarianism. Child ToM was negatively correlated with authoritarianism but unrelated to other parental attitudes. ToM Scale sequences differed significantly between Javanese and Sundanese children in Indonesia and by city of residence but not with collectivism/individualism or parenting style. Javanese children (primarily from Jakarta) matched the Western ToM Scale sequence, whereas Sundanese children (primarily from Bogor) matched the Chinese/Iranian sequence. Findings highlight benefits of going beyond broad characterizations to directly examine how culture, ethnicity, and parenting relate to ToM sequences and development.

We investigated cultural influences on young children’s acquisition of social-cognitive concepts. A theory of mind (ToM) scale (Wellman & Liu, 2004) was given to 129 children (71 boys, 58 girls) ranging in age from 3 years 0 months to 7 years 10 months. The children were from three distinct cultural groups: (a) trash pickers ( pemulung) living a subsistence lifestyle in Jakarta, Indonesia; (b) middle-class Jakartans living and attending preschools within 5 km of the pemulung group; and (c) middle-class Australians. All children were individually tested in their native language. Cross-group comparisons revealed no significant differences among the three groups in mastery of false belief (the traditional ToM indicator), despite their widely different socio-economic circumstances. However, the pemulung children were slower than the two middle-class groups in mastering two other ToM concepts, namely knowledge access and emotion concealment. These findings shed new light on patterns of cross-cultural consistency in false-belief mastery, as well as revealing cross-cultural variation in other ToM concepts that plausibly reflect variation in children’s everyday life circumstances.

Pola asuh memiliki peran yang krusial dalam hampir seluruh aspek perkembangan anak, terutama aspek kognitif, emosi serta sosial. Perbedaan budaya dalam pola asuh, khususnya kemungkinan adanya perbedaan subkultur seperti etnis dan konteks urban serta rural masih jarang dieksplorasi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji apakah memang terdapat perbedaan pola asuh antar etnis dan antar masyarakat urban (vs. rural) di Indonesia. Partisipan penelitian ini adalah perempuan yang sudah menjadi ibu. Sebanyak 383 perempuan dengan status ibu dari Jabodetabek (N = 204), Magelang/Jawa (N = 101) dan Bukittinggi/Minang (N = 78) berpartisipasi dalam penelitian ini. Hasil utama penelitian menunjukkan adanya perbedaan yang signifikan antara nilai budaya (kolektivisme dan individualisme) serta praktek pengasuhan (conformity dan autonomy) di daerah urban dan rural. Dimensi kolektivisme, conformity dan autonomy menunjukkan perbedaan signifikan ketika dibandingkan pada tiga wilayah (Jabodetabek, Magelang, dan Bukittinggi). Jabodetabek cenderung lebih tinggi pada dimensi kolektivisme dan autonomy; Magelang pada dimensi conformity. Ketika variabel covariates dikontrol, maka dimensi individualisme menjadi signifikan bersama dengan dimensi kolektivisme, autonomy dan conformity.

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