The Cultural Roots of Free Will Beliefs: How Singaporean and U.S. Children Judge and Explain Possibilities for Action in Interpersonal Contexts

Autor/inn/en	Chernyak, Nadia; Kang, Carissa; Kushnir, Tamar
Titel	The Cultural Roots of Free Will Beliefs: How Singaporean and U.S. Children Judge and Explain Possibilities for Action in Interpersonal Contexts
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 55 (2019) 4, S.866-876 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Kang, Carissa)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/dev0000670
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Children; Cultural Differences; Ethnicity; Social Values; Moral Values; Interpersonal Relationship; Social Attitudes; Personal Autonomy; Freedom; Age Differences; Incidence; Child Behavior; Childrens Attitudes; Decision Making; United States; Singapore + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Child; Kind; Kinder; Kultureller Unterschied; Ethnizität; Sozialer Wert; Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Social attidude; Soziale Einstellung; Individuelle Autonomie; Freiheit; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Vorkommen; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; USA; Singapur
Abstract	Making sense of human actions involves thinking about both "endogenous" influences (the internal mental states of agents) and "exogenous" influences (social, moral, and interpersonal constraints). Culture impacts how we weight the relative causal influence of these two influences. To examine these cultural influences in depth, we asked 147 4-11-year-olds in 3 cultural groups (Singaporean Chinese, Singaporean Malay, and U.S. Americans) about the possibility of acting on desires that go against social, moral, and interpersonal norms (i.e., "free will," defined as the ability to do otherwise). By age 4, U.S. children were more likely to endorse the freedom to act against norms than Singaporean children, and these cultural differences were more prevalent at older ages. Children's explanations mirrored between- and within-culture differences in causal beliefs about action: Both groups of Singaporean children referenced interdependent causes/consequences in their explanations than U.S. children, and Singaporean Malay children referenced more interdependent causes/consequences than Singaporean Chinese children. Singaporean children were more likely to elaborate on lack of free will by referencing punishment and/or having to seek permission from authorities, revealing a local cultural influence of growing up in an authoritarian society. These results underscore the critical role of culture in shaping how children understand mind, self, and action. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01