Principles for Adapting Assessments of Executive Function across Cultural Contexts

Direct assessments of executive functions (EFs) are increasingly used in research and clinical settings, with a central assumption that they assess "universal" underlying skills. Their use is spreading globally, raising questions about the cultural appropriateness of assessments devised in Western industrialized countries. We selectively reviewed multidisciplinary evidence and theory to identify sets of cultural preferences that may be at odds with the implicit assumptions of EF assessments. These preferences relate to motivation and compliance; cultural expectations for interpersonal engagement; contextualized vs. academic thinking; cultural notions of speed and time; the willingness to be silly, be incorrect, or do the opposite; and subject-matter familiarity. In each case, we discuss how the cultural preference may be incompatible with the assumptions of assessments, and how future research and practice can address the issue. Many of the cultural preferences discussed differ between interdependent and independent cultures and between schooled and unschooled populations. Adapting testing protocols to these cultural preferences in different contexts will be important for expanding our scientific understanding of EF from the narrow slice of the human population that has participated in the research to date.

Testing the bounds of compassion in young children

Extensive research shows that, under the right circumstances, children are highly prosocial. Extending an already published paradigm, we aimed here to determine what factors might facilitate and inhibit compassionate behaviour. Across five experiments (N = 285), we provide new insight into the bounds of 4- to 5-year-old children's compassionate behaviour. In the first three experiments, we varied cost of compassion by changing the reward (Study 1), using explicit instructions (Study 2) and ownership (Study 3). In the final two experiments, we varied the target of the compassionate behaviour, examining adults compared with puppet targets (Study 4), and whether the target was an in-group member (Study 5). We found strong evidence that cost reduces compassionate responding. By contrast, the recipient of compassion did not appear to influence responding: children were equally likely to help a human adult and a puppet, and an in-group member and neutral agent. These findings demonstrate that for young children, personal cost appears to be a greater inhibitor to compassionate responding than who compassion is directed toward.

Der Einfluss von Kultur auf die Entwicklung in den ersten drei Lebensjahren

Zusammenfassung: Ausgehend von der Annahme, dass kulturell geprägte soziale Interaktionen die Grundlage für kulturspezifische Entwicklungspfade bilden, veranschaulichen wir in diesem Beitrag den Einfluss von Kultur auf die Entwicklung des sozialen Lächelns und sozialer Erwartungen im Säuglingsalter sowie auf das Hilfeverhalten im 2. und 3. Lebensjahr. Die methodisch breit aufgestellten Studienbeispiele aus drei kulturellen Kontexten zeigen, dass die elterlichen Ethnotheorien und die damit assoziierten Formen der Ko-Regulation und Strukturierung als zentraler Teil des kindlichen Entwicklungssystems mitgedacht werden müssen, um die menschliche Entwicklung angemessen beschreiben zu können. Zukünftige Schritte hin zu einer Entwicklungspsychologie, die ihr Verständnis von universellen und kulturspezifischen Aspekten der kindlichen Entwicklung weiter vertieft, werden diskutiert.