The development of false belief understanding in Indian Children: A preliminary report

Abstract

Background: Development of false belief understanding is considered a universal phenomenon. However cross-cultural research on Theory of Mind is relatively recent and raises doubt on its universal development. There is paucity of empirical research on false belief understanding from India. The aim of the present study was to examine false belief understanding in Indian children. Method: The study sample consisted of 77 typically developing children between the age range of 3 and 7 years (mean age of 5 years). Tools consisted of semi-structured interview schedule, Binet Kamat Test of Intelligence and Theory of Mind task (false belief task). Results: Findings of the present study indicated that none of the 3-year-old children could pass the first order false belief task and only 12% of 4 years old could pass first order false belief task. Fifty percent of 5 years old, 73% of 6 years old and all of the 7 years old passed the false belief task. Results in our study have suggested delayed developmental trajectory in false belief understanding. Conclusion: We found that Indian children attained understanding of first order false belief relatively late in comparison to their peer as reported from other studies. Our study showed that mastery in the understanding of false belief develops at 6 to 7 years. Lower performance on false belief task may not necessarily imply neurocognitive impairment. Our findings support the view that both cultural as well as individual factors play an important role in the development of Theory of Mind.