Relationship of Social Understanding and Fairness in Children in Cross-Cultural Context

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the relationship between children's social understanding and their development of fairness, taking a cross cultural approach. Understanding this relationship is crucial in the context of child development and socio-cultural influences on moral reasoning. We employed Wellman's 2004 Theory of Mind Scales to assess children's social understanding and Mei's (2021) Fairness Acceptance Task to observe their fairness decisions. Our research involved a total sample of 248 children aged 3 to 5 from three countries: Pakistan (N=94), China (N=99), and the United Kingdom (N=55). We examined the effects of Age, Country, and Theory of Mind (ToM) Scores on children's fairness judgments. Additionally, we conducted open-ended interviews with 150 Pakistani children (3 to 6 years old) to explore their justifications for their fairness decisions. Our findings provide partial support for three key hypotheses, highlighting the roles of Age, Social Understanding, and Country in shaping children's fairness judgments. Notably, we discovered that Pakistani children predominantly employed desired-based and norm-based reasoning in their fairness decisions. This research sheds light on the complex interplay between theory of mind, social understanding, and fairness in children's development, with potential implications for educational and cross-cultural contexts.