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We examined differences among children in their endorsement of an adult's claim, their subsequent empirical investigation of that claim, and their resolution of any potential conflict between the claim and their empirical investigation. American and Chinese preschool (N = 171, M = 4.71 years) and elementary school (N = 128, M = 7.59 years) children were presented with five, different-sized, Russian dolls and asked to indicate the heaviest doll. Children typically selected the biggest doll. Children then heard either a false, counter-intuitive claim (i.e., smallest doll = heaviest) or a claim confirming their initial intuition (i.e., biggest doll = heaviest). Children frequently endorsed the experimenter's claim even when it was counter-intuitive. The experimenter then left the room. During the experimenter's absence, older children who had heard the counter-intuitive as opposed to the confirming claim explored the dolls more than younger children, especially when subtly prompted to explore. Moreover, only older children who heard the counter-intuitive claim simultaneously picked up the smallest and biggest doll, a more deliberate test of the experimenter's claim. By implication, children engage in selective exploration following a surprising claim. Older children's more systematic explorations of what they have been told may reflect improvements in their ability to test such claims and in their greater sensitivity to the fact that unexpected claims can and should be empirically investigated.

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impact of Chinese literacy interventions on Chinese language learning of South Asian children and their mothers in Hong Kong. A total of 44 children and eight of their mothers participated in Chinese literacy interventions that consisted of two approaches -- Copying and Morphological Awareness Training (CMAT) and Integrative Perceptual Approach (IPA). Children in the intervention group who underwent four weeks of CMAT followed by four weeks of IPA were compared to a control group of 29 children who only attended regular Chinese classes in their preschools. After controlling for non-verbal intelligence, ANCOVA analyses revealed that the intervention group did significantly better than the control group at posttest in (i) morphological awareness, word reading and writing when taught using CMAT; and (ii) word reading when taught using IPA. Mothers made gains on most Chinese literacy measures and children whose mothers participated in the intervention had higher gains in mean scores relative to their pretest scores on most measures than those whose mothers did not, suggesting the effectiveness of combined child and parent interventions. Practice or Policy: Findings support the development of evidence-based interventions to cater to the language learning needs of SA children and parents.

The early use of person perception terms was examined via an analysis of the spontaneous speech of four young children in conversation with their parents at home. All four children were producing such terms early in their third year. Like their parents, children used the terms in two distinguishable ways: to attribute a trait to a person or to characterize a person's ongoing action. Most of these terms were evaluative, whether positive or negative. Parents often made direct comments to their children about both their traits and ongoing actions; children made similar comments about themselves. Parents also used person perception terms to make comments about others who were not party to the conversation; children did likewise. A considerable proportion of the trait terms that children produced served as interpretive comments on someone's actions or preferences. Our findings suggest that from an early age, children are trait theorists. Not only do they describe ongoing actions using trait vocabulary, they interpret those ongoing actions by attributing traits.

This multiple case study investigates the involvement of foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in Hong Kong early childcare. Three middle-class families were chosen; one parent, one FDH, one teacher, and one preschool child within each family were interviewed. A grounded theory analysis approach was adopted to examine the interviews. Analyses revealed the following four themes: (1) reasons for FDHs' involvement in childcare; (2) discrepancies in childcare beliefs and practices; (3) interactions among children, parents, FDHs, and teachers; and (4) the influence of FDH-involved childcare on child development. Parents were driven more by the financial benefits of FDH-provided childcare rather than by pedagogical considerations; however, they also expected the FDHs to discipline children according to their educational goals. Because FDHs could only offer basic childcare, they frequently came into conflict with the parents. FDHs also faced multiple challenges with the school teachers, with the children, and even from the local cultural context. These conflicts and challenges FDHs experienced had a substantial impact on the childcare provided, and subsequently on the children's language and socioemotional development. A theoretical framework was established to conceptualize FDH-involved non-parental childcare. The implications for childcare-related policies in Hong Kong and other societies were discussed.

Although children often believe an adult's claims, they may have opportunities to check these claims by gathering relevant empirical evidence themselves. Here, we examine whether children seize such opportunities, especially when the claim is counterintuitive. Chinese preschool and elementary schoolchildren were presented with five different-sized Russian dolls and asked to indicate the heaviest doll. Almost all children selected the biggest doll. Half of the children then heard a false, counterintuitive claim (i.e., smallest = heaviest). The remaining children heard a claim confirming their initial intuition (i.e., biggest = heaviest). Children in both age groups typically endorsed the experimenter's claim even when it was counterintuitive. However, during the experimenter's subsequent absence, elementary schoolchildren explored the dolls more if they had received counterintuitive rather than confirming testimony whereas preschool children rarely explored, no matter what testimony they had received. Thus, with increasing age, children seize opportunities to test counterintuitive claims. [Supplemental materials are located at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000455.supp.]

To adult humans, the task of forming an impression of another social being seems effortless and even obligatory. In 2 experiments, we offer the first systematic cross-cultural examination of impression formation in European American and East Asian preschool children. Children across both cultures easily inferred basic personality traits, such as "nice" and "mean," about unfamiliar peers from behavioral information, whether or not they were specifically prompted to do so. Children were able to identify peers they had seen before, to remember the traits associated with these peers, and to anticipate future behaviors consistent with the traits they had attributed. Thus, for basic traits, the ability to make behavior-to-behavior predictions, via an intervening trait inference, is present in young children across diverse cultures.

Examined spontaneous daily family interactions in Taiwan for events of children's shame. Found that shame events occur in multiple episodes of the child's transgression and, in half the cases, some authority was evoked to judge the child's behavior but family members were always present and ready to share the child's transgression and shame. (Author/DLH)

How socialization happens on the ground: Narrative practices as alternate socializing pathways in Taiwanese and European-American families. Specifically, the longitudinal design would clarify whether directive guidance is constantly practiced with infants as they develop and shed light onto how Chinese-heritage parents reinforce the ideologies such as I gu an i , I xiào i , and I dào dé guan i in everyday socialization practices. Keywords: Mother-infant interaction; Assets-based learning; Chinese culture; Directive guidance; Mixed-methods design EN Mother-infant interaction Assets-based learning Chinese culture Directive guidance Mixed-methods design 139 143 5 08/07/21 20210501 NES 210501 The article by Zhang, Wang, and Duh (2021, this issue, DOI: 10.1159/000517081) provides a comprehensive review of the existing research concerning cultural ways of learning focusing on Chinese and Taiwanese cultures (e.g., Li, 2012), verbal and nonverbal aspects of socialization (e.g., Goldin-Meadow & Saltzman, 2000; Miller et al., 2012), learning through observation (e.g., Gaskins & Paradise, 2010), and multifaceted frameworks of learning (e.g., Rogoff, 2014). Second, this study demonstrates and expands culture-specific socialization practices in Chinese-heritage communities from 2 years old to as early as 9 months old. [Extracted from the article]

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s early attainment, and the roles of preschool attendance and executive function (EF) in this association. Participants were 3,331 children (1,584 girls) ranging in age from 36 to 71 months from Cambodia, Mongolia, and Vanuatu. Children’s language, literacy, and mathematics attainment and EF were assessed using the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales. Mothers reported on family demographics and children’s preschool experience. Results indicated significant associations between SES and academic attainment in all three countries. Further analysis showed that preschool attendance and EF were significant mediators of SES- related disparities in attainment, but differed by country. Both served as parallel and sequential mediators in the associations between SES and performance in language, literacy, and mathematics in Mongolia. However, only preschool attendance mediated the association of SES with literacy attainment in Cambodia, and only EF mediated that with children’s mathematics and language performance in Vanuatu. Although SES is substantially related with early achievement in these developing countries, our findings indicate that preschool attendance and EF may attenuate this relationship. Practice or Policy:  Implications for the provision of early childhood education programs and public policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous findings suggest that cultural factors influence ideal affect (i.e., the affective states that people ideally want to feel). Three studies tested the hypothesis that cultural differences in ideal affect emerge early in life and are acquired through exposure to storybooks. In Study 1, the authors established that consistent with previous findings, European American preschoolers preferred excited (vs. calm) states more (indexed by activity and smile preferences) and perceived excited (vs. calm) states as happier than Taiwanese Chinese preschoolers. In Study 2, it was observed that similar differences were reflected in the pictures (activities, expressions, and smiles) of best-selling storybooks in the United States and Taiwan. Study 3 found that across cultures, exposure to exciting (vs. calm) storybooks altered children's preferences for excited (vs. calm) activities and their perceptions of happiness. These findings suggest that cultural differences in ideal affect may be due partly to differential exposure to calm and exciting storybooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]