Spontaneous level-2 perspective taking in Balinese children: effects of social group membership

This study investigated whether spontaneous level-2 perspective taking would emerge in 8-year-old Balinese children and whether it would be similarly modulated by the social group membership of the social partner as reported in previous studies conducted in Western countries. Children (N = 49) participated in a number verification task with a partner in which they had to make simple judgments about numbers displayed on a screen that either appeared the same or different from the perspective of the other person. Conditions varied in terms of the social group membership of the partner. Some children performed the task with a linguistic in-group adult (In-group condition), while others were paired with an adult that spoke Indonesian with an accent (Out-group condition). In the Peer-Baseline condition, children were partnered with a peer. The results indicate that Balinese children spontaneously represent the level-2 perspectives of others; however, this process appears to be suspended when interacting with adult partners. These findings support the universality of such cognitive mechanisms, while simultaneously highlighting cultural differences in their application.