Children in Asian cultures say yes to yes—no questions: Common and cultural differences between Vietnamese and Japanese children
- 1 March 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Behavioral Development
- Vol. 32 (2), 131-136
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025407087211
Abstract
We investigated whether children's response tendency toward yes—no questions concerning objects is a common phenomenon regardless of languages and cultures. Vietnamese and Japanese 2- to 5-year-old (N = 108) were investigated. We also examined whether familiarity with the questioning issue has any effect on Asian children's yes bias. As the result, Asian children showed a yes bias to yes—no questions. The children's response tendency changes dramatically with their age: Vietnamese and Japanese 2- and 3-year-olds showed a yes bias, but 5-year-olds did not. However, Asian 4-year-olds also showed a yes bias only in the familiar condition. Also, Asian children showed a stronger yes bias in the familiar condition than the unfamiliar condition. These two findings in Asian children were different from the previous finding investigated North American children (Fritzley & Lee, 2003). Moreover, there was a within-Asian cross-cultural difference. Japanese children showed different response tendencies, which were rarely observed in Vietnamese children. Japanese 2-year-olds and some 3-year-olds showed a “no answer” response: they tended not to respond to an interviewer's questions. Japanese 4- and 5-year-olds also showed an “I don't know” response when they were asked about unfamiliar objects. Japanese children tended to avoid a binary decision. We discussed the cross-cultural differences.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Is There Any “Free” Choice?Psychological Science, 2004
- Korean, Japanese, and US students’ judgments about peer exclusion: Evidence for diversityInternational Journal of Behavioral Development, 2003
- Do Young Children Always Say Yes to Yes–No Questions? A Metadevelopmental Study of the Affirmation BiasChild Development, 2003
- Cultural Practices Emphasize Influence in the United States and Adjustment in JapanPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2002
- Causal learning mechanisms in very young children: Two-, three-, and four-year-olds infer causal relations from patterns of variation and covariation.Developmental Psychology, 2001
- “I” Value Freedom, but “We” Value Relationships: Self-Construal Priming Mirrors Cultural Differences in JudgmentPsychological Science, 1999
- Young Children's Responses to Yes-No Questions: Patterns and ProblemsApplied Developmental Science, 1999
- Interviewing children about trauma: Problems with “Specific” questionsJournal of Traumatic Stress, 1997
- Japanese Children's Understanding of the Distinction Between Real and Apparent EmotionInternational Journal of Behavioral Development, 1988
- A comparison between the development of the appearance-reality distinction in the People's Republic of China and the United StatesCognitive Psychology, 1983