Children’s Social Worlds in Cultural Context

Tiia Tulviste, Ph.D., is a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In her research on child cognitive and social development, she has paid special attention to the developmental contexts in which children grow. At the beginning of her scientific career, Dr. Tulviste was involved in studies trying to detect the role of schooling in the development of verbal thinking by comparing thinking processes of adults with and without school education in Soviet Central Asia and in West Siberia. During recent decades, she has been interested in the question to what extent changes in developmental context (e.g., return to the Western world in Estonia) reflect changes in cultural meanings and practices of child socialization as well as their effects over time on child development and adjustment. Dr. Tulviste has acted as project leader in several comparative research projects related to child socialization and development dealing with cultures around the Baltic Sea, such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Germany, and Sweden, as well as the U.S.A. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters in this field. She is the former president of Estonian Union of Psychologists and is a member of the editorial board of the European Psychologist, International Journal of Behavioural Development (1998-2002), and Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics. Deborah L. Best, Ph.D., is the William L. Poteat Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, USA, where she previously served as Chair of the Psychology Department and was the first woman to serve as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She is active in the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology as an Honorary Fellow, President (2000-2002), and Treasurer (1988-1997), and in the Society for Cross-Cultural Research as President (2011-2012). She has served as Associate Editor (1996-2012) and Editor (2012 to present) of the flagship journal of IACCP, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. She has written and edited five books as well as numerous book chapters and research articles; her work includes landmark studies of gender stereotypes in 30 nations. Her research has focused on children's cognitive and social development, primarily examining gender-related concepts among young children in the United States and other countries. Judith L. Gibbons, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Saint Louis University, USA. She is the founding editor of the American Psychological Association Division 52 journal, International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, former president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research and the Interamerican Society of Psychology (SIP), a former Fulbright scholar at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Her research includes the study of the development of adolescents, especially girls and at-risk youth, in the majority world, intercountry adoption, and gender roles. With many collaborators, local and international, she has published numerous journal articles on those topics. She has written or edited three books including The Thoughts of Youth: An International Perspective on Adolescents' Ideal Persons, Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, and Women's Evolving Lives: Global and Psychosocial Perspectives.

Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Role of Culture in Children's Social World.- Section 1: What Children Learn.- Chapter 2. Children's Social Identity: Developing Selves and Expanding Social Worlds.- Chapter 3. Children's Management of Attention as Cultural Practice.- Chapter 4. Culture, Communication, and Sociocognitive Development: Understanding the Minds of Others.- Chapter 5. Emotional Development: Cultural Influences on Young Children's Emotional Competence.- Chapter 6. Young Children's Gender Development.- Chapter 7. Sharing and Caring: Prosocial Behavior in Young Children Around the World.- Chapter 8. Peer Interactions: Culture and Peer Conflict during Preschool Years.- Chapter 9. Together or Better Singular?  German Middle Class Children's Problem Solving in Dyads and Triads.- Section 2. Socialization of Young Children.- Chapter 10. Parenting: Talking with Children across Cultural Contexts.- Chapter 11. The Sibling Relationship in Ecocultural Context.- Chapter 12. The Roles of Grandparents in Child Development: A Cultural Approach.- Chapter 13. Japanese Preschool Approaches to Supporting Young Children's Social-Emotional Development.- Section 3. Children in Different Situations.- Chapter 14. Socialization and Development of Refugee Children:  Chances of Childcare.- Chapter 15. Children's Perspectives of Risk and Protection.- Chapter 16. Young Children in Institutional Care: Characteristics of Institutions, Children's Development, and Interventions in Institutions.- Section 4: Conclusions.- Chapter 17. Children's Culturally Enriched Social Development.