Between Culture and Biology: Perspectives on Ontogenetic Development (Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual Development, Series Number 8)

Breaking away from the traditional nature/nurture dialectic, this study brings together biological, psychological and cultural perspectives on development. It asserts that the biological bases of behavior and cultural context should be approached in an integrated fashion to properly understand ontogenetic development and the constraints and opportunities for development. It also examines influences on developmental theory and the extent to which cultural ideas and practices reflect biological and psychological constraints. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 5 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Figures......Page 13 Tables......Page 15 Notes on contributors......Page 16 Acknowledgements......Page 23 Introduction......Page 25 Organization of the book......Page 29 REFERENCES......Page 32 Part I Setting the scene......Page 35 1 Culture, biology and development across history......Page 37 Early background......Page 38 The Enlightenment......Page 39 Biology, race and development......Page 41 From biology to culture......Page 43 Fading of the boundaries......Page 48 Concluding comments......Page 50 REFERENCES......Page 51 2 Comparative developmental perspectives on culture: the great apes......Page 54 Missing links: culture and cognition, cognition and development......Page 55 Enculturation......Page 56 Evaluation......Page 57 ‘Life history’ perspectives on culture in great apes......Page 60 Ecological demands......Page 61 Sociality......Page 62 Culture through the life cycle in orang-utans......Page 63 Evidence on orang-utan culture......Page 66 Hearts of palm......Page 68 Palm pith......Page 70 Life history perspectives on culture in other great apes......Page 71 Discussion......Page 74 REFERENCES......Page 75 Culture reinforces biology......Page 81 Culture and biology are mutually adapted for survival......Page 84 Culture selects from biology......Page 85 Individualism/independence and collectivism/interdependence: two idealized pathways through universal developmental stages......Page 86 Developmentally gradated tools......Page 89 Cognitive stages as age-dependent sensitive periods for cultural learning......Page 96 REFERENCES......Page 98 Part II Perspectives on development informed by culture......Page 101 4 Indian parents’ ethnotheories as reflections of the Hindu scheme of child and human development......Page 103 The Hindu world view and the scheme of human development......Page 104 Value of children and desired qualities in a ‘good child’......Page 107 Capturing social change......Page 108 Interpretations of cultural rules for marriage-partner selection......Page 109 REFERENCES......Page 111 Key concepts......Page 113 Boundaries of childhood......Page 115 Dimensions of childhood......Page 116 Conditions for development......Page 118 Divisions of childhood......Page 120 Conceptions of childhood and children’s rights......Page 125 Childhood and youth development in difficult circumstances......Page 128 Contributions of southern African conceptions of childhood to global developmental science......Page 131 Concluding remarks......Page 133 REFERENCES......Page 134 Genesis and characteristics of myth......Page 140 Ways of handling myth......Page 143 From myth to phantasm......Page 148 Chaos and guilt......Page 152 The counter-myth......Page 154 And finally?......Page 155 REFERENCES......Page 158 7 Integrating cultural, psychological and biological perspectives in understanding child development......Page 160 Development viewpoints......Page 161 Social psychological perspectives......Page 162 Biological viewpoints......Page 163 Implications for psychological explanation of cultural psychology......Page 165 Symbolic view of culture......Page 166 Culture and biology in psychological explanation......Page 167 Conceptions of self and others......Page 168 Development of moral understandings......Page 170 Process understandings of biological and cultural influences......Page 174 Conclusion......Page 175 REFERENCES......Page 176 Part III Perspectives on development drawing from the universal and the specific......Page 181 8 Between individuals and culture: individuals’ evaluations of exclusion from social groups......Page 183 Judgements about inclusion and exclusion......Page 184 Children’s domain-specific knowledge......Page 185 Children’s stereotypic knowledge......Page 190 Reasoning about inclusion and exclusion in multiple contexts......Page 194 Japanese and American children’s judgements about exclusion......Page 201 Exclusion in the family context......Page 202 The individual or the group?......Page 204 The individual and the group revisited......Page 206 Conclusions......Page 207 REFERENCES......Page 209 Child rearing and motive development: an empirical study......Page 215 Universal relationships between child rearing and aggression......Page 217 Culture-specific relationships......Page 219 The wider context......Page 220 Tradition......Page 221 Naive personality theories and value systems......Page 222 Religion, seniority and teacher’s authority......Page 223 Cultural context and developmental outcome......Page 224 First global evidence of heritability......Page 225 Chemical (hormonal) factors......Page 226 Integration of cultural and biological factors......Page 228 REFERENCES......Page 232 Part IV Perspectives on development informed by evolutionary thinking......Page 237 Biological underpinnings: the evolutionary heritage......Page 239 Learning relationships: the acquisition of a social matrix......Page 241 Infants and caregivers: biological preparedness for relationship formation......Page 244 Component model of parenting......Page 245 Parenting system 1: primary care......Page 246 Parenting system 2: body contact......Page 247 Parenting system 3: body stimulation......Page 248 Parenting system 5: face-to-face......Page 249 Attention......Page 250 Sensitivity towards positive and negative signals......Page 251 Warmth......Page 252 Contingency......Page 253 Conclusion......Page 254 REFERENCES......Page 256 Evolutionary approaches......Page 265 Diversity within evolutionary thought......Page 266 Infant caregiving in three cultures......Page 271 The study and the families......Page 272 Background......Page 273 Patterns of caregiver–infant proximity and responsiveness......Page 274 Caregiver–infant responsiveness......Page 276 Applying evolutionary approaches......Page 277 Evolutionary psychology......Page 278 Evolutionary ecology......Page 281 Evolutionary cultural anthropology......Page 285 Integration......Page 288 Summary and conclusions......Page 290 REFERENCES......Page 291 12 Shame across cultures: the evolution, ontogeny and function of a ‘moral emotion’......Page 294 On the origins of the ‘negative self-reflexive emotions’ and the blushing/flushing complex......Page 296 Social consensus and the adjustment of the self......Page 298 The development of shame and related members of the ‘family of self-reflexive emotions’......Page 299 Blushing and the panhuman shame complex: the ‘natural semantic metalanguage’ and a cross-cultural approach......Page 304 The data and the analysis......Page 305 Shame, fear, anger and rage......Page 313 Conclusion......Page 314 REFERENCES......Page 315 Appendix I......Page 322 Appendix II......Page 323 Part V Metaperspectives......Page 325 13 Culture and development......Page 327 Embryogenesis......Page 328 Postnatal development......Page 329 Culture as the species-specific medium of human development......Page 330 Examples from early ontogeny......Page 332 Prolepsis: a cultural mechanism of induction?......Page 333 Phylogenetic precursors......Page 336 Early ontogeny......Page 337 A tentative summation......Page 340 REFERENCES......Page 341 14 Behaviour–culture relationships and ontogenetic development......Page 344 The (non-)identity of psychological functioning across cultures......Page 345 The (in)coherence of culture......Page 347 Loosening culture–behaviour relationships......Page 350 Redefining culture–behaviour relationships......Page 351 Non-linear dynamics as models of choice......Page 354 Constraints and discontinuities in ontogenetic development......Page 355 Conclusion......Page 359 REFERENCES......Page 360 Kuhn’s approach: some comments......Page 365 Critical reception of Kuhn’s approach......Page 366 The usefulness of paradigms: perspectives guide theorizing and research......Page 369 Recent trends in (cross-cultural) psychology: identifying perspectives in psychology......Page 372 Distinguishing features......Page 374 The physical perspective (mechanistic view of human beings)......Page 376 The biological perspective (organismic, evolutionary view of human beings)......Page 377 The perspective of the self-reflective human being......Page 379 The cultural perspective (the historically situated human being)......Page 381 Demarcation of the four perspectives: classical dichotomies in psychology......Page 382 A closer look at the relationships between perspectives: beyond incommensurability......Page 386 Relationships as seen from the physical perspective......Page 389 Relationships as seen from the biological perspective......Page 390 Relationships as seen from the self-reflective perspective......Page 392 Relationships as seen from the cultural perspective......Page 396 Cultural psychology: more than a sub-branch of psychology......Page 398 REFERENCES......Page 399 16 Epilogue: conceptions of ontogenetic development; integrating and demarcating perspectives......Page 408 Perspectives on development......Page 409 (Mainly) phylogenetic orientations......Page 410 (Mainly) cultural origins......Page 412 (Mainly) psychological concerns......Page 414 Three themes......Page 415 Conceptions of change and continuity......Page 416 Future research and theorizing......Page 419 Conclusion......Page 422 REFERENCES......Page 423 Author index......Page 427 Subject index......Page 439 Culture, Biology And Development Across History / Gustav Jahoda -- Comparative Developmental Perspectives On Culture: The Great Apes / Anne E. Russon -- The Mutual Definition Of Culture And Biology In Development / Patricia M. Greenfield -- Perspectives On Development Informed By Culture -- Indian Parents' Ethnotheories As Reflections Of The Hindu Scheme Of Child And Human Development / T.s. Saraswathi And Hema Ganapathy -- Indigenous Conceptions Of Childhood Development And Social Realities In Southern Africa / Roderick Fulata Zimba -- The Myth Of Lurking Chaos / Ernst E. Boesch -- Integrating Cultural Psychological And Biological Perspectives In Understanding Child Development / Joan G. Miller -- Perspectives On Development Drawing From The Universal And The Specific -- Between Individuals And Culture: Individuals' Evaluations Of Exclusion From Social Groups / Melanie Killen, Heidi Mcglothlin And Jennie Lee-kim -- Biology, Culture And Child Rearing: The Development Of Social Motives / Hans-joachim Kornadt -- Perspectives On Development Informed By Evolutionary Thinking -- Development As The Interface Between Biology And Culture: A Conceptualisation Of Early Ontogenetic Experiences / Heidi Keller -- Integrating Evolution, Culture And Developmental Psychology: Explaining Caregiver-infant Proximity And Responsiveness In Central Africa And The United States Of America / Barry S. Hewlett And Michael E. Lamb -- Shame Across Cultures: The Evolution, Ontogeny, And Function Of A 'moral Emotion' / Michael J. Casimir And Michael Schnegg -- Metaperspectives -- Culture And Development / Michael Cole -- Behaviour-culture Relationships And Ontogenetic Development / Ype H. Poortinga And Karel Soudijn -- Paradigms Revisited: From Incommensurability To Respected Complementarity / Lutz H. Eckensberger -- Conceptions Of Ontogenetic Development: Integrating And Demarcating Perspectives / Heidi Keller, Ype H. Poortinga And Axel Schölmerich. Edited By Heidi Keller, Ype H. Poortinga, Axel Schölmerich. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Between Culture and Biology breaks away from the traditional nature/nurture dialectic and brings together biological, psychological and cultural perspectives on development. In this thought-provoking book, the argument is put forward that the biological bases of behaviour and cultural context should be approached in an integrated fashion to properly understand ontogenetic development and that both the cultural and biological demain provide constraints and opportunities for development. It also examines the influence that various perspectives have had on developmental theory and the extent to which cultural ideas and practices reflect biological and psychological constraints. By drawing together editors and contributors who are all leading experts in their field, with diverse theoretical perspectives from a range of disciplines Between Culture and Biology develops an integrative approach to this fascinating topic while preserving intellectual depth and complexity. The natural sciences as we know them began some three centuries ago, and their accelerating progress has revolutionized our outlook on the physical world.