Cultural transmission is often viewed as a domain-general process. However, a growing literature suggests that learnability is influenced by content and context. The idea of a learnability landscape is introduced as a way of representing the effects of interacting factors on how easily information is acquired. Extending prior work (Barrett &…

The present study compared 5-and 10-year-old North American and Israeli children's beliefs about the objectivity of different categories (n = 109). Children saw picture triads composed of two exemplars of the same category (e.g., two women) and an exemplar of a contrasting category (e.g., a man). Children were asked whether it would be acceptable…

Recollection of early childhood experiences was investigated in 225 European Canadian and 133 Chinese children (ages 8, 11, and 14) by a memory fluency task that measured accessibility of multiple early memories and elicited the earliest memory. Younger children provided memories of events that occurred at earlier ages than older children.…

Japanese and American children participated in a free word association experiment. Results indicated that culture was influential in the formation of language. (ST)

Interviews were conducted with 336 mother--child dyads (children's ages ranged from 6 to 17 years; mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years) in China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand to examine whether normativeness of physical discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical discipline and children's adjustment.…

Discusses ways in which researchers have examined the role of social and emotional factors in cognitive functioning and development to uncover additional sources of variation to explain interindividual and intraindividual differences in cognitive development from within a Piagetian framework. Considers the implications of recent Francophone…

Argues that child socialization is directed toward the development of instrumental competencies related to imperatives that vary across cultures. Criticizes the use of White middle-class standards in developmental research and proposes a cultural ecological model which studies competence in the context of the cultural imperatives of a given…

Assessed the arithmetical competencies of 105 American and 104 Chinese elementary school students at the beginning and end of the U.S. school year. Results suggest the Chinese advantage in early mathematical development is related to a combination of language- and school-related factors. (MDM)

Compared Korean American and Anglo-American preschoolers' social and play behavior to determine the influence of culture on early development and to understand how culture shapes and organizes the environment in which children's social and play activities take place. Suggests that children's social interaction and pretend play are influenced by…

Examined academic achievement under a cultural motivational framework. Asian American students' performance in mathematics was found to be between that of Chinese and Japanese students and that of Caucasian Americans. Suggests that academic achievement reflects a cultural heritage that emphasizes education and the ability of all persons to benefit…

Two studies examined concepts of personal autonomy and social roles among persons in different types of cultures. Found that Druze subjects attributed more power than Jewish subjects to males over females, but concepts of personal entitlements were prominent in both groups. Overall, findings indicated that social reasoning is heterogeneous in…

Examined 30 Japanese and 30 American preschoolers' responses to hypothetical interpersonal dilemmas as a function of culture, gender, and maternal child rearing values. Found that American children showed more anger, more aggressive behavior and language, and underregulation of emotion than Japanese children. Children from both cultures appeared…