A focal goal of development science in recent years has been to document and understand the psychological processes that underlie inequality toward the goal of promoting equity and justice (e.g., Killen, Rutland, & Yip, 2016). This timely special section on economic inequality broadens the empirical conversation, which has centered mostly on…

In this commentary, I delineate several questions raised by the Hammond and Drummond (2019) paper: (a) to why there seems to be an association between state positive emotion and prosocial behavior in young children, and if and how early positively tinged prosocial behavior provides a pathway to (b) later prosocial behavior more generally…

Blair and Raver (2012) have provided an organism-in-environment conceptualization of the development of stress response physiology and its relation to the development of self-regulation. They argue that we must consider the context in which self-regulation and stress reactivity occur to understand their implications for developmental outcome. More…

In this commentary, the author reviews methodological and conceptual shortcomings of recent articles by K. D. Drummond, S. J. Bradley, M. Peterson-Badali, and K. J. Zucker (2008) as well as G. Rieger, J. A. W. Linsenmeier, L. Gygax, and J. M. Bailey (2008), which sought to predict adult sexual identity from childhood gender identity. The author…

Bayley's major contributions to developmental psychology are reviewed. These include her concern with measurement and methodology and her early anticipation of such topics as behavior genetics. Her work in such areas as androgyny and body build, motor and mental development, and maternal and child behaviors is summarized. (LB)

Reviews Gibson's contributions to the domain of perceptual learning, including her classic experiment concerning the perception of scribbles. Discusses Gibson's research on differentiation and the links between perception and learning, the status of her research and ideas, and her experimental approach. (BG)

Considers the increase in research on adolescence, with attention to its transitional aspects during the adolescent period and as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. In addition, discusses the effort to examine interactional processes between parent and child and between environment and genes, with respect to the articles of this special…

Critiques an earlier article by M. Frauenglass and R. Diaz reporting their study on the interaction between private speech and cognition. Argues that their interpretation fails to regard how private speech is seen to regulate cognitive activity within Vygotskian psycholinguistic theory. (HOD)

Developmental contextualism focuses on changes in fused relations between developing people and their changing contexts. Research on cognitive training in the aged years provides evidence about plasticity throughout life because it alters developmental trajectories through revised person-context relations. The studies in the current issue support…

Comments on problems raised in this special issue, focusing on the distinctive aspects of the risk research reported. Highlights issues like sample characteristics, measurement strategies, specificity of risk factors, and risk mechanisms. Discusses the challenges of integrating alternative models of risk, with special references to research into…

Comments on research problems raised in this special issue. Suggests that recent research highlights the nature of the multiple processes underlying variability in child and adolescent adjustment. Views variability as a function of covarying influences from multiple domains, operating on specific developmental outcomes across a background of time…

Argues that the field of moral psychology is theoretically skewed and lacks a comprehensive model of moral functioning and a compelling conception of moral excellence. Contends that common language understandings of moral maturity are inherently interesting because they affect everyday moral functioning. Concludes that disjunctions between…

Comments on the special theme issue examining the roles of socialization, biology, and culture as they affect adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes. Proposes a theory-guided research approach, based on four assumptive components of contemporary developmental theories: systematic change and relative plasticity; relationism and…

In contrast to earlier notions, a systems view of an organism's development sees genes as only one component in a hierarchy of influences that produces finished traits and differentiation. Developmental canalization proceeds from genes, behavior, and environment as well as from the coaction of these factors. (BC)

Introduces this special theme issue examining the roles of socialization, biology, and culture as they affect adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes. Problems of adolescence addressed include antisocial behavior, depressive symptoms, substance abuse, low achievement, and eating problems. Considers factors implicated in successful…