The authors examine the prospects of a cross-cultural approach for research in human
development. They first examine the apparent conflict between the positivistic and
the constructionist paradigms, and examine their methodological implications. They
argue for a midline position, seeing the seemingly opposed paradigms as
complementary rather than antithetical. The major part of the paper lists the
further developments needed in the field, in particular taking new theories to the
cross-cultural test more quickly, and working out culturally appropriate
applications to social issues. Shorter sections are devoted to the choice of
appropriate theoretical frameworks, to the development of “indigenous
psychologies” and to the working conditions of researchers in different
contexts. The authors conclude that the situation of a cross-cultural approach to
human development has improved significantly in the last two decades, but that there
is still a lot to be done to completely disengage developmental psychology from its
inherent ethnocentrism by “taking culture seriously”.
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