Developmental psychology has been concerned with the role of culture since the beginnings of the discipline, and current views reflect universalistic, context-specific, and cultural practices conceptions of culture. Given the value of cross-cultural research for theories of development, an extensive content analysis of cross-cultural themes and research in selected developmental textbooks, handbooks, and reviews is reported in the present study. Cross-cultural entries have increased across the almost 40 years represented by these books and have shifted from more anthropological presentations to more comparative examinations. Although textbook discussions have lagged behind the professional literature, they have increased substantially in the early 1990s. By including more cross-cultural themes and research in texts, a more complete understanding of development is fostered.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Best, D. L. , & Williams, J. E. (1993). The psychology of gender: A cross-cultural viewpoint. In A. E. Beall & R. J. Steinberg (Eds.), (pp. 215-248). New York: Guilford.
2.
Busemann, A. (1928). Geschwisterschaft Schultuchtigkeit und Charakter. Z Kinderforsch., 34, 1-52.
3.
Cole, M. (1992). Culture in development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (3rd ed., pp. 731-789). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
4.
Dasen, P. R. (1972). Cross-cultural Piagetian research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3, 23-40.
5.
Edwards, C. P. , & Whiting, B. B. (1974). Women and dependency. Politics and Society, 4, 343-355.
6.
Edwards, C. P. , & Whiting, B. B. (1980). Differential socialization of girls and boys in light of cross-cultural research. New Directions for Child Development, 8, 45-47.
7.
Gay, J. (1973). Red dust on green leaves. East Glastenburg, CN: Inter-Culture Associates.
8.
Gay, J. H. , & Cole, M. (1967). The new mathematics and an old culture: A study of leaming among the Kpelle. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
9.
Gray, V. A. (1977). The image of women in psychology textbooks. Canadian Psychological Review, 18, 46-55.
10.
Irwin, M. H. , Schafer, G. N., & Feiden, D. P. (1974). Emic and unfamiliar category sorting of Mano farmers and U. S. undergraduates. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 5, 407-423.
11.
Kimmel, E. B. (1991). Treatment of gender and diversity in psychology textbooks: Report from the task force. Psychology of Women: Newsletter of Division 35, American Psychological Association, 18 (4), 9-10.
12.
Laboratory of Comparative and Human Cognition . (1983). Culture and development. In P. H. Mussen (Series Ed.) & W. Kessen (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. I History, theory and methods. (pp. 295-356). New York: Wiley.
13.
Lave, J. (1977a). Tailor-made experiments and evaluating the intellectual consequences of apprenticeship training. Quarterly Newsletter of the Institute for Comparative Human Development, 1, 1-3.
14.
Lave, J. (1977b). Cognitive consequences of traditional apprenticeship training in West Africa. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 8, 177-180.
15.
Maccoby, E. E. , & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
16.
Munroe, R. H. , Munroe, R. L., & Whiting, B. B. (1981). Handbook of cross-cultural human development. New York: Garland.
17.
Munroe, R. H. , Shimmin, H. S., & Munroe, R. L. (1984). Gender understanding and role preference in four cultures. Developmental Psychology, 20, 673-682.
18.
Percival, E. (1984). Sex bias in introductory psychology textbooks: Five years later. Canadian Psychology, 25, 35-42.
19.
Peterson, S. B. , & Kroner, T. (1992). Gender biases in textbooks for introductory psychology and human development. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 17-36.
20.
Rogoff, B. , Gauvain, M., & Ellis, S. (1984). Development viewed in its cultural context. In M. H. Bormstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (pp. 533-571). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
Rumpel, E. (1988). A systematic analysis of the cultural content of introductory psychology textbooks. Unpublished master's thesis, Western Washington University.
22.
Super, C. M. (1976). Environmental effects on motor development: The case of "African infant precocity."Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 18, 561-567.
23.
Super, C. M. (1981a). Behavioral development in infancy. In R. H. Munroe, R. L. Munroe, & B. B. Whiting (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural human development. (pp. 181-270). New York: Garland.
24.
Super, C. M. (1981b). Cross-cultural research on infancy. In H. C. Triandis & A. Heron (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Developmental psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 17-53). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
25.
Super, C. M. , & Harkness, S. (1982). The infants' nicheinrural Kenyaand metropolitan America. In L. L. Adler (Ed.), Cross-cultural research at issue. (pp. 47-55). New York: Academic Press.
26.
Terman, L. (1946). Psychological sex differences. In L. Cannichael (Ed.), Manual of child psychology (pp. 954-1000). New York: Wiley.
27.
Triandis, H. C. , & Heron, A. (1981). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Deveiopmental psychology (Vol. 4). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
28.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds. & Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
29.
Whiting, B. B. , & Edwards, C. P. (1973). A cross-cultural analysis of sex differences in the behavior of children aged three through eleven. Journal of Social Psychology, 91, 171-188.
30.
Whiting, B. B. , & Edwards, C. P. (1988). Children of different worlds: The formation of social behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
31.
Whiting, B. B. . & Whiting, J.W.M. (1975). Children of six cultures: A psycho-cultural analysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
Williams, J. E. , & Best, D. L. (1982). Measuring sex stereotypes: A thirty nation study. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
33.
Williams, J. E. , & Best, D. L. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study (rev. ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
