Abstract

Abstract

How different are the concepts held by children who grow up in a North American middle class neighborhood and by children who grow up in a rural Malagasy fishing village? By probing Malagasy children's and adults' conceptual representations of human and animal kind, biological inheritance, innate potential and family relations, the studies presented in this Monograph address current debates about the acquisition and the nature of concepts in the domains of folkbiology and folksociology. Cross-cultural and developmental studies of this kind bear on the hypothesis that conceptual development in these domains is supported and constrained by innate conceptual content. If so, one would expect cross-cultural universality in the relevant adult concepts and their early emergence in childhood regardless of widely different input conditions. We chose to conduct these studies among the Vezo of Madagascar because the ethnographic literature has attributed to them folkbiological and folksociological theories that are radically different, even in commensurable, with those of North American adults. Vezo therefore provide a challenging test for the innate conceptual constraints hypothesis.Four studies probed aspects of biological and sociological reasoning of Vezo children, adolescents and adults through a number of adoption scenarios. Despite ethnographic reports to the contrary, we found cross-cultural convergence in adult concepts of biological inheritance, but the pattern of development of this concept differed greatly from that seen in North America. Moreover, in agreement with the ethnographic literature, we found that Vezo adults have constructed a distinctive theory of social group identity. However, we found that children's reasoning in this domain is under the influence of endogenous constraints that are overturned in the course of development. Finally, we found cross-cultural convergence in adults' concept of species kind, as well as evidence for the early emergence of this concept. In light of these findings, we discuss the nature of the constraints on children's conceptual representations, the developmental process through which the adults' concepts are constructed, and relations between Vezotheories of folkbiology and folksociology.

Does Head Start differentially benefit children with risks targeted by the program's service model?

“…Maternal- and kindergarten teacher-report of behavior were only modestly correlated at .28, consistent with other prior literature (Achenbach, McConaughy, & Howell, 1987; NICHD ECCRN, 2004; Stanger & Lewis, 1993; Verhulst & Akkerhuis, 1989) and indicating they represented two distinct measures of a child’s behavior. Using the maternal-report, children with higher aggressive or hyperactive behavior at baseline had more behavior problems when randomly assigned to Head Start than the control condition.…”

Parents’ Gender Ideology and Gendered Behavior as Predictors of Children’s Gender-Role Attitudes: A Longitudinal Exploration

“…Researchers have documented young children's tendency to "essentialize gender"—that is, to make assumptions about males and females based on their sex (Gelman, Taylor & Nguyen, 2004, p.1). Rigid adherence to stereotypical gender roles can have negative consequences in childhood and beyond, as these stereotypes can limit children's educational and occupational aspirations, perceived academic competency, emotional expression and social development (Liben, Bigler, & Krogh, 2002; Rainey & Rust, 1999).…”

“…Much of children’s early learning about gender occurs within the family context—namely, through children’s attendance to parents’ subtle messages about gender roles (Epstein & Ward 2011; Gelman et al, 2004). Parents’ ideology —meaning the extent to which they hold traditional versus egalitarian views of men’s and women’s gender roles—is thought to play a part in children’s development of gender-role attitudes (Bulanda, 2004).…”

Aggression in children with autism spectrum disorders and a clinic-referred comparison group

“…From the field of developmental psychopathology, studies show that several risk factors are reliably associated with physically aggressive behavior, including younger age, male sex, low IQ, lower verbal abilities, and family characteristics such as low socioeconomic status and harsh parenting practices {Lahey, 1999 #1883;Network, 2004 #1914;Nagin, 2001 #1917;Tremblay, 2000 #1922}. Less is known about risk and protective factors for non-physical aggression, or for aggression in children with ASD.…”