Populations, Communication and Child Development

Abstract

A population psychology would provide empirical connections between individual differences studied under controlled conditions and the naturally occurring ecological parameters involved in transforming genotypes into phenotypes. Evidence from child development research indicates that the communicative environment of the child is the place to look for such parameters, which are located in communicative codes of symbolic meaning that children learn to master. These cultural codes may seem fixed to those who use them but are culturally variable, historically changeable and personally flexible – and should be studied in complex and changing environments.

Contributions of Societal Modernity to Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Four Cultures

“…The ecology of childhood is changing rapidly around the world. Increased urbanization, massive shifts in economic, political, and social conditions, and changes in the communicative environment have significant impact on children’s everyday lives (Chawla, 2002; Kaufman & Rizzini, 2002; LeVine, 2002). How child development is shaped and directed by these changes, many of which result from the process of modernization and the associated forces of globalization, are critical issues for current and future research.…”

“…How child development is shaped and directed by these changes, many of which result from the process of modernization and the associated forces of globalization, are critical issues for current and future research. As LeVine (2002) has stated, the study of “children under complex cultural conditions such as immigration, rapid change, and intercultural contact offers not only complications absent from more static comparisons but also new opportunities for assessing rigorously the strength and stability of cultural patterns that had been previously observed but were not fully understood. In embracing historical change as an arena of inquiry, students of child rearing and development face not only a challenge but also the promise of greatly enhanced scientific understanding” (p. 293).…”

Children's Experience During Cultural Change

“…There are other advantages. As LeVine () explains:

[The study of] children under complex cultural conditions such as immigration, rapid change, and intercultural contact offers not only complications absent from more static comparisons but also new opportunities for assessing rigorously the strength and stability of cultural patterns that had been previously observed but were not fully understood. (p. 293)

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