Cross-Cultural Human Development

A groundbreaking study! The topics treated in Cross-Cultural Human Development include affect, cognition, language, perception, physical growth, sex, aggression, social motives, and sex role. Western-based generalizations about these topics are evaluated through consideration of cross-cultural findings. Additionally, brief ethnographic materials relevant to development are presented for the Ainu, the Trobrianders, and the Gusii, three representative societies from the traditional world. Accompanying the reissue of this first book on human development in cross-cultural perspective is a new preface, citing more than 150 recent scholarly works in an update of the literature. The preface also delineates the current major research traditions in the field--Sociobehavioral Studies, Bio-Evolutionary Approaches, Cognitive Approaches, and the Cultural-Context Framework--and notes such contributions as the Six Cultures sequel, parental acceptance-rejection, individualism-collectivism, Piagetian research, and Vygotskian concepts.