In this new volume, leading researchers provide state-of-the-art perspectives on how social interaction influences the development of knowledge. The book integrates approaches from a variety of disciplines including developmental psychology, psychopathology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, evolutionary biology, and primatology. It reviews the nature and type of interactions that promote development as well as the conceptual frameworks used to explain the relation between individuals and groups. Social Life and Social Knowledge comprehensively addresses conceptual questions central to understanding human life and development: Is the human form of social life reducible to biological processes? What psychological abilities constitute the specifically human form of social life? What are the processes and contexts within which these abilities develop? How should we conceptualize the links between social life and the development of thought, and how do individuals and society contribute to these processes? The book is intended for philosophers, primatologists, anthropologists, biologists, sociologists, and developmental and educational psychologists interested in social development, social cognition, and developmental psychopathology. It also serves as a resource for courses in social development and those that focus on the intersection between cognition, development, and culture.

Morality has once again become an important focus of research in different scientific disciplines, from biology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, to social psychology, economics, and political philosophy. One of the reasons for this renewed interest stems from the tragedies that human beings, individually or in groups, inflict upon the lives of one another and the world at large, tragedies such as war, the extinction of species and ecological destruction, climate change, and last but not least - the financial crisis. Moral destitution and collapse, a lack of respect for human dignity and worth, and deficits in proper moral functioning at all levels of the world community, often discounted or masked by transparent excuses and vacuous rationalizations, are all viewed as principal causes of the social, societal and ecological crises with which we are confronted today. The key to solving these crises must lie, at least partly, in a better understanding and active deployment of morality. Developmental psychology is charged with the specific task of illuminating the growth and evolution of moral functioning in human beings. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology.

Morality has once again become an important focus of research in different scientific disciplines, from biology, neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, to social psychology, economics, and political philosophy. One of the reasons for this renewed interest stems from the tragedies that human beings, individually or in groups, inflict upon the lives of one another and the world at large, tragedies such as war, the extinction of species and ecological destruction, climate change, and last but not least - the financial crisis. Moral destitution and collapse, a lack of respect for human dignity and worth, and deficits in proper moral functioning at all levels of the world community, often discounted or masked by transparent excuses and vacuous rationalizations, are all viewed as principal causes of the social, societal and ecological crises with which we are confronted today. The key to solving these crises must lie, at least partly, in a better understanding and active deployment of morality. Developmental psychology is charged with the specific task of illuminating the growth and evolution of moral functioning in human beings. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology.

In this new volume, leading researchers provide state-of-the-art perspectives on how social interaction influences the development of knowledge. The book integrates approaches from a variety of disciplines including developmental psychology, psychopathology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, evolutionary biology, and primatology. It reviews the nature and type of interactions that promote development as well as the conceptual frameworks used to explain the relation between individuals and groups. Social Life and Social Knowledge comprehensively addresses conceptual questions central to understanding human life and development: Is the human form of social life reducible to biological processes? What psychological abilities constitute the specifically human form of social life? What are the processes and contexts within which these abilities develop? How should we conceptualize the links between social life and the development of thought, and how do individuals and society contribute to these processes? The book is intended for philosophers, primatologists, anthropologists, biologists, sociologists, and developmental and educational psychologists interested in social development, social cognition, and developmental psychopathology. It also serves as a resource for courses in social development and those that focus on the intersection between cognition, development, and culture.

New research on children's executive functioning and self-regulation has begun to reveal important connections to their developing social understanding (or "theories of mind") and emotional competence. The exact nature of the relations between these aspects of children's social and emotional development is, however, far from being fully understood. Considerable disagreement has emerged, for instance, over the question of whether executive functioning facilitates social-emotional understanding, or vice versa. Recent studies linking the development of children's social understanding with aspects of their interpersonal relationships also raise concerns about the particular role that social interaction plays in the development of executive function. Three key questions currently drive this debate: Does social interaction play a role in the development of executive function or, more generally, self-regulation? If it does play a role, what forms of social interaction facilitate the development of executive function? Do different patterns of interpersonal experience differentially affect the development of self-regulation and social understanding? In this book, the contributors address these questions and explore other emerging theoretical and empirical links between self-regulation, social interaction, and children's psycho-social competence. It will be a valuable resource for student and professional researchers interested in executive function, emotion, and social development.