Human development doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Rather, it is deeply rooted in, and affected by, culture. This textbook examines how culture affects several domains of development, including cognition, emotion, sociolinguistics, peer relationships, family relationships, and more.  The chapters highlight differences between “WEIRD� cultures (Western, educated, and from industrialized, rich, and democratic countries) and non-WEIRD cultures, as well as differences with respect to gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other identity markers.  Each chapter draws upon a large research base and highlights specific studies to engage students, illustrate key points, and convey the role of empirical research in psychology. As a result, students will learn that the development of behavior, values, social relationships, ways of seeing the world, language, and thought processes cannot be understood separate from culture.  

This book responds to the absence of a comprehensive consideration of the implications of culture for children's peer relationships. Although research in this field has burgeoned in recent years, cultural issues have often been overlooked. The chapters tap such issues as the impact of social circumstances and cultural values on peer relationships, culturally prescribed socialization patterns and processes, emotional experience and regulation in peer interactions, children's social behaviors in peer interactions, cultural aspects of friendships, and peer influences on social and school adjustment in cultural context. The authors incorporate into their discussions findings from research programs using multiple methodologies, including both qualitative (e.g., interviewing, ethnographic and observational) and quantitative (e.g., large scale surveys, standardized questionnaires) approaches, based on a wide range of ages of children in cultures from East to West and from South to North (Asia, South America, the Mid-East, Southern Europe, and ethnic groups in the US).