What obligations to each other do people have or think they have? That question comes up in relation to family and marriage relationships, to law, and to moral reasoning. This novel and highly readable book takes it up in relation to inheritances: to what people think they should leave or be left, who should receive what, when, how, and why. Making the book novel is its range. Here are views about more than money. Covered are also houses, land and, an often neglected but emotion-laden area, the personal and often indivisible things that mean one is remembered as an individual. Making it novel also is its emphasis throughout on meanings and on what people see as matters of choice or flexibility. Even in countries where the legal codes specify who should receive what after death (many European and most Islamic codes allow far less choice than British-based law does), people still have room for decisions about what they give away to various heirs or spend before death. What makes the book highly readable? One reason is its timeliness. Currently lively, for example, are debates over parents balancing their own needs and wishes against those of their children ("spending the kids' inheritance," in one description). Another is the book's style. The writing is straightforward. Theory is not neglected but there is an absence of jargon. The material is also mostly based on narratives: on people's own descriptions of arrangements that "worked well" or "did not work well" and on why they thought so. That base makes the book far from dry and far from being an account only of negative feelings, objections, challenges, and family rifts. It also makes it more relevant at times of indecision or misunderstanding. In short, a book for many readers, both within the social sciences and beyond it.

Research on the topic of parent beliefs, or parent cognition, has increased tremendously since the original publication of this volume in 1985. For this revised second edition, the editors sought to reflect some of the new directions that research on parent cognition has taken. By offering a greater variety of topics, it gives evidence of the intellectual concerns that now engage researchers in the field and testifies to the expanding scope of their interests. Although a unique collection because it reflects the diversity that exists among major researchers in the field, it evinces a common theme -- that the ideas parents have regarding their children and themselves as parents have an impact on their actions. This emphasis on parents' ideas shifts the focus on sources of family influence to ideas or beliefs as determinants of family interactions. The implication of this way of thinking for practitioners is that it suggests the shift to ideas and thoughts from behavior and attitudes.

Research on the topic of parent beliefs, or parent cognition, has increased tremendously since the original publication of this volume in 1985. For this revised second edition, the editors sought to reflect some of the new directions that research on parent cognition has taken. By offering a greater variety of topics, it gives evidence of the intellectual concerns that now engage researchers in the field and testifies to the expanding scope of their interests. Although a unique collection because it reflects the diversity that exists among major researchers in the field, it evinces a common theme -- that the ideas parents have regarding their children and themselves as parents have an impact on their actions. This emphasis on parents' ideas shifts the focus on sources of family influence to ideas or beliefs as determinants of family interactions. The implication of this way of thinking for practitioners is that it suggests the shift to ideas and thoughts from behavior and attitudes.

To their everyday life with children, parents bring a number of ideas about development and about parenting. Some of these ideas are about their own children and about themselves as parents. Others are more general: ideas, for instance, about what babies are like, how children change with age, what kinds of affection and control they need, the responsibilities of mothers and fathers, or the degree of influence each parent has over the way a child develops. Moreover, the ideas that parents hold, shape their actions with children and the way they assess both their children and their own performance as parents. With the recognition of parental thinking as a powerful factor in family life, research has turned to the study of this `everyday' or `informal' psychology. Some of the studies deal with the nature of parents' ideas: What ideas are held? Which are most widely shared? How do these ideas differ from one another? Some deal with the sources of parents' ideas: with the factors that give rise to differences among parents from different backgrounds (different cultures, different economic groups, different degrees of experience with children). Others concentrate on the consequences of parents' ideas for themselves and for children. This monograph summarizes the research with an eye to several audiences (researchers, clinicians, educators) and with an emphasis on the questions that remain. A major goal is to point not only to significant gaps, but also to some specific ways in which they might be addressed by further research.

What obligations to each other do people have or think they have? That question comes up in relation to family and marriage relationships, to law, and to moral reasoning. This novel and highly readable book takes it up in relation to inheritances: to what people think they should leave or be left, who should receive what, when, how, and why. Making the book novel is its range. Here are views about more than money. Covered are also houses, land and, an often neglected but emotion-laden area, the personal and often indivisible things that mean one is remembered as an individual. Making it novel also is its emphasis throughout on meanings and on what people see as matters of choice or flexibility. Even in countries where the legal codes specify who should receive what after death (many European and most Islamic codes allow far less choice than British-based law does), people still have room for decisions about what they give away to various heirs or spend before death. What makes the book highly readable? One reason is its timeliness. Currently lively, for example, are debates over parents balancing their own needs and wishes against those of their children ("spending the kids' inheritance," in one description). Another is the book's style. The writing is straightforward. Theory is not neglected but there is an absence of jargon. The material is also mostly based on narratives: on people's own descriptions of arrangements that "worked well" or "did not work well" and on why they thought so. That base makes the book far from dry and far from being an account only of negative feelings, objections, challenges, and family rifts. It also makes it more relevant at times of indecision or misunderstanding. In short, a book for many readers, both within the social sciences and beyond it.