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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.
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.
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