Child Development Perspectives最新文献

In this article, I briefly review theories about the development of theory of mind, and then examine evidence for minimalism, the idea that infants initially understand only behaviors. To this end, I consider the need for a wide variety of species to predict the behaviors of other animals and that human infants are not unique in this regard. I also discuss evidence for infants' understanding of behaviors, including their good statistical learning skills and their rich exposure to patterns of behavior, which correlates with their acquisition of mental state vocabulary. Finally, I discuss evidence for how maternal mental state talk, as well as children's evolving language and understanding of self, contributes to learning that mental states underlie behaviors.

In this article, we integrate cultural evolutionary theory with empirical research from developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, and primatology to explore the role of peer learning in the development of complex instrumental skills and behavioral norms. We show that instrumental imitation, contingent teaching, generative collaboration, and selective copying contribute to domain-specific transmission of knowledge between peers. Stages of development and characteristics inherent to the learner and model influence how and when children learn from each other. Peer learning is persistent across societies despite cultural beliefs that favor adult–child transmission in some settings. Comparative research hints at the possibility that children's greater motivation to interact with and learn from each other may set humans apart from other primates. We conclude by outlining avenues for future research, including how individual characteristics and developmental changes in social networks, motivation, and cognition may contribute to cultural evolution.

Many view populist tendencies among youth with concern because adolescence is a formative period for political development. Of the many factors that shape young people's populist attitudes, experiences in school deserve attention since young people spend time in educational settings and schools share the goal of educating students to become informed and responsible citizens. However, the school context offers a wide variety of experiences, ranging from formal curricular to informal (climatic or participatory) characteristics. While empirical findings indicate that experiences in school affect the extent to which young people lean toward populism, results are not always clear and point to considerable gaps in the literature. Consequently, in this article, we discuss practical implications of studies on this topic and outline directions for research.

Because media provide a steady stream of models, they are especially poised to offer formative information about race. Yet although U.S. youth consume approximately 7 h of media daily, we know little about how media use contributes to their developing racial attitudes. Instead, research has focused mainly on adults, and studies of youth have developed along separate tracks for youth who are White and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color). In this article, we first analyze the lack of attention to media effects on the development of racial attitudes, despite their assumed prominence as socializers. Then we summarize research on youth of color and White youth. We conclude with suggestions for building a comprehensive research agenda, including addressing gaps in the associations tested, considering more nuanced assessments of race and media, and integrating approaches across fields.

Research has consistently indicated that children of naturalized citizens from refugee backgrounds lag in most indicators of development. The disparities are more nuanced in contexts with limited educational resources, such as the sub-Saharan region of Africa. However, that is not the case with children of naturalized citizens from refugee backgrounds of Burundian origin living in Tanzania. The early learning attainment of these children is comparable to children from more advantaged urban majority groups. In this article, I discuss the role of the home learning environment and families' socioeconomic status in children's development of early math and reading skills by linking global and local perspectives. Challenges facing children from this group in Tanzania include issues related to curriculum, cultural practices and parental beliefs, mastery of Kiswahili, and the quality of teachers in the early grades. In light of the evidence, I argue for improvements in learning experiences and recommend research to inform policy and improve practice.

Undocumented immigrants arriving in the United States as minors navigate tremendous constraints as they transition into adolescence and adulthood. Exclusionary immigration laws profoundly shape and complicate the attainment of important milestones and the decisions undocumented minors make about their adult futures. A significant body of research, largely focused on children who arrive when they are 12 years old and younger, has examined the impact of legal exclusion on the coming-of-age experiences of undocumented minors. However, we know less about the experiences of teenage arrivals. In this article, we focus on young Latin American migrants and provide an overview of how legal exclusion contours undocumented minors' adolescent and adult transitions; we also call attention to the divergent experiences of youth who arrive during childhood and youth who arrive during adolescence. Throughout the article, we emphasize how the timing of immigration—the developmental stage when a young person migrates—creates meaningful differences in the barriers undocumented minors confront.

Back-and-forth conversations with others are vital for children's development in the early years. While children's conversation partners have traditionally been their parents, teachers, and peers, recent advances in artificial intelligence have led to the introduction of machines that understand human speech and generate natural responses, and thus can engage children in conversations. As these technologies become increasingly ubiquitous in children's lives, questions arise as to how they might affect children's development: How do children interact with, perceive, and learn from conversational technologies? Can these technologies serve as children's social partners? In this article, I detail what we know about these topics and discuss the possible implications of conversational technologies for children's shifting media landscape. I also suggest research agendas that can unpack the complex interplay among children, their social contexts, and conversational technology.

What do cows drink? The correct answer is water, but many are tempted to say milk. The disposition to override an intuitive response (milk) with a more analytic response (water) is known as cognitive reflection. Tests of cognitive reflection predict a wide range of skills and abilities in adults. In this article, we discuss the construction of a developmental version of the cognitive reflection test and explore how it predicts rational thinking and normative thinking dispositions in elementary school-aged children, independent of age, executive function, and cultural context. We also explore how the test predicts children's mastery of counterintuitive concepts in science and mathematics. Findings suggest that cognitive reflection may be a prerequisite for developing, and improving, analytic thought, thus highlighting the value of studying cognitive reflection from a developmental perspective.