Workshop 2018 (3 of 6) | Philippe Rochat | Distinct Collective Temperaments in Children Across Cultures

Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture

Summer Workshop 2018: Human Cognitive Development Across Cultures

A collaboration between Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Emory's Center for the Mind Brain and Culture (CMBC).
Workshop organizers: Lynne Nygaard, CMBC & Tanya Broesch, SFU

Research examining human cognitive development, particularly in psychology, has been almost exclusively based on studying what Henrich and colleagues refer to as "Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic" (WEIRD) populations. Although this is a narrow and unrepresentative slice of humanity, it continues to dominate research published in top developmental psychology journals. This workshop will provide an interdisciplinary forum to present and discuss current issues in understanding human development from a more global perspective. Together, we will address the key question: What have we learned about development across diverse societies that will help us better understand and explain variation in developmental pathways? Discussion and presentations will include an exploration of 1) what the current state of our knowledge is with respect to cognitive development, 2) how investigations of human development can expand to non-WEIRD samples, particularly small-scale societies, 3) what methodologies have been or should be developed to promote effective cross-cultural research, and 4) what are the primary theoretical and empirical obstacles to the study of cognitive development in diverse populations.