This concluding chapter highlights the relevance of this study’s findings for existing and future research on early childhood in anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, and mainstream developmental sciences. The findings considerably expand existing theories and knowledge of early childhood development. The identification of multiple developmental pathways within a single socio-cultural setting extends classical work in anthropology and cross-cultural psychology, which has typically located such pathways in distinct cultural contexts. The finding that these pathways may coexist within one setting but be embedded in different social contexts has important implications for cross-cultural research on affect and emotion, as well as on the self and personhood. My findings suggest that, at least in Menamaty—and likely in other societies as well—people acquire different modes or registers of emotional behaviour and self-expression and learn to switch between them depending on the current social context. Finally, this chapter discusses the implications of the study for child-focused interventions, particularly in the field of early childhood development. Since the evidence base of early interventions primarily focuses on parent–child relationships, it tends to overlook the possibility that children in many parts of the world already receive the kinds of stimulating experiences these interventions aim to promote, especially from other children. The need to look beyond parents is therefore not only theoretically but also practically relevant.

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Conclusion

  • Gabriel Scheidecker

摘要

This concluding chapter highlights the relevance of this study’s findings for existing and future research on early childhood in anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, and mainstream developmental sciences. The findings considerably expand existing theories and knowledge of early childhood development. The identification of multiple developmental pathways within a single socio-cultural setting extends classical work in anthropology and cross-cultural psychology, which has typically located such pathways in distinct cultural contexts. The finding that these pathways may coexist within one setting but be embedded in different social contexts has important implications for cross-cultural research on affect and emotion, as well as on the self and personhood. My findings suggest that, at least in Menamaty—and likely in other societies as well—people acquire different modes or registers of emotional behaviour and self-expression and learn to switch between them depending on the current social context. Finally, this chapter discusses the implications of the study for child-focused interventions, particularly in the field of early childhood development. Since the evidence base of early interventions primarily focuses on parent–child relationships, it tends to overlook the possibility that children in many parts of the world already receive the kinds of stimulating experiences these interventions aim to promote, especially from other children. The need to look beyond parents is therefore not only theoretically but also practically relevant.