Discussion 1: Western Developmental Psychology in Non-Western Cultures
For the most part, the theories you explored in this course focused on Western cultures. Western cultures often are the baseline when conducting cross-cultural comparisons. Miao and Wang's (2003) article examining Chinese developmental psychology provides insight into how another culture examines human development.
While major developmental theorists and researchers (e.g., Gesell) influenced Chinese researchers, the topics of interest for Chinese researchers did not necessarily reflect those of Western researchers.
This course has introduced multiple perspectives and presented culturally diverse research examining all phases of human development. For this Discussion, consider what led research to be conducted to examine diverse settings and groups. Was it an attempt to broaden the population within which the findings could be applied, a reaction to a gap in the literature, or perhaps a critique of a conclusion or theory?
If you have not had an opportunity to delve into a statistics or methodology course, some of the techniques in this week's research articles might be confusing, but the process that the researchers used should be understandable.
To prepare for this Discussion:
• Review this week's Learning Resources and consider the applicability of American/Western developmental psychology to Non-Western countries and cultures.
Post your thoughts about the applicability of American/Western developmental psychology to Non-Western countries and cultures. Explain why it is important for developmental psychology to consider cross-cultural perspectives explaining human development. Justify your post with specific examples and citations from the Learning Resources. Use proper APA format and citations.
Discussion 2: Social Change Within Developmental Psychology
Throughout this course, you may have gravitated to certain stages of development and certain research topics. Perhaps you found cognitive development during early childhood particularly appealing.
Perhaps you are interested in the process of identity development during adolescence and the influence of culture. Maybe you want to learn more about how older adults cope with Alzheimer's disease.
There are endless questions and endless opportunities to affect change, improve human development, and positively impact the overall quality of life.
Take your curiosities and interests a step further and generate some ideas for positive social change in those areas. Do not limit yourself to what your current resources or capacities are; if you had ample resources at your disposal, what would you want to do to affect positive social change?
To prepare for this Discussion:
• Review the Walden University Social Change website and explore the possibilities for positive social change.
• Think about a research topic that involves lifespan development and how it could contribute to positive social change.
Post about a description of a research topic that involves lifespan development and explain how it could contribute to positive social change. Then, explain the actions you could take to bring about social change for that research topic possibility. Be specific.
Articles :
1. Differences and Deficits in Psychological Research in Historical Perspective: A Commentary on the Special Section By Michael Cole.
2 Human Developmental Science for Social Justice By Stephen T. Russell.
3. Some Long-Standing and Emerging Research Lines in Africa By Robert Serpell, Kofi Marfo.
4. Familism Through a Developmental Lens By Gabriela L. Stein, Alexandra M. Cupito, Julia L. Mendez, Juan Prandoni,Nadia Huq, and Diana Westerberg.
5. The development of adaptive competence: Why cultural psychology is necessary and not just nice By Robert J. Sternberg.