Western Developmental Psychology in Non-Western Cultures

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.

By Day 3
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.
Reading required.

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