Issues of cultural meaningfulness in emotional development.
All 3 articles addressed in this commentary reflect a Western cultural model in their investigation of emotional development. Each used Western cultural scripts in how data were collected and then applied further culture-based scripts in attributing meaningfulness to what was elicited. The commentary also examines several other related concerns: (a) the search for universals versus a focus on cultural specificity, (b) the effect of the unit of analysis when comparing emotional development across cultures, (c) whose perspective is used when proclaiming some phenomenon as universal, and (d) the nature of change in emotional development when taking culture into account. A more productive approach in researchers' attempts to understand emotional development across different societies may be one that consults with and genuinely attempts to integrate an intercultural viewpoint in the design and interpretation of research.
Department of Counseling, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA. saarni@sonoma.edu
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D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D012107:Research Design