Development The Cultural Solution of Universal Developmental Tasks

This chapter proposes a unified framework based on evolutionary theorizing and cross-cultural and cultural anthropological approaches that may serve as a guideline for the systematic integration of the concepts of culture and development. The basic idea of the ecosocial model of development is that cultural milieus (i.e., culture-specific patterns of socialization goals, ethnotheories, and parenting styles) have evolved as adaptations to specific ecosocial contexts. Development is the culture-specific solution of universal developmental tasks that lays the ground for gradually diverging developmental pathways. Cultural self-ways based on specific conceptions of autonomy and relatedness provide structural continuity across ontogenetic development and influence the timing, stability, dynamics, and gestalts of developmental processes. Examples from the authors' multicultural research program highlight the systematic nature of cultural developmental pathways.