Abstract Theoretical views and experimental studies on infants' social cognition have expanded rapidly in recent years. In this article, we offer an organizing perspective centered on the number of social agents—one, two, or more—that are meaningfully involved in a scenario. We use this perspective to discuss how infants interpret and predict the social agents' actions and interactions, and to map multiple facets of infants' social cognition, including mentalizing, socio-moral reasoning (as informed by understanding about groups and relationships), and understanding of social norms. Throughout the article, we pose questions for research, emphasizing the importance of experiences in shaping the developmental course of infants' social cognition. We conclude by considering outstanding issues raised by this perspective and how they can generate new directions for research.
Abstract The social, economic, and environmental features of neighborhoods can have broad effects on children's development, yet these contexts are often characterized using single dimensions, such as socioeconomic status. In this article, building on research highlighting the heterogeneity of youth's exposure to and experience in neighborhoods in the United States, we review three of the most commonly used comprehensive geocoded indices (the social vulnerability index, the area deprivation index, and the child opportunity index), which are publicly available, to capture a variety of neighborhood assets and resources. We provide strategies and tools to guide developmental researchers in incorporating these indices into their work. By offering a framework for more comprehensive place-based research, we seek to stimulate more study of place-based effects to advance understanding of how neighborhood factors shape children's development and inform targeted interventions to reduce inequities.
Parents can promote adolescents' well-being and adjustment by providing warmth, supporting autonomy, and regulating thoroughly. Are these parenting practices universally beneficial or do they have unique effects on individual adolescents? Recent intensive longitudinal studies (e.g., daily diaries) suggest that parental warmth and autonomy support are related to positive outcomes in most youth. However, opposing effects (i.e., effects that are unexpected theoretically or that contrast with what is commonly found) occur in a few individuals and in specific situations, and may emerge only after a while. In this article, we present a new conceptual model, which can guide researchers in understanding more thoroughly why, for whom, when, and how parenting processes are universal or unique. These insights, which can be obtained through family-specific research, are crucial for informing both universal and tailored parenting interventions.
The search for human universals—capacities thought to be shared across human species—is often associated with the study of infancy. Infants are viewed as a major source of insight into the initial state of psychological organization. In this article, I outline three constraints on this approach: insufficiency of empirical evidence, conflation of related constructs, and rich interpretation from readouts. I argue that inquiries into human universals may be more productive if they are accompanied by a conceptual shift from privileging universals to privileging both variation and consistency. I propose scaling up infant research, validity considerations, and cautious generalization as key advances toward an empirically grounded science of infancy.
Widely reused open-access data sets shape theory, training, and syntheses of evidence in child and adolescent development, making them infrastructure for cumulative science. In this article, I suggest that representation is an inferential constraint: Generalization depends on who is sampled and what contexts and constructs are measured and documented. Synthesizing cross-data set patterns across developmental data sources, I identify recurring limits, including overrepresentation of higher-resourced and majority-culture families, inconsistent socioeconomic measures, uneven capture of contextual variables, and partial visibility of disability and neurodevelopmental variation. These features bound what secondary analyses can support and make limits on generalization easy to overlook. Transparent metadata and privacy-sensitive governance help make those limits visible while protecting participants. I conclude with practical steps for data set teams, funders, journal editors and reviewers, and researchers.
The concept of meaning provides a critical lens for every aspect of research on developmental psychology, from promoting powerful assessments of parenting and children's behavior to suggesting both powerful early predictors and intermediate and long-term outcomes of great importance, and for work on understanding processes that underlie continuity in individual development. The field is marked by both profound developmental questions and the need for suitable methods. Meaning has always been a part of much developmental research, explicitly or implicitly. Many pieces of the complex contribution of meaning to the field are in place. The time is ripe for an integration of these pieces and for underscoring the concept of the power of meaning. In this article, I use two developmental problems to illustrate what the perspective of meaning has to contribute: (a) establishing continuity in individual development and (b) explaining individual differences in resilience. I also illustrate the fundamental nature of development.
Children's math learning is shaped not only by what they know but also by their motivation and engagement. Although researchers have focused primarily on parents' cognitive practices in the math context, emerging evidence highlights an underappreciated dimension of parents' math involvement: motivational practices. Guided by motivational theories, in this article, we argue that parents' provision of motivational resources-via autonomy-supportive, affectively positive, and process-oriented practices in the context of math learning-plays a foundational role in children's math motivation and engagement, contributing to their math achievement. We synthesize theory and research suggesting that parents' cognitive and motivational practices contribute uniquely, and perhaps synergistically, to children's math learning. We also consider the possibility that motivational parenting practices grow in importance over time as academic demands increase and cognitive practices may wane. By integrating motivational resources into models of parents' math involvement, the field can move toward a more holistic understanding of how to support children's math learning.
Developmental science has long explored how socio-economic circumstances shape child outcomes. While recent calls emphasize the need for more sensitive, holistic operationalizations of disadvantage, a gap remains in balancing mechanistic precision with policy relevance. This paper identifies three strategies to foster a comprehensive and inclusive understanding of how socio-economic contexts influence development. First, measurement must be ecologically grounded and meaningful to the specific population under study. Second, researchers should account for multiple developmental pathways. Finally, we must capture heterogeneity in family circumstances, highlighting both hidden costs and inherent strengths. By integrating these perspectives, the field can achieve more precise, context-sensitive insights into the diverse realities of socio-economic disadvantage.
Over the past century, research has demonstrated that children are curious and inquisitive. However, we know less about how children's questions-and the responses they receive-affect learning and conceptual development. This gap exists despite a longstanding acknowledgment in developmental science that questions can be powerful vehicles for development. In this article, we propose that for questions to affect development, a child must (a) recognize a gap in knowledge, (b) be curious about a topic, and (c) trust an informant to provide a useful response. When these conditions are met, a child enters what we refer to as the zone of inquiry and may ask the kinds of questions most likely to propel development.
The traditions of developmental science and contemplative wisdom offer distinct views of conditions for a healthy self. While the former delineates developmental paths by which caregiving supports the growth of essential self-functions, the latter presents self-transcendent capacities based on development through practice. In this article, we propose a model that integrates these approaches to show how caregiving can promote development of self-beyond-self. We examine qualities of care promoting healthy self-functions through a contemplative lens, review research supporting components of the proposed model, and outline next steps for research. Based on this foundation, we hope to create a developmental contemplative science of families that can explore what is possible in human self-development and inform work to foster such development by training caregivers.
While researchers, physicians, and public officials have highlighted rising rates of adolescent suicide, one group has been largely ignored in public discourse, intervention development, and research: liminal youth. Here, we bring attention to youth with identities outside binary race, ethnic, sexual orientation, or gender categorizations and develop a unified theory explaining their greater risk of suicide. Our work is grounded in the concept of liminality, and we draw on developmental theory regarding identity development, narrative identity, and belonging to detail the stressors experienced by liminal adolescents and their related intrapersonal costs that impede these developmental milestones. We aim to seed a new body of research on adolescent suicide prevention, mental health promotion, and developmental research, writ large, on liminal youth.
From birth, children's interactions with adults are central to their survival, development, health, and well-being. While sensitive and responsive caregiving has long been associated with optimal child development, neuroscience has enabled an understanding of how such experiences influence brain architecture. The serve and return metaphor has been widely adopted by translation and communication initiatives to showcase the type of interactions that drive children's development. In this article, we propose extending the metaphor to serve-return-rally-learn to make explicit the importance of extended, responsive interactions in fostering children's learning. Drawing on the principles of conversation analysis, we explain the interactional components of an adult-child interactional tennis match and explore how adults' interactional practices can promote rallies to optimize children's learning and development.
Although human infants' helplessness is largely overlooked in developmental science, it has attracted considerable attention in comparative anthropology and biology. In this article, we argue for the relevance of infants' helplessness to developmental psychology. Our review covers the altricial-precocial spectrum and key features of human helplessness and examines reasons why helplessness has been overlooked. We present infants as uniquely active (with weak motor systems and stronger sensory systems) and relational (with extended development within social interactions for survival), and we note how some elements of helplessness are long lasting (with juvenile characteristics persisting through childhood and into adulthood). In closing, we urge researchers to rethink helplessness as a paradigmatic, nonobvious characteristic in developmental systems perspective that affects many aspects of human development.
Humans' moral views of animals vary in important ways across development. In many cases, adults display anthropocentric moral judgments that relate to the exploitation of animals as a resource. In contrast, children appear to have a more inclusive perspective regarding animals. In this article, we review and synthesize studies examining differences in how children, adolescents, and adults make moral judgments about animals. We consider how both cultural and individual differences may relate to this developmental trajectory.
Parenting is a fundamental yet challenging task that influences children's development profoundly. Traditional forms of parental support, such as parenting training programs, provide valuable assistance but often fall short in accessibility, personalization, and interactivity, leaving many diverse families underserved. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) offer promising ideas but also raise significant concerns. In this article, I leverage insights from developmental science and research on human-computer interaction to discuss three key questions: (1) Why should AI be used to assist with parenting? (2) What do we know about AI-assisted parenting? (3) How should AI-assisted tools be designed responsibly and effectively to support parenting? In addressing the third question, I introduce the HEAT model, which features components of human-centeredness, equality, accuracy, and trust, and is a design and evaluation framework that offers guidance on the ethical development and application of AI in parenting contexts. Ultimately, I suggest that for AI to truly benefit families, AI tools must be ethically responsible, culturally sensitive, and developmentally appropriate.
Studies of human development in the majority world rarely include biomarkers, especially outside research on nutrition and public health. Yet including the "bio" in bioecological has enormous potential to advance a global developmental science, reflective of the diversity found in most of the world's population. In this article, we discuss concerns related to the ethics and feasibility of conducting biomarker research in developmental studies in the majority world. We weigh these concerns against the potential benefits of advancing understanding of developmental mechanisms and processes, and how human development unfolds across cultures and contexts. In doing so, we draw on prior research and the authors' experiences developing and implementing studies that included biomarkers across multiple majority world contexts, and we suggest ways to explore various biomarker methods for their cultural and logistical feasibility. Combining rich data on the developmental ecosystem with biomarkers will enable scientific advancements relevant to the design of policies and interventions.
Children's language development is tied to their linguistic input. While most of this research has focused on adult speech, around the world, children regularly engage with other children, in the home or in early childhood education settings. Here, I contextualize the frequency of interactions with other children. I then highlight properties of speech from children, such as acoustic signature and content, which might make other children's speech particularly relevant for language learning. Finally, I discuss how considering speech from children allows scholars to create theories that include societies around the world, where caretaking often involves more children and higher birthrates are common. I conclude that theories of language development should consider speech from other children as an important component.
Researchers conducting experimental work on sociocognitive development in childhood typically study one-on-one interactions. This approach aligns with the assumption that children's social cognition, motivation, and learning first emerge in dyadic interactions before scaling up to larger social ensembles. In this article, we argue that this dyadic default reflects widespread theoretical and cultural biases as well as methodological convenience, leading to an overemphasis on dyadic interactions in research on child development. Because dyadic engagements can differ qualitatively and quantitatively from those in larger social ensembles, the dyadic default may systematically skew our understanding of key areas of social development and fail to account for global variation in childhood experiences. We suggest that researchers prioritize studying social ensembles of three and more individuals to capture more effectively the dynamics of childhood social development that include but are not limited to, dyads.
Radical care describes individual and collective practices that historically marginalized groups use for wellness amid oppression. Care is a critical feature of Black liberatory practice. Yet, as psychology researchers in the United States increasingly examine Black youth's sociopolitical actions, limited work is examining radical care. In this article, I describe the significance of radical care for Black youth's healthy development. Using seminal sociocultural developmental theories, I identify radical care as a liberatory adaptive cultural practice that facilitates Black youth's developmental capacity to transcend anti-Black oppression. I also describe key features of radical care practices and present a model describing radical care development. I conclude with recommendations for research examining radical care among Black youth as they transition to adulthood.
Humans are not omniscient. For individuals, appropriately reckoning with intellectual limitations requires intellectual humility or acknowledging the boundaries of their knowledge. Adolescence is a time of immense developmental potential, but is intellectual humility valuable for adolescents to develop, can they develop it, and how might it be developed? Rooted in recent research, in this article, we describe why intellectual humility benefits adolescents in intellectual, social, and civic domains. We also explain why adolescents have the capacity to develop intellectual humility due to developmental changes in both cognitive sophistication and self-understanding. Finally, drawing on an emerging evidence base, we describe how experiences in school shape the development of intellectual humility and we identify priorities for future work in this area.
