Culture and Development: Developmental Pathways to Psychological Autonomy and Hierarchical Relatedness (2)

Abstract

This paper proposes to conceive of the cultural models of psychological autonomy and hierarchical relatedness as cultural scripts that direct the socialization of offspring generations. The earliest social experiences in the natural environment during the first months of infants' life are considered to organize consequent developmental tasks and their achievements. Our considerations are based on the component model of parenting that conceives of parenting systems and interactional mechanisms as independent components of parenting that form culture specific profiles. We particularly concentrate on contingency as the prompt reactiveness to infant signals and warmth as the physical and/or emotional closeness. Specific consequences in terms of supporting psychological autonomy and hierarchical relatedness are discussed. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol6/iss1/1