XCULTDEVRESALL · The cross-cultural development of resource allocation behaviour

The cross-cultural development of resource allocation behaviour

The goal of the fellowship was to explore the developmental trajectory of how children (learn to) allocate resources from a cross-cultural perspective, focusing on children from non-Western, small-scale populations. Specifically, the objectives were as follows: to study the development of ownership rules across cultures (year 1) as well as the development of sharing and fairness rules (year 2), and to write a comprehensive review paper (end of year 2). From a career development perspective main aim of the fellowship was to receive training in cross-cultural field research, gain experience in student supervision and project management. This work was conducted in the Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and mentored by the department’s director, Prof. Michael Tomasello. During the fellowship all objectives have been successfully implemented. There has been a series of cross-cultural, developmental studies on children’s ownership and fairness understanding in different traditional, small-scale cultures. To date this work has resulted in 2 first-author publications (1 peer reviewed in “Child Development”, 1 book chapter) and another first-author manuscript is currently in preparation for publication. In addition, the fellowship allowed for intra-departmental (and external) collaboration on a series of large-scale cross-cultural studies on children’s socio-cognitive skills – this work is currently ongoing. Moreover, during the fellowship further research collaborations in the department on children’s understanding of promises and gift-exchanges were made possible. Findings from work on promises had been submitted for publication as a first author paper but required additional data collection (anticipated resubmission: end of 2015). The remaining projects are also ongoing (anticipated end date: spring 2016). The fellowship also allowed the researcher to gain extensive field research experience on field trips to Kenya, Namibia, Argentina and Bolivia. While the field work in Kenya and Namibia occurred in already established field sites and provided initial field training, the fellowship (and support from the department) made it possible to establish two new field sites in South American (Argentina, Bolivia). Moreover, opportunities were provided to co-supervise students (Bachelor, Master’s and PhD) and to closely interact with research and student assistants in Leipzig as well as local authorities and assistants in the various field stations. Project management of all lead-projects occurred independently and under mentorship of Prof. Tomasello. Additional project collaborations with colleagues were also made possible (see above). A series of career development workshops for postdocs was also provided by the Max Planck Society. Participation in international conferences as well as co-organization of a cross-cultural pre-conference workshop at the largest international developmental psychology conference, allowed for sharpening the fellow’s academic profile and expanding her international, academic network. The success of the career training made possible by the fellowship is also evidence by the fact that the fellow has successfully obtained a five year junior research group grant to develop her cross-cultural research further. The main insight gained from the research conducted during the fellowship is a more nuanced picture of how universal developmental processes and socio-cultural environment shape children’s resource allocation behavior. It has also contributed to diversifying the knowledgebase of developmental psychology by incorporating children from diverse and underrepresented populations. In recent years, there has been a newly (re)emerging awareness for the need of culturally-minded research in the behavioural sciences. The work conducted during the fellowship has not only contributed new knowledge, but has also laid the foundation for long-term, future work in this timely field.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз