Cultural Variation in the Development of Beliefs About Conservation.

Examining variation in reasoning about sustainability between diverse populations provides unique insight into how group norms surrounding resource conservation develop. Cultural institutions, such as religious organizations and formal schools, can mobilize communities to solve collective challenges associated with resource depletion. This study examined conservation beliefs in a Western industrialized (Austin, Texas, USA) and a non-Western, subsistence agricultural community (Tanna, Vanuatu) among children, adolescents, and adults (N = 171; n = 58 7-12-year-olds, n = 53 13-17-year-olds, and n = 60 18-68-year-olds).

Using data to solve problems: Children reason flexibly in response to different kinds of evidence.

This study examined children's (5- to 9-year-olds, N = 363) abilities to use information seeking and explanation to solve problems using conclusive or inconclusive (i.e., consistent, inconsistent, or ambiguous) evidence.

Explain This, Explore That: A Study of Parent-Child Interaction in a Children's Museum.

Parents visiting a gear exhibit at a children's museum were instructed to encourage their children (N = 65; ages 4-6) to explain, explore, or engage as usual. Instructions led to different patterns of play at the exhibit: Encouragement to explain led to greater discussion of gear mechanisms, whereas encouragement to explore led to more time connecting gears. In the explain condition, parents' questions predicted their children's discussion and further testing of gears.

A field guide for teaching evolution in the social sciences.

The theory of evolution by natural selection has begun to revolutionize our understanding of perception, cognition, language, social behavior, and cultural practices. Despite the centrality of evolutionary theory to the social sciences, many students, teachers, and even scientists struggle to understand how natural selection works. Our goal is to provide a field guide for social scientists on teaching evolution, based on research in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and education.

Evidence from hunter-gatherer and subsistence agricultural populations for the universality of contagion sensitivity.

The phenomenon of - the unobserved passage of properties between entities that come into physical contact - was described by anthropologists over a century ago, yet questions remain about its origin, function, and universality. Contagion sensitivity, along with the emotion of disgust, has been proposed to be part of a biologically-evolved system designed to reduce exposure to pathogens by increasing the avoidance of "contaminated" objects. Yet this phenomenon has not been studied using systematic psychological comparison outside of industrialized populations.

Cross-cultural variation in the development of folk ecological reasoning.

Two studies examined children's reasoning about biological kinds in populations that vary in formal education and direct experience with the natural world, a Western (urban U.S.) and a Non-Western population (Tanna, Vanuatu).

Does the Body Survive Death? Cultural Variation in Beliefs About Life Everlasting.

Mounting evidence suggests that endorsement of psychological continuity and the afterlife increases with age. This developmental change raises questions about the cognitive biases, social representations, and cultural input that may support afterlife beliefs. To what extent is there similarity versus diversity across cultures in how people reason about what happens after death? The objective of this study was to compare beliefs about the continuation of biological and psychological functions after death in Tanna, Vanuatu (a Melanesian archipelago), and the United States (Austin, Texas).

The coexistence of natural and supernatural explanations within and across domains and development.

People across highly diverse cultural contexts use both natural and supernatural explanations to explain questions of fundamental concern such as death, illness, and human origins. The present study examines the development of explanatory coexistence within and across domains of existential concern in individuals in Tanna, Vanuatu. We examined three age groups: 7- to 12-year-old children, 13- to 18-year-old adolescents, and 19- to 70-year-old adults (N = 72).

Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Explanatory Coexistence.

Natural and supernatural explanations are used to interpret the same events in a number of predictable and universal ways. Yet little is known about how variation in diverse cultural ecologies influences how people integrate natural and supernatural explanations. Here, we examine explanatory coexistence in three existentially arousing domains of human thought: illness, death, and human origins using qualitative data from interviews conducted in Tanna, Vanuatu.

Intervening within and across levels: a multilevel approach to stigma and public health.

This article uses a multilevel approach to review the literature on interventions with promise to reduce social stigma and its consequences for population health. Three levels of an ecological system are discussed. The intrapersonal level describes interventions directed at individuals, to either enhance coping strategies of people who belong to stigmatized groups or change attitudes and behaviors of the non-stigmatized.