Communicative practices with children from a cultural psychology perspective and the impact on culture specifc developmental pathways of the self over the life span

• Applicant: Dr. Carolin Demuth
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: Funded in 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 218360402

My research focuses on the mediation of cultural orientations through mundane every day communication with children and diverse developmental pathways. Particularly, I am intersted in the mediation of autonomy and interpersonal relatedness which are considered to be central dimensions of human development (Kagitcibasi, 2005, Keller, 2007). My visit at the Clark University will serve my scientific career in the following ways:1) finishing a monographe that will be published in the series "Advances in Cultural Psychology: Constructing Human Development" (IAP: Information Age Publications) edited by Prof. Jaan Valsiner. Based on a culture-comparative study of mother-infant interactions in Camerun and Germany which was part of my doctoral thesis it questions traditional universal theories on protoconversation and adds to the advancement of existing theoretical models.2) preparing my ¿habilitation¿ within a larger longitudinal study in which I analyze various family interactions within the first 9 years of a cohoert of children born in 1977 and relate them to the later autobiographic identity constructions of the participants in young adulthood. For this purpose I would like to get further methodological training by Prof. Bamberg who is a distinguished expert in the field of discourse analysis and narrative analysis.3) preparing a chapter for a book that will be edited by Michael Bamberg, Jaan Valsiner, and Nancy Budwig (ebenfalls Department of Psychology, Clark University).Having the unique opportunity to work with several of the leading scholars in the field of cultural developmental psychology and discursive psychology will help me to enhance my methodological skills as well as my theoretical understanding of the relation between language, culture, and psychological development from a cultural psychology perspective, and will help me to develop future research cooperation and joint publications.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Hosts: Professor Dr. Michael Bamberg; Professor Dr. Jaan Valsiner