This dissertation presents three studies that focus on cultural variation of parenting beliefs within Germany. Countries are often misleadingly taken as cultural units. However, the studies were based on a concept of culture that regards eco-social contexts (i.e., ecological conditions as well as individual characteristics) as the source of specific socio-cultural orientations. These socio-cultural orientations, the so-called cultural models, manifest in individuals’ parenting beliefs and hence can be differentiated across cultural groups. As an important part of parenting beliefs, socialization goals are in the focus of this dissertation. Through socialization goals, parents and other caregivers specify how they want (their) children to be like, that is, the characteristics, qualities, and behaviors that explicitly and implicitly serve as desired developmental endpoints and guide parenting behavior. The cultural variations that are considered in this dissertation concern cultural groups deriving from socio-historical change and migration. Both are regarded as changing individuals’ eco-social context conditions and therefore contribute to the cultural plurality within Germany. More specifically, study 1 addressed similarities and differences in East and West German young adults’ parenting beliefs. Socialization goal preferences of Turkish and Former Soviet Union (FSU) migrant as well as non-migrant mothers were contrasted with early childcare teachers’ preferences in study 2. Furthermore, measurement equivalence of a socialization goal questionnaire was tested across non-migrant, Turkish, and FSU migrant mothers in study 3. As the first study indicated, young adults with East and West German origin did not differ regarding socialization goal preferences but in their intended use of early childcare. Study 2 showed that migrant mothers’ socialization goal preferences were less similar to their children’s preschool teachers than non-migrant mothers’. Though, they were nonetheless as satisfied with the childcare arrangement as the non-migrant mothers. Finally, the two-factor structure of the socialization goal questionnaire was confirmed at the level of metric invariance. However, both factors were differently related to each other across Turkish, FSU, and non-migrant mothers (study 3). Taken together, the results yielded congruent and divergent parenting beliefs across the cultural groups that were included in the three studies. The cultural models that could be inferred from the studies overlapped regarding the importance of pro-social socialization goals, which were unanimously emphasized by mothers, adults, and teachers regardless of their respective cultural background. On the other hand, obedience-related socialization goals revealed culture-specific preferences in case of the migrant and non-migrant caregivers. Altogether, the studies confirmed the currently existing cultural variation of parenting beliefs in Germany due to socio-historical change and migration processes. They point out scientific and practical implications (i.e., regarding instrument development in study 3 and the parent-teacher relationship in study 2).

Within the framework of this thesis, three studies are presented that investigated cultural similarities and differences of preschool aged children’s self- and family-drawings. The research was guided by the assumption that besides the basic structure of the drawing, specific drawing characteristics would vary cross-culturally, according to differences in cultural models and the associated understanding of self and others. Based on an ecocultural approach, families were systematically selected from diverse cultural contexts across and within national boundaries, representing three different cultural models: (1) the cultural model of psychological autonomy (characteristic for Western urban middle-class contexts), (2) the cultural model of hierarchical relatedness (representative for non-Western rural traditional contexts), and (3) mixed cultural models of autonomous relatedness (e.g., non-Western urban middle-class contexts, migration contexts). The participating children were of similar age, gender distribution, and had reached comparable structural levels of human figure drawings. Overall, the studies revealed three main findings. First, it could be confirmed that there are basic similarities in children’s graphic development. In line with previous reports, the studies demonstrated that the structural composition of the human figure as well as production principles did not differ significantly across cultures. Second, several content-based drawing features varied with cultural context and the associated cultural model. In particular, figure size, the facial depiction, and gender-specific characteristics could be linked to the culturally shaped understanding of self and others in the respective cultural context. Third, it was shown that the composition of children’s family-drawings corresponded to the structure of families in the particular cultural context, mainly with regard to number and position of family members, figure size- and gender-differentiation. The results are discussed with a focus on the role of general and culture-specific drawing characteristics in preschool aged children’s drawings of self and family. Based on these and former research findings, an integrative framework of children’s self- and family-drawings is proposed in order to shed light on the origin and relationship of the investigated drawing characteristics. Open research questions are pointed out, as well as limitations and practical implications of the study results.

This thesis investigated comparatively declarative memory in infants and children from two different cultural groups. Applying three different memory tasks, memory was assessed in rural Cameroonian Nso children and children from middle-class German families. Everyday concepts of memory were also investigated in both cultural groups. Study 1 implemented an adapted Western deferred imitation paradigm with nine-month-old infants. Study 2 applied an adapted Western face-recognition task to four-year-old children. Study 3 investigated mothers’ everyday concept of memory in children and developed and applied a memory task (shop task) based on the Nso concept of memory to four-year-old children. All three memory tasks were adapted with regard to different methodological aspects. The results revealed that memory performance varies with the familiarity and meaningfulness of the implemented task and assessment method. The middle-class German children demonstrated an advantage in Western-based memory tasks (Study 1 and Study 2) while the Nso children showed a tendency to outperform the middle-class German children in a task considered more meaningful for the Nso community. The results are discussed with regard to adaptation procedures in memory assessments. A new theoretical framework, the cultural model of memory, is introduced to shed further light on the “what” and “how” of cultural memory processes. Finally, practical implications for memory assessments are presented to facilitate the study of memory in a cultural context.

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit zwei ebenso alten wie bis in die Gegenwart bedeutsamen kontroversen Positionen in der Philosophie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Einerseits dem Nativismus, der davon ausgeht, dass (wesentliche) Ideen in den Menschen eingeboren sind, hier vertreten durch die Position Noam Chomskys, dessen Arbeiten über universelle Grammatik die Linguistik im 20. Jahrhundert revolutionierten und weitreichende Auswirkungen auf Philosophie und Kognitionswissenschaften hatten. Dem gegenübergestellt wird die Position von Jean Piaget, der als Entwicklungspsychologe aus seiner Arbeit mit Kindern ein radikal konstruktivistisches Stufenmodell der Erkenntnisentwicklung vom Baby bis zum wissenschaftsfähigen Erwachsenen entwickelt hat, das auf angeborene Ideen verzichtet. Dargestellt werden historische und erkenntnistheoretische Hintergründe dieser interdisziplinären Streitfrage und die Argumente beider Positionen.

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Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit zwei ebenso alten wie bis in die Gegenwart bedeutsamen kontroversen Positionen in der Philosophie- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Einerseits dem Nativismus, der davon ausgeht, dass (wesentliche) Ideen in den Menschen eingeboren sind, hier vertreten durch die Position Noam Chomskys, dessen Arbeiten über universelle Grammatik die Linguistik im 20. Jahrhundert revolutionierten und weitreichende Auswirkungen auf Philosophie und Kognitionswissenschaften hatten. Dem gegenübergestellt wird die Position von Jean Piaget, der als Entwicklungspsychologe aus seiner Arbeit mit Kindern ein radikal konstruktivistisches Stufenmodell der Erkenntnisentwicklung vom Baby bis zum wissenschaftsfähigen Erwachsenen entwickelt hat, das auf angeborene Ideen verzichtet. Dargestellt werden historische und erkenntnistheoretische Hintergründe dieser interdisziplinären Streitfrage und die Argumente beider Positionen.

Plasticity is a central concept within the life-span approach of development and is defined as the ability of an individual to change and reorganize in response to environmental challenges (e.g., Baltes & Singer, 20019. Such intraindividual changes can be induced by systematic cognitive training. Recent studies suggest that substantial amounts of plasticity can be induced in executive control functions with a process-based training approach. These newer studies show that repeated practice on executive control tasks not only improved performance on these trained tasks, but also led to improvements in nontrained tasks (i.e., transfer; e.g., Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, & Perrig, 2008; Karbach & Kray, 2009). Executive control processes are especially relevant from a developmental perspective because executive control is involved in a wide range of complex cognitive activities (e.g., van der Sluis, de Jong, & van der Leij, 2007) and is one of the most central areas of cognitive development (e.g., Craik & Bialystok, 2006). The current thesis aimed at elucidating several important questions concerning the plasticity of executive control functions induced by systematic cognitive training. Firstly, the amount, range, and stability of plasticity in adolescents and older adults were investigated. Secondly, studies explored if training design, age, and interindividual differences moderate the amount and range of plasticity. Furthermore, the current thesis aimed at exploring how process-based training specifically leads to transfer effects. To explore these questions, all studies employed a pretest-posttest-design comparing a group of participants that was trained with a process-based training approach to a group of control partici-pants that did not receive the training. Pretraining and posttraining sessions incorporated systematic assessment of transfer measures in different cognitive domains. The first study set out to investigate if executive control can be trained in adolescents with a task switching training. Additionally, the study explored what particular domains of executive control may underlie training and transfer effects, and if acute bouts of exercise directly prior to cognitive training enhance training effects. Analyses indicated substantial training effects for both training groups (with or without acute exercise) and near transfer to a similar switching task. Other findings of transfer were limited to a speed task and a tendency for faster reaction times in an updating task. Thus, findings indicate, for the first time, that executive control can be enhanced in adolescents through a short training. Furthermore, analyses suggest that updating may be of particular relevance for the effects of the task switching training. Analyses revealed no additional effects of the exercise intervention. The second study set out to explore, for the first time, the effects of a process-based training ap-proach in old-old age (above 80 years). After ten sessions of practice on working memory tasks, the training group improved in four of the five trained tasks, emphasizing the potential for plasticity even in old-old age. The gains in the training group were largely driven by individuals who started out with a low capacity in the training tasks. Thus, findings suggest that working memory can be improved with a short executive control training even in old-old age, particularly for low-capacity individuals. The absence of transfer effects in this study may point to the limits of plasticity in this age group. The third study aimed at further elucidating the mixed findings regarding the amounts of training and transfer effects induced by executive control training in older adults. For that purpose, a sample of older adults covering a wide range from young-old to old-old age (65 to 95 years) was either trained for nine sessions on a visuospatial and a verbal working memory as well as an executive control task; or served as controls. Analyses revealed significant training effects in all three trained tasks, as well as near transfer to verbal working memory and far transfer to a nonverbal reasoning task. Remarkably, all training effects and the transfer effect to verbal working memory were even stable at a nine-month follow-up. These findings suggest that cognitive plasticity is preserved over a large range of old age and that even a rather short training regimen can lead to (partly specific) training and transfer effects. However, analyses also revealed that there are a range of factors that may moderate the amount of plasticity, e.g., age and baseline performance in the training domain. To summarize, the current thesis explored effects of short executive control trainings on cognitive functions in adolescents and older adults. The findings suggest a high potential for intraindividual variability across the whole life-span. Plasticity was shown on the level of training and transfer tasks, as well as on the level of stability of effects. Furthermore, results support the notion that process-based training improves executive control processes that in turn lead to improvements in tasks that rely on these processes. The current thesis makes important contributions to the conceptual debate about the potentials and limits of training-induced plasticity across the life-span. It benefits the debate in that it specifically delineates factors that moderate the obtained effects.

Aus der Einleitung: "Retrospektive Befragungsmethoden zur Erfassung sozialer Situationen und sozialer Ereignisse spielen in der entwicklungspsychologischen, der klinischpsychologischen und psychiatrischen Verlaufsforschung trotz ihrer immanenten Methodenschwächen eine bedeutende Rolle. Ihre Nachteile liegen bei der Erfassung längerer Zeitabschnitte in konkreten Erinnerungsmängeln, Deutungsversuchen und dem Bemühen vieler Personen, retrospektiv Kausalverbindung herzustellen. Aufgrund forschungspraktischer Probleme und ihrer größeren Ökonomie lassen sich jedoch in vielen, vor allem hypothesengenierenden Studien retrospektive Untersuchungsansätze nicht durch prospektive Verlaufsstudien ersetzen. Dies gilt sowohl für die Erfassung der "natürlichen", nicht systematisch/ experimentell beeinflußten Krankheitsverläufe bestimmter Patientengruppen, als auch für epidemiologisch-orientierte Langzeituntersuchung unbehandelter Fälle und gesunder Kontrollpersonen (Blohmke 1975, v. Cranach und Wittcxhen 1980). [...]"

In dieser prospektiven Längsschnittstudie wird das Wohlbefinden von Eltern sowie das mögliche Auftreten von kindlichen bzw. familiären Regulationsschwierigkeiten in der Übergangsphase zur Erstelternschaft betrachtet. Während des ersten Erhebungszeitpunktes wurden mehrere Wohlbefindensmaße erhoben. Des Weiteren wurden elterliche Vorstellungen hinsichtlich des eigenen Interaktionsverhaltens mit dem Säugling, des erwarteten Interaktionsverhaltens vom Partner, des erinnerten Interaktionsverhaltens in der Herkunftsfamilie sowie des jeweiligen Interaktionsverhaltensideals erfragt. Zum zweiten Erhebungszeitpunkt wurde neben den Wohlbefindensmaßen auch das Verhalten des Kindes erfasst. Zusätzlich wurden Videosequenzen von Mutter-Kind- und Vater-Kind-Interaktionen aufgenommen sowie hinsichtlich der gezeigten Interaktionsabstimmung ausgewertet. Zum einen zeigte sich, dass die Wohlbefindensbereiche zu beiden Zeitpunkten in weiten Teilen zusammenhingen. Zum anderen erwiesen sich weniger Streit in der Partnerschaft, eine erhöhte elterliche Sensibilität sowie die Fähigkeit die Interaktionsvorstellungen des Partners gut einschätzen zu können als prädiktiv für eine gute Interaktionsabstimmung mit dem Säugling. Auch zeigte sich, dass in den Familien, in denen sich für beide Partner relativ geringe Abweichungen zwischen ihren Interaktionsideen und ihren Idealvorstellungen zeigten, Über weniger Regulationsschwierigkeiten bei den Kindern berichtet wurde. Für die Mütter kam der erlebten Zärtlichkeit mit dem Partner ebenfalls eine prädiktive Bedeutung zu. Überraschend ergab sich, dass das Wohlbefinden der Eltern in keinem bedeutenden Ausmaß mit der Abwesenheit von kindlichen Regulationsschwierigkeiten zusammenhing. Teilweise korrelierten diese beiden Aspekte sogar negativ miteinander. Mögliche Gründe und Folgen werden in der Diskussion dargelegt.

In this thesis ethnotheories on the expression of emotional warmth towards babies were studied, considering socio-economic and cultural factors. It was proposed that the more relatedness is emphasized as a socialization goal the more emphasis is also put on the expression of emotional warmth. Furthermore, the modality, in which emotional warmth is perceived to be ideally expressed, was expected to be related to the extent the participants want to foster autonomy. Autonomy-fostering caregivers were expected to stress distal modes of expressing emotional warmth more, than less autonomy-fostering caregivers. These two hypotheses were tested with mothers (and grandmothers) of three-month-old children from Germany, USA, urban and rural India. The hypotheses were predominantly confirmed, though some methodological issues are reasons for concern. The applicability of the (Western) psychological theories on the expression of emotional warmth towards infants perceived by Indian caregivers was explored. The Indian caregivers ethnotheories matched the psychological theories fairly well. However, other concepts were also mentioned frequently. Therefore open-ended methods were used to study the indigenous concept of the Evil Eye . Some rural Indian mothers considered looking at the baby while breastfeeding, or praising the baby as a potential danger. Finally, the different caregivers roles as perceived by urban Indian mothers and rural Indian mothers and grandmothers were explored. The mother was seen as the most important caregiver for the expression of warmth towards an infant, though rural and urban caregivers disagreed about the reasons for her being special. Other (unspecified) family members were mentioned frequently. Fathers were perceived in different roles by urban and rural mothers, though they agreed on them being providers of vocal or verbal stimulation for the child. The mothers regarded the grandmothers as a source of advice and support in child-rearing matters.