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13 - Biology, culture and development: conceptual and methodological considerations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
Heidi Keller
Edited by
Fons J. R. van de Vijver ,
Athanasios Chasiotis  and
Seger M. Breugelmans
Heidi Keller
Affiliation:
University of Osnabrueck, Germany
Fons J. R. van de Vijver
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
Athanasios Chasiotis
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
Seger M. Breugelmans
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
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Summary

Development can be regarded as the interface between biology and culture (Chasiotis, this volume; Keller, 2002). This statement is programmatic since it implies that the biological foundation and the cultural organisation of development are systematically interwoven. Moreover, the argument that is put forward in this chapter is that culture is part of the biology and as such the nature of humans. Since human biological adaptation is responsive to diverse contextual demands, a consequence is that there is more than one healthy developmental pathway and maybe some forms of dysfunctional pathology. We assume different pathways as the expression of culturally embodied biological predispositions with different developmental patterns and different developmental timetables. However, the number of pathways does not represent endless variability (Poortinga and Soudijn, 2002); variability is restricted due to the biological propensities of a reaction norm, i.e., the range of variability in the phenotypic expression of a particular genotype (Lewontin, 2004).

The systematic interrelationship between biology and culture with the resulting conception of different developmental pathways is not an esoteric academic discussion, but an important topic for textbooks and teaching. Only one introductory chapter about the biological foundation of life and possibly the expression of genes in psychology textbooks is as inappropriate as is the banning of culture into boxes in order to demonstrate variability of human functioning.

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Fundamental Questions in Cross-Cultural Psychology , pp. 312 - 340
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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