Chapter 2 introduces the concept of construal and explains how identical objects or real-world events can be perceived and described differently by multiple speakers, due to differences in individual speakers’ perspectives, the impact of culture as a lens on cognition, and the linguistic options available in a language. For instance, although Chinese shares similar concepts of time as English, associating time and space so that front and back can refer to temporal relationships, Chinese also exhibits a tendency to construct time vertically, in which the past is up and the future is down. Systematic crosslinguistic differences can also be found in descriptions of motion events across world languages. Learning to express time and motion in L2 Chinese often entails adjustment to new perspectives that are not articulated in a learner’s native language. L2 Chinese speakers therefore need ample opportunities to use the L2 functionally before they can develop L2-specific ways of thinking-for-speaking patterns.

Ironic language often conveys and elicits intense emotions. This chapter describes much of the relevant experimental research on the ways people emotionally react to sarcastic messages (e.g., “You’re so strong” when the person is actually rather weak). She considers some of the communicative reasons why people employ sarcasm in their speech, including possible affective messages they may wish to express. Experimental studies have employed eye tracking and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) measures to assess examine people’s anticipated emotional responses to story characters who were presented with either ironic (e.g., “You’re so strong”) or literal (e.g., “You’re so weak”) criticisms. The results suggest that readers initially anticipated a hurt response to ironic criticism, but eventually found it easier to integrate a hurt response following literal criticism (i.e., a “two-stage model” of emotional responses). But there are important individual differences in the ways people respond to sarcasm, not surprisingly. For example, autistic individuals do not easily distinguish between ironic and literal criticisms. Older adults also exhibit reduced abilities to understand and emotionally respond to sarcastic utterances. There are also significant variations in the ways people from different cultures use, interpret, and emotionally respond to sarcasm.

Symbolic tools represent, organize, and transform our knowledge of objects and events. The acquisition and internalization of symbolic tools change the way we think about the world. Different cultural subgroups use different symbolic tools and as a result, they shape their cognitive processes, even those as basic as spatial memory, differently. Moreover, some of the psychological functions that at the first glance should progress developmentally irrespective of the person’s experience actually depend on the acquisition and mastery of specific tools, for example, the graphic representation of objects. Even in societies with formal educational systems, the teaching of symbolic tools as tools is often neglected. Tables, graphs, and formulae appear as a part of the content material instead of being learned as specific tools. Many of the problem-solving mistakes made by students, for example in international exams such as PISA and TIMMS, reflect their poor mastery of symbolic tools rather than a lack of curricular knowledge. Educational interventions aimed at teaching students how to identify and apply the instrumental properties of symbolic tools lead to improved problem-solving in subjects ranging from mathematics to foreign language learning.

Sexual practices are strongly influenced by social and cultural norms and hence encompass a wide degree of heterogeneity between different cultures. Cultural diversity in sexual practices is subject to an even more complex array of sociocultural, physical, and psychological influences in pregnancy. The literature in this area demonstrates both this diversity and also commonalities among cultures, with universally high rates of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), unnecessary avoidance of sexual activity in pregnancy due to ill-informed fears, and unmet desire for antenatal education and assessment of sexual issues by health practitioners. This chapter presents the current evidence on rates of sexual activity and FSD in pregnancy and influences upon these in different cultures. Increasing awareness of common rates of sexual activity in pregnancy may normalize a reduction in activity and consequently reassure couples that such changes are not necessarily indicative of relationship issues. Conversely, identifying and addressing preventable issues affecting sexual health in pregnancy could potentially improve parental well-being, strengthen family bonds, and positively impact the development of offspring.

The authors outline areas that need special attention. The purpose of the appointment should be explained, and the practicalities of attendance addressed. The attitude/approach of the clinician is discussed in relation to creating a sense of safety and trust. Individuals may fear authority and may have had experiences they find difficult to disclose.

Confidentiality, safety and anxieties about the assessment are reviewed, as people may have little prior knowledge of the system and have had bad past experiences. Acknowledgement and discussion are crucial. More detailed discussion of working with interpreters follows, as this is an often-neglected area. Pros and cons of ‘remote working’ are reviewed.

Some specific aspects of assessment areconsidered: difficulties in disclosure and how to explore issues such as torture, sexual violence, domestic abuse, moral injury, and rape.

People seeking asylum may be isolated with few resources.Strengths should be emphasised, and sources of support identified, and contact facilitated. Feedback and checking understanding are helpful, and often fosters trust.Scrupulous record keeping is emphasised.

From midlife to old age, women are influenced differently by developmental transitions compared with men. These transitions range from menopause to subjective experiences such as appearance-related changes and caregiving responsibilities. More importantly, cultural and personal factors may impact how people understand these transitions. As such, cultural differences may be reflected in the expression, subjective experiences, and consequences of these developmental transitions. Concerning menopause, cultures influence the expression of menopausal symptoms and their psychological consequences. Moreover, cultural factors also impact women’s perceptions of appearance-related changes, and their appraisals of the caregiving experiences. Future developmental studies on women might focus on the moderating role of culture in the ways women interpret and cope with developmental changes in the second half of life.

The influence of ethnicity and culture in body image etiology has only recently been considered. Previous accounts asserting that White women are at increased risk for body dissatisfaction and body-related pathology relative to women of color are being contested after multiple body image investigations using culturally diverse samples report similar or higher risk levels in women of color. Such findings highlight the need to reevaluate the ability of current developmental frameworks, diagnostic criteria, and psychometric tools in capturing body image experiences of ethnically diverse women. Most body image inventories were developed on White women from Westernized cultures, emphasizing weight phobia and Westernized appearance ideals. Such inventories often fail to detect body image concerns in women of color. Broadening the understanding of body image etiology to include the experiences of ethnically diverse women is crucial for accurate identification and effective treatment of body-related pathology and comorbid conditions in women of color.

With world population senescence and globalization, more present-day older adults will evince cognitive aging that is influenced over a longer life span by a wide range of social practices and motivational beliefs from cultural groups across the world. Although there is no dispute that brain structure and function aggregate biological and experiential influences, a useful framework is still needed regarding the specific neural mechanisms underlying the exchange between biology and experience with age, and the effect on cognition. We introduce a predictive coding framework of the aging cognitive brain that views the older brain as making predictions about the environment based on a lifetime of experience in it. The influence of cultural experiences in shaping the aging predictive brain then reflects individual differences in processing social signals about appropriate or inappropriate behaviors and cognitive styles amid neural resources changes. We briefly annotate relevant findings on age effects and cultural differences in neurocognitive processing. We further review findings showing that cultural cognitive differences are present in children, persist in young adulthood, and are either maintained or accentuated in older adulthood. Finally, we consider that the predictive aging brain is an enculturated one, reflecting the accumulation of a lifetime of experiences that have fortified culture-specific modes of thought and neural processing in older adults.

When children ask questions, learning may occur, a connection that has led some researchers to posit that children’s questions are a mechanism of cognitive development. There is an implicit assumption of universality in this view. Yet much of the research on this topic has been conducted in cultural settings where children’s questions are encouraged and supported. In this chapter, we discuss children’s questions as a form of social and cultural behavior. We draw on theories of language socialization to emphasize how, over development, children learn to use language in ways that are appropriate in the sociocultural setting in which they live. We describe evidence from a sample of 96 three- and five-year–old children living in four traditional communities, Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa), that suggests there may be substantial differences across developmental contexts in children’s question-asking behavior, especially questions that seek explanation. We do not take issue with the idea that children have great curiosity about the world, a characteristic that leads them to seek out opportunities for learning. Rather, we are concerned with the form this curiosity takes and its relation to the social and cultural context of development.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by OECD, produces every three years a very comprehensive database on the skills of 15-year-old students from a large number of countries in mathematics, reading, and science. In addition to the data on skills, PISA also collects data on student background, interests, and aspirations. Students are also asked about their expected highest level of education. In social media and in reports, OECD distributes country averages of educational expectations, a data summary that is critically evaluated in this chapter.