Discusses the development of thinking from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how Super and Harkness' (1986) concept of "developmental niche" may be used as a framework for organizing cognitive developmental research in relation to culture. Argues for the utility of this approach in furthering understanding of the precise linkages between…

Discusses four schools of thought in cultural psychology: (1) the "mind and culture" school, which treated culture and cognition as separate; (2) the "mind in culture" school, which sees cognition and culture as interacting in practices; (3) the "culture in mind" school, which sees cultural categories as intrinsic to…

Comments on Lucariello's analysis, in this issue, of the development of cultural psychology, arguing that each of the "new approaches" that Lucariello identifies can be seen as an "old approach" that offered slightly different solutions to how psychology might deal more adequately with the cultural constitution of human nature. (MDM)

Comments on Moshman's discussion, in this issue, of reasoning as self-constrained thinking, arguing that differences in type of reasoning constraint probably reflect different knowledge bases but do not necessarily imply different processes. The fact that different tasks require different kinds of knowledge does not mean that different processes…

Proposes a theory of reasoning and outlines four general types of reasoning (case-based, law-based, coherence-based, and dialectical) based on the constraints the reasoning seeks to honor. The development of reasoning is presented as a continuing construction and reconstruction of self-constraints and justifications for those constraints,…

Offers a theoretical account of moral rationality within a rational constructivist paradigm examining the nature and relationship of rationality and reasoning. Suggests progressive changes through developmental levels of moral rationality. Proposes a developmental moral epistemology that accommodates moral pluralism to a greater degree than does…

Suggests that constructivist rationality may be more pervasive across cultures than Moshman commits to. Proposes that rationality is not always adequate, and there is a need for essentially moral labor, such as differentiating moral from nonmoral or analyzing differing moral constructs and their potential coexistence, coordination, and structural…