EDITORS' NOTES.

Although variability in ideas and practices related to children is a traditional focus of anthropology, the concept of socially organized individual differences in thinking presents new challenges for the field of developmental psychology. Three sets of questions are key to progress in this area. Hence, the six chapters in this volume address these questions through studies of parents and others in a variety of cultural contexts. The theme of individualism versus collectivism is discussed in all but one of the chapters, offering a greater appreciation of both the strength and the complexity of this concept as it applies to particular cultures. It notes that the social construction of the child, as a concept, has matured rapidly since its introduction to developmental psychology two decades ago. Understanding variability in the social construction of the child, as this volume proposes, is key to interpreting the relationships between thought and action in a wide variety of contexts.