Research Spotlight

Earlier in this chapter, we discussed both laboratory-based investigation of children’s thinking and an ethnographic study of complex navigation skills within specific communities. These differing approaches to research raise the question: can any one approach to studying thinking be relevant outside of the culture in which it originates? This question is central to my purpose with this textbook, because it speaks to the notion of “universalism” versus “relativism”, or to the applicability of concepts across everyone versus just one culture. This is a necessary theme to return to, and one that perhaps can be delved into at the end of the text and the course. But as we go through theories, observations and studies, let us turn to this theme and remember it, and reflect on how it may relate. One such study on spatial concepts links back to the discussion above on culture-specific experiences with navigation, and whether or not Western models have relevance outside of the West.