A key feature of human societies is the presence of technological traditions. Different cultural groups develop and impart a vast array of problem-solving methods to future generations that are suited for their living environment and cultural lifestyle. Central to this process is our capacity for innovative problem-solving to generate adaptive solutions. The extant developmental psychology literature has focused on invention and novel idea generation, typically assessed empirically using tool making, tool use, and divergent thinking tasks, and focusing on the end product of innovation (creative invention) and goal attainment. Yet, we still know little about the iterative process of 'tinkering' that involves purposeful exploration and experimentation of possible combinations of sub-components leading up to an innovative end product. In light of recent evidence, we propose that 'tinkering' plays a pivotal role in children's capacity for tool innovation and that further exploration of the development of this process is warranted. In this article, we suggest additional cognitive mechanisms that underpin tinkering behaviors: the ability to evaluate and integrate knowledge, along with relational and abstraction reasoning, and the design stance. We hope this proposal spurs additional work for exploring the cognitive foundations for developing innovative problem-solving.
The Developing Belief Network is a global research collaborative studying religious development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the intersection of cognitive mechanisms and cultural beliefs and practices in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's second wave of data collection, which aims to further explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior using a multi-time point approach. This protocol is designed to investigate three key research questions-how children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents, how children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity, and how religious and supernatural beliefs are transmitted within and between generations-via a set of eight tasks for children between the ages of 5 and 13 years and a survey completed by their parents/caregivers. This study is being conducted in 41 distinct cultural-religious settings, spanning 16 countries and 12 written languages. In this manuscript, we provide detailed descriptions of all elements of this study protocol, and give a brief overview of the ways in which this protocol has been adapted for use in diverse religious communities. As one example of how this protocol has been implemented outside of the United States, we present Arabic- and English-language study materials for children being raised in one of the following religious traditions in Lebanon: the Druze faith, Maronite Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Shia Islam, or Sunni Islam. We end with reflections on the challenges of developing and implementing large-scale, multi-site, multi-time point studies of child development; our approach to navigating these challenges; and our suggestions for how future researchers might learn from our experiences and build on the work presented here.