ABSTRACT
This chapter tells the story of a research effort that began with two basic assumptions: (a) that developmental psychologists should attend to the family as a unit—that after all, children usually grow up in families where they are influenced by fathers, mothers, siblings—in fact, a broad social network; and (b) that parents’ beliefs are an important input into their socialization actions. Yet, at the time this set of studies began, relatively little interest was evident among developmental psychologists in the family as a set of mutual influences (Sigel, Dreyer, & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, 1984). Further, relatively little consideration was given to parents’ cognitions regarding children’s development (Sigel 1985).
