Tiia Tulviste, Ph.D., is a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Tartu, Estonia. In her research on child cognitive and social development, she has paid special attention to the developmental contexts in which children grow. At the beginning of her scientific career, Dr. Tulviste was involved in studies trying to detect the role of schooling in the development of verbal thinking by comparing thinking processes of adults with and without school education in Soviet Central Asia and in West Siberia. During recent decades, she has been interested in the question to what extent changes in developmental context (e.g., return to the Western world in Estonia) reflect changes in cultural meanings and practices of child socialization as well as their effects over time on child development and adjustment. Dr. Tulviste has acted as project leader in several comparative research projects related to child socialization and development dealing with cultures around the Baltic Sea, such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Germany, and Sweden, as well as the U.S.A. She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters in this field. She is the former president of Estonian Union of Psychologists and is a member of the editorial board of the European Psychologist, International Journal of Behavioural Development (1998-2002), and Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics.

Deborah L. Best, Ph.D., is the William L. Poteat Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, USA, where she previously served as Chair of the Psychology Department and was the first woman to serve as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. She is active in the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology as an Honorary Fellow, President (2000-2002), and Treasurer (1988-1997), and in the Society for Cross-Cultural Research as President (2011-2012). She has served as Associate Editor (1996-2012) and Editor (2012 to present) of the flagshipjournal of IACCP, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. She has written and edited five books as well as numerous book chapters and research articles; her work includes landmark studies of gender stereotypes in 30 nations. Her research has focused on children's cognitive and social development, primarily examining gender-related concepts among young children in the United States and other countries.

Judith L. Gibbons, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Saint Louis University, USA. She is the founding editor of the American Psychological Association Division 52 journal, International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation, former president of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research and the Interamerican Society of Psychology (SIP), a former Fulbright scholar at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Her research includes the study of the development of adolescents, especially girls and at-risk youth, in the majority world, intercountry adoption, and gender roles. With many collaborators, local and international, she has published numerous journal articles on those topics. She has written or edited three books including The Thoughts of Youth: An International Perspective on Adolescents' Ideal Persons, Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes, and Women's Evolving Lives: Global and Psychosocial Perspectives.

Examines social competencies in early childhood from a cultural perspective

Focuses on preschoolers' social competencies, including how to communicate, understand emotions of other people, and behave prosocially across various situations

Discusses how the variability in social worlds shapes children's competencies

Addresses societal and educational challenges triggered by rapidly increased migration around the world