ASHLEY E. MAYNARD, PH.D.

ASHLEY E. MAYNARD, PH.D.

Professor at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

Dr. Maynard’s research program is concerned with the interrelationships of culture, contexts of development, and the healthy cognitive and social development of children. Based in the sociocultural paradigm, the overarching developmental and theoretical question that lies at the heart of her research program is the ways in which a variety of culturally-based activity settings influence a variety of pathways of development for children. She is interested in cultural settings at nested levels of development: from cultural values and economics in the macrosystem down to children’s microsystem interactions. She conducts studies in Hawaii and at her international field site, Nabenchauk, a Zinacantec Maya hamlet located in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The domains of her research cover: (1) the developmental trajectory of children’s teaching abilities; (2) the interacting roles of culture and cognitive tools (e.g., books, media, or weaving tools) in the development of thinking; (3) the impact of historical change and changing cultural models on child socialization; and the (4) the role of siblings in cognitive and social development.