There is a growing consensus among social scientists that childhood is socially and historically constructed, partly putting to rest the concerns of sociologists and anthropologists about the fallacies of psychological reductionism. Behavioral scientists have been increasingly mindful of the influence of contextual or environmental variables on human behavior, which has led to new formulations of culture or context. These formulations view culture or context as constitutive of everyday practice in interactive environments, not simply as independent, dependent, intervening, or extraneous variables. No longer merely a constellation of ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that bind a group of people together, culture is increasingly understood as culture or context in practice. Theoretical models applicable to populations around the world have been offered, especially for parenting influences on cognitive development, as research on sociocultural contexts has opened new avenues for studying development across cultures. Inclusion of culture in the study of cognitive development has had a limited influence on the study of socioemotional development across cultures. The research on social and emotional capacities related to self and others has remained broadly Western in perspective. The aim of this collection of papers is to diversify the research on socioemotional development across cultures, offering new theoretical and empirical observations based on fieldwork from around the world. This is the 81st issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Child Development.

This volume focuses on our present knowledge of pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic world, a subject which has received little attention. Although many aspects of ancient Near Eastern cultural life have been studied thoroughly, no one has dealt with the pharmaceutical knowledge of this period.The essays in this study deal with their themes in different ways. They thus provide the best current information on a particular subject. They also demonstrate various approaches which may prove fruitful for further investigation.References in specialized studies and archeological field work have demonstrated that our knowledge in this area continues to grow. The fragmented and isolated nature of this material has led to it remaining unknown to those interested in the history of medicine, pharmacy, and horticulture. The authors have sought to fill this gap.