European Psychologist

While many societies worldwide are experiencing demographic transitions characterized by declining birth rates and shrinking kinship networks, the rise in pet ownership, particularly dog keeping, is most pronounced in Western and East Asian urbanized societies, where pets increasingly fulfill companionship roles. Dogs, one of the most often kept pets, are largely considered integral members of the human family. An increasing number of owners have even begun to regard their dogs as their children. This phenomenon can be explained by cultural evolutionary hypotheses, which suggest that due to changes in their environment, humans have culturally redirected their biological needs to nurture and care for children towards animals. Why are dogs good candidates for this child-like role in Western societies? The aim of this theoretical review is to describe the child-like morphological, behavioural and physiological features of pet dogs and explore the similarities and differences in dog and child parenting. We also examine the motivations behind “dog parenting” and conclude that “dog parents” constitute a heterogeneous group of people who attribute child-like roles to their dogs to various degrees and for various reasons. Both are highly dependent on socio-cultural contexts, among other factors. While some owners might see their dog as a child surrogate to spoil, others actively choose to have dogs and not children, bearing in mind that they have species-specific characteristics and needs. Dog parenting can also coexist with child parenting, enhancing the idea that humans might have evolved to care for others regardless of species.

Growing Up In Digital Europe (GUIDE) is Europe’s first comparative longitudinal birth cohort survey, which will be an essential evidence base for child well-being policy-making across the UK and Europe for decades to come. It will provide data on a representative sample of babies and children from most European countries, following them up to the age of 24. This will make GUIDE one of the largest European social science Research Infrastructures. GUIDE was included on the 2021 iteration of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures Roadmap in recognition of its importance for the future. The GUIDE project is set to continue up until the 2050s when the younger cohort will be aged 24. The research design of GUIDE is centered on an accelerated cohort structure, with the first cohort being 8-year-olds and the second cohort being 9-month-old babies. Nationally representative samples of respondents from participating countries will be used with sufficiently large numbers to be able to cope with anticipated attrition rates. The research instruments are input harmonized to facilitate comparative analysis and the fieldwork processes are common for all participating countries. The questionnaire content for the first waves of data collection focuses on the participants’ demographic and socio-economic context, as well as family life, parenting and psychological measures, for the main career questionnaires and general family life, feelings, well-being, and educational measures for the 8-year-olds. Subsequent data collection waves will include a range of repeated measures and new measures.

This systematic review examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intergroup attitudes toward stigmatized minorities worldwide. We explore how pandemic related threats influenced both majority attitudes toward vulnerable minorities and minority perceptions of majority attitudes. Our analysis focuses on stigmatized groups due to their ethnic background (e.g., Asian and Black communities) or other socially devalued features (e.g., homosexual and elderly people). The pandemic introduced a pervasive threat, offering a unique opportunity to study its effects on intergroup dynamics. Findings showed that when the pandemic threat entered the public discourse as a rhetorical and political tool, it tended to exacerbate pre-existing anti-minority sentiment, reinforcing negative intergroup dynamics. The focus on ethnic “us versus them” rhetoric often led to scapegoating, fostering fear and distrust toward marginalized communities. Although the major focus of the review was to ascertain the possible negative effects on intergroup attitudes it also emerged that, whenever the pandemic was framed as a global threat stressing common destiny in the face of dramatic health consequences, people exhibited increased empathy and reduced avoidance of vulnerable outgroups, leading to more positive intergroup attitudes. This review thus highlights the multifaceted impact of COVID-19 on intergroup relations, demonstrating how it mostly (but not always) acted as a catalyst for heightened prejudice, underscoring the importance of individual and sociocontextual factors in shaping intergroup attitudes during health crises. Limitations and future directions are discussed to refine our understanding of these dynamics.

The digitalization of psychological assessment has introduced new paradigms in the collection, processing, and analysis of data. This paper explores the transformation of psychological testing and assessment in the context of digital footprints and the rise of machine learning (ML) tools. The emergence of smartphones, wearables, and social media platforms has allowed for the collection of passive data, significantly impacting how psychological states are evaluated. This shift offers enhanced insights into personality traits and psychological symptoms, while reducing reliance on traditional self-report methods. However, the use of machine learning to interpret large volumes of behavioral data raises concerns about ethical implications, particularly regarding privacy, consent, and algorithmic transparency. Furthermore, methodological challenges, such as the reliability and validity of AI-based assessments, complicate the integration of these tools into mainstream psychological practice. This paper aims to critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of digital footprints and ML in psychological assessment, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks and robust methodologies to ensure their effective and safe implementation.

Psychopathy, as conceptualized by the dimensional approach, is a set of disruptive personality traits, such as lack of empathy or irresponsibility that can negatively impact several dimensions of people’s life, including in young adults. However, the relationship between psychopathic traits, antisocial behaviors, and maladaptivity at this age remains poorly understood. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to understand the impact of psychopathic traits, as assessed by dimensional measures such as the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), on maladaptive beliefs and antisocial behaviors in young adults (18–35 years old). Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search was conducted in three electronic databases: EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Web of Science, in October 2022. Fifteen studies were selected from 1,096 retrieved studies, and 6 additional ones after manual research. Published between 2011 and 2022, the studies had to include maladaptive beliefs and/or antisocial behaviors in young adults within a dimensional approach to psychopathy. The year of publication, country of origin and authors, objectives, sample data (e.g., mean age), instruments used, results, and main conclusions were extracted from each study. Regarding results, the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, which is easy to use and understand, was the most used instrument to assess psychopathic traits. Highly psychopathic traits appear to be strongly and positively associated with antisocial behavior, an association that can be mediated by maladaptive beliefs. Future research should focus, for instance, on studies carried out based on a categorical perspective of psychopathy.

Children’s capacity to regulate their impulses increases during early years, supported by their caregivers’ co-regulation. The questionnaire IMMA (Impulse-Management in the Caregiver-Child Dyad; Pauen et al., 2019) assesses (1) parental ideas and goals regarding child self-regulation development, (2) child self-regulation strategies, and (3) parental co-regulation strategies. A total of N = 2,478 parents from Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Poland with children aged 1–6 years (M = 36.34, range 12–83 months) filled out the IMMA short-form online. The factor structure reached an adequate model fit in all countries and closely resembled that of the original version, with few interesting exceptions. Cross-sectional analyses revealed that parents’ expectations regarding child self-regulation development, children’s self-regulation-, and parents’ co-regulation strategies changed dynamically throughout early childhood. Based on the findings, we conclude that the IMMA-SF provides a valid instrument to further explore this interplay across development.

Emotion regulation (ER) is connected to relevant outcomes for children and adolescents, such as well-being, educational achievement, and psychopathology. These findings resulted from numerous questionnaires aiming to conceptualize and assess ER in children and adolescents. The vast number of ER questionnaires for children and adolescents and their clinical implications warrant extensive discussion of their development or adaptation. However, limited attention is given to the role of regional differences and the inclusion of ER questionnaires from non-English-speaking countries. Consequently, European researchers and practitioners require effortful searches for regional ER questionnaires and largely rely on subjective judgments to choose which questionnaire they use for early detection of mental health problems in children and adolescents. Therefore, this review aims to comprehensively outline the available ER questionnaires for children and adolescents in Europe and their methodologically driven properties and qualities. We performed literature searches for ER questionnaires for children or adolescents developed or adapted in European countries in a semi-systematic search to include questionnaires in all European languages and literature regarding development or adaptation, specific assessed ER context, validation in clinical or at-risk population, and quality. Questionnaires on ER for children and adolescents represented one third of European countries, predominantly for adaptive and maladaptive ER in negative emotions. Only a fifth of questionnaires were examined in at-risk or clinical populations. The quality of relevant criteria ranged between somewhat satisfactory to unsatisfactory. Suggestions for adaptation studies, information access, and choosing ER questionnaires for children and adolescents are discussed.

Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women globally, with profound health and psychological effects. While psychological interventions can ease stress from breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, there remains a gap in research regarding the emotional processing in these interventions. This review aims to identify how psychological interventions for breast cancer patients correlate with different stages of emotional processing. A literature search was performed in scientific databases, namely Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Academic Search Complete and PsycArticles. Articles published from 2013 until 2023 were included. Of 112 abstracts, 49 were deemed eligible for inclusion. A total of 53 interventions were categorized into five groups: Psychoeducational (n = 6), Coping Skills (n = 25), Emotional-based (n = 2), Cognitive-based (n = 17), and Trans-theoretical (n = 3). Regarding emotional processing stages based on Greenberg’s model, emotion regulation (85%) and emotional awareness (57%) were the most addressed processes among these interventions. Although most studies found benefits for breast cancer patients in some dimensions, such as quality of life, psychological distress and physical symptoms associated with the disease, such interventions might not fully explore the depth of emotional experiences, especially in alignment with Greenberg’s emotional processing framework. Further studies are needed to evaluate emotional processing in psychological interventions, thereby guaranteeing that patients receive optimal care throughout their cancer journey.

Children’s School Lives (CSL) is a mixed methods national cohort study of primary schooling in Ireland. This study aims to provide information on children’s learning, engagement, and wellbeing, in the context of primary school curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, with a focus on social equality and inclusion. CSL has an accelerated cohort design involving two age cohorts of children across 269 classrooms in 185 schools, their classroom teachers, school principals, and parents. A subsample of 15 schools were selected as case studies for longitudinal qualitative data collection. Cohort A (N = 1,675, girls = 49%) was first studied in the first year of primary school at age 4/5 years (2019/2020). Cohort B (N = 2,113, boys = 49%) was first studied in their fourth year of primary school at age 8/9 years (2018/2019). Cohort A was followed up for 4 years in primary school and Cohort B was followed up for 5 years in primary school. Annual surveys have been administered to both cohorts of children (N = 3,788) in classrooms by trained teacher-fieldworkers, and approximately 700 parents, 120 classroom teachers, and 180 school principals using online methods. The case study fieldworkers visit schools annually to collect data with children using focus group and individual interviews, and participatory methods including photovoice. Fieldworkers interview case study classroom teachers, principals, parents, and grandparents. Children and teachers are observed in all classrooms using the Observational Research and Classroom Learning Evaluation (ORACLE) systematic tool, and in case study classrooms using the Classroom Assessment Learning System (CLASS).

Research links a progressive decrement in episodic memory to deficits in judgment and decision making in aging. In social decision making, decrements in episodic memory contribute to suboptimal decisions among older adults. As artificial agents – such as humanoid robots, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered deepfakes, and chatbots – become increasingly present in human society, they can both benefit (e.g., combat loneliness) and harm (e.g., defraud) older adults. Understanding how older adults make social judgments and decisions involving artificial agents is crucial for research and policy making. Nevertheless, it remains poorly understood how episodic memory deficits influence social judgments and decisions involving artificial agents, and how this relation changes with age. This review will bridge this gap by applying a developmental model to explain how memory influences social judgments and decisions involving artificial agents in late adulthood. Evidence suggests that older adults increasingly rely on gist-based processing, which may explain their greater preference for humanoid robots compared with younger adults. We will also discuss the distinct challenges deepfakes pose for older adults’ trust-related decision making. In closing, we will discuss the implications of age-related memory changes for social judgments and decisions involving disembodied artificial agents, such as chatbots.

Memory and decision-making are two key cognitive processes, influencing each other, and possessing various commonalities and differences. The intricate relationship between the two concepts has gained recent emphasis under a neurocognitive system model. The aim of this review is to connect these two areas of research by focusing on two concepts – the congruency effect in memory research and confirmation bias in decision-making research, and to inspire new research directions. In a selective review of the literature, studies were chosen based on their relevance to these topics following comprehensive literature searches. The review begins with an overview of the two concepts, both of which are notably linked to prior experiences, implicating common roles of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Given the distinct maturation and ageing patterns of the dorsal and the ventral parts of the mPFC (dmPFC and vmPFC), we further explore related research from a developmental cognitive neuroscience perspective. This perspective offers a valuable tool for understanding the underlying mechanisms and suggests potential directions for future research, including investigating the learning processes associated with the memory congruency effect, employing more complete and inclusive lifespan samples and conducting studies on individual differences. In sum, linking these two concepts may shed new light on understanding how humans process new information based on their prior experiences.

Anthropogenic global climate change and its disruptive impact on ecosystems and communities around the world are subjects of widespread scientific consensus. The role of psychological factors in mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis has been receiving increasing attention both from researchers and practitioners, within and outside the fields of social and behavioral studies. While core tasks related to mitigating climate change (reducing CO2 emissions, protecting biodiversity, and introducing sustainable solutions in agriculture and industry) are based on natural science and technology, their widespread and prompt implementation depends on the human factor. Therefore, in addition to the systematic change of infrastructure, rules and laws, effective climate action relies on sustainable social norms and attitudes, pro-environmental behavior change, education and support at a community level, and political engagement based on knowledge, values and emotions. Psychology as the study of mind and behavior has a role to play in the research field of climate change, where individual behavior in its socio-ecological context can make a substantial contribution. Psychological expertise can also contribute to mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis, at different levels of influence. In regard of these issues, we are interested in theoretical and systematically based review papers, and meta-analyses that offer a broad view on the interplay between psychology and climate change and have the potential to inform and enlighten theory, research and practice. Related to policies of the European Psychologist, only exceptional empirical studies may be considered for publication (very large, impactful, multicultural and/or multinational studies). In the current crisis, we are experiencing “science in real-time”, which is why the transfer into practice is particularly important. For this reason, we invite papers addressing science into practice across multiple areas of the psychology of climate change, as well as we encourage every author to include practical perspectives into their arguments.

Decision-making competence refers to the ability to make judgments and decisions that follow normative criteria of rationality. Here, we review research on memory skills underlying decision-making competence from an adult lifespan perspective. First, we discuss how aspects of decision-making competence are associated with memory skills, and how situational and strategic variations may modulate these relationships. Then, we examine the relationships between age-related differences in decision-making competence and age-related differences in memory skills. Because the relationship between memory and decision-making may be reciprocal, we also consider research on how decisions may affect memory. Next, we discuss how decision-making competence may be built and maintained across the adult lifespan. Finally, we highlight open questions and propose possible future research directions.

This review examines how age-related differences in the experience of regrets relate to decision making with particular emphasis on memory-based and anticipatory processes. First, we summarize how reports of different types of regrets vary across the lifespan. For long-term/life regrets, older (vs. younger) adults tend to recall more intense and omission-based regrets, but not a higher number of regrets. For short-term/everyday regrets, older (vs. younger) adults tend to recall fewer and less intense regrets as well as similar or higher levels of decision satisfaction. For anticipated or future regrets, older adults are typically as accurate as younger adults in forecasting feelings, but they expect to experience lower levels of negative affect after missing out on desirable decision outcomes. Second, we link age-related differences in the experience of regrets to potential neural, cognitive, emotional, and motivational mechanisms. With respect to neural and cognitive processes, age-related cognitive changes may alter older adults’ ability to process regret-related information and to engage in counterfactual thinking. With respect to affect, older adults tend to attend more strongly to positive decision-relevant information and remember past decisions and experiences as more positively than they initially experienced them. Finally, with respect to motivation, older age is typically associated with a shift toward maintenance and loss prevention goals. In addition, older adults focus more on controlling their response to regrets rather than the regrettable decision itself. We conclude our review by identifying limitations of the extant literature and making suggestions for future research directions on the topic.

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether and how music listening impacts cognition and affect in healthy older adults, specifically considering the emotional connotations of music (happy- or sad-sounding music) and its presentation modality (background or prior to the tasks). Based on the PRISMA guidelines and preregistering in PROSPERO (CRD42022366520), we searched the Scopus, PsycInfo, and Web of Science databases. Out of 2,675 articles, 27 met the inclusion criteria. The synthesized findings on cognition (23 studies) revealed an uncertain influence of music type and presentation modalities on memory outcomes. In contrast, happy-sounding music seems to support executive functioning (2 out of 4) and processing speed (1), when presented in the background, and facilitate language processes (2 out of 3), when given prior to the task. However, the high heterogeneity and inconsistency in the music type and presentation modalities, as well as in the cognitive outcomes considered, prevented us from drawing clear conclusions on the effect of music listening on older adults’ cognition. For affective outcomes, a narrative synthesis of the findings on mood (12 studies) and arousal (7 studies) outcomes showed that, regardless of music presentation modality, happy- and sad-sounding music increase or decrease mood/valence and arousal, respectively. Results from meta-analysis showed no significant cognitive benefits from music listening (SMD = 0.09, [95% CI: −0.17, 0.35], p = 0.51) and suggest a positive effect of happy-sounding music on arousal (SMD = 0.44 [95% CI: 0.13, 0.74], p = 0.005), but not on valence (SMD = 0.79 [95% CI: −0.25, 1.84], p = 0.14). The methodological shortcomings of the extant literature call upon the need for further studies adopting more rigorous and consistent approaches that better elucidate the potential benefits of music listening on cognitive and affective outcomes among older adults.

Forgiveness is currently being researched in various settings, which requires that scientists to have instruments with psychometric properties suitable for its evaluation. The objective of this article is to identify, select, and critically analyze psychometric research on forgiveness to identify its trends, limitations, and contributions to science. The method used was based on the PRISMA 2020 Statement and the Scopus, Web of Science, Ebsco, Proquest, Scielo, and Dialnet databases from 2017 to 2022 were consulted. Fourteen out of 334,339 studies met the inclusion criteria. The results evidence that 79% used nonprobability sampling, 21% reported the construction of new instruments, and 36% obtained evidence of metric invariance. Peru and Chile lead the psychometric production of forgiveness (both with 21.4%) followed by the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, which share an equal 14.3%. Implications of the findings have been discussed.

Despite a need for societal change to resolve environmental problems, social psychology has largely focused research on individual changes. At the same time, new climate movements recently emerged and social psychology has theoretical tools to study their societal impacts. In this review, we study how social psychology has approached environmental activism. We performed a search in the literature on different databases and 56 articles were finally included and analyzed with theoretical tools: levels of explanation (Doise, 1982) and social influence models (Moscovici, 1976b). Results indicate that articles concerning environmental activism mainly focus their research on understanding the predictors of individual involvement in activism. On the other hand, few articles have dealt with the societal impacts of environmental activism. We discuss these results by questioning the paradigm and dominant approaches that lead to this individualization of environmental activism, and we propose other approaches to study environmental change.

Prepulse inhibition of the startle response is defined as the inhibition of the startle reflex to an intense contextual stimulus (named pulse) when a weaker stimulus (named prepulse) precedes it and is considered a measure of sensorimotor gating. Consistent with recent research, it has been observed that this measure might exhibit sex differences in studies of both humans and rodents, although the results in the literature appear to be inconsistent. Therefore, this systematic review aims to analyze the sexual differences observed in human and nonhuman animal studies from a comparative perspective. A comprehensive search was conducted from the inception to the present in the Web of Science, PubMed, and PsycInfo databases. Following the search, 58 studies were included in the review. The average age in human studies (n = 32) was 31.45 years (range = 4–69), while among nonhuman animal studies (n = 26), the average age was 75.5 postnatal days (range = 7–360). The results indicated no clear sexual differences in the startle response magnitude. However, consistent sex differences in prepulse inhibition were found, revealing that males exhibited higher levels of sensorimotor gating compared to females in both humans (78.79% of the studies) and nonhuman animal studies (69.23% of the studies). Therefore, the findings corroborate the sex differences of prepulse inhibition and underscore the value of this paradigm in comparative science, emphasizing the importance of considering sex as an independent variable when studying this phenomenon.

There is ample theoretical and empirical support for the idea that both conscious and unconscious volitional processes, predecisional and postdecisional aspects, and the aspect of having or not having self-access play a role in procrastination episodes. The unconscious volitional processes, predecisional aspects, and the aspect of self-access are yet rather under-researched. If they are considered, however, procrastination can be understood on an even deeper level and treated more sustainably. Moreover, considering these aspects opens up a humanistic perspective on procrastination episodes, thereby, putting procrastination and procrastination interventions in the bigger picture of self-actualization, self-alienation, and self-growth.

We propose a new hypothesis – Selective Outmigration by Personality Hypothesis (SOPHy) – to explain how Scandinavians have come to exhibit the highest levels of subjective well-being in the world. We assume that Viking men might have been similar in personality to modern violent and property criminals, who are low in Conscientiousness and Agreeableness and high on Neuroticism. Since less Conscientious and Agreeable and more Neurotic individuals are on average less happy, their selective outmigration from Scandinavia during the Viking Age (793–1066) could have elevated the genetic tendency to be happy among Scandinavians left behind. Our calculations show that genetic selection alone could have produced the current Scandinavian genetic advantage in happiness under reasonable assumptions. The same process may also explain the exceptionally low level of happiness among Russians, who descended from Vikings. The Viking Age was a rare historical event in selective outmigration by personality not shared by other examples of mass outmigration, such as Genghis Khan’s army, the Crusades, and penal colonies in Australia. Other examples of SOPHy might include the emigration of Japanese laterborns (birth order qua personality) and the Irish Potato Famine (occupation qua personality). Our hypothesis awaits empirical testing with historical, archeological, and population genomic data.

The concept of the Dark Triad (DT) refers to three interrelated and negative personality traits: Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism. The relationship between DT traits and antisocial behaviors has been shown in recent years. The current study aimed to obtain a systematized summary of the presence of DT traits, assessed through Dirty Dozen (DD) and Short Dark Triad (SD3), in studies evaluating participants with measures of antisocial behavior. Studies were identified by searching EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science. A total of 367 studies published between 2010 and 2023 were identified through database searches. After full-text analysis, 32 articles were retained for this review. Data suggests that, among adolescents, global DT traits were significantly associated with delinquency, with Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism showing distinct correlations. Conduct disorder was positively linked to Psychopathy and Machiavellianism. Adult samples also exhibited associations between DT traits and various forms of antisocial behavior, such as bullying, aggression, violence, and cyberstalking. Psychopathy showed the most robust correlation with antisocial behavior, although Machiavellianism was comparable in some studies. Narcissism, while generally less correlated, exhibited associations with reactive aggression and ego-threat. The review underscores the importance of Psychopathy in predicting antisocial behavior and highlights its role in reducing the influence of Machiavellianism and Narcissism. Overall, this review provides valuable contributions to comprehending the intricate dynamics between DT traits and antisocial behavior, emphasizing the need for continued exploration in this evolving field.

Therapeutic responsiveness (TR) encompasses the dynamic interaction between therapist and client, reflecting adjustments in behavior and interventions to meet individual needs, characteristics, and preferences. TR influences the therapeutic alliance, client engagement, and treatment outcomes. Despite evolving conceptualizations over time, a unified definition of TR remains elusive, hindering research and practice in psychotherapy. We aimed to explore how TR has been defined and studied in psychotherapy process research, identifying elements incorporated into its conceptualization and methodologies for its assessment. A systematic literature review was conducted across four databases using search terms related to the variables of interest (TR and the psychotherapy process). Thirty empirical studies were identified. The review revealed diverse methodologies and definitions of TR, with an emphasis on quantitative approaches. Four dimensions of TR emerged, highlighting its multidimensional nature: therapist and treatment responsiveness, relational responsiveness, and client responsiveness. Challenges in defining and assessing TR were evident, with studies often focusing on one dimension rather than embracing its complexity fully. A proposal for a ‘gold standard’ definition was presented, based on the different conceptualizations of TR mentioned in the various studies. Consolidating existing measures, developing new tools, and adopting multidimensional assessment approaches are recommended to advance our understanding of this complex construct. Recognizing TR’s multifaceted nature and addressing challenges in its definition and assessment are essential for informing responsive therapeutic interventions, with implications for therapist training and supervision.

This paper explores a rather specific and neglected part within the studies of thinking and the self: the self in thinking action. First, pure thinking action is defined as a thinking process dealing with pure conceptual relations with no explicit or implicit reference to sensory qualities. Second, this kind of action is explored to discover features of the self-performing activity. First-person methods are applied to reveal the phenomenology of such actions. By way of an example and using the method of phenomenal contrasts, the phenomenal material is sampled, analyzed, and further evaluated. We point to five dimensions of the thinking self and contrast them to some traditional concepts of the self, such as the minimal self or the narrative self, leading to important extensions of the literature. This leads up to another series of experiential results which finally allow us to unearth the “core self” immersed in thinking action. This “core self” reveals itself as the source of its thinking action and as the center of awareness.

COCON (COmpetence and CONtext) is an interdisciplinary longitudinal multi-cohort and multi-informant study with a focus on how children, adolescents, and young adults in Switzerland master developmental tasks and transitions in the institutionalized early life course, given unequal resources and opportunities inherent in their contexts of growing up. Based on the unique features of the study and its design, the data provide strong evidence for interindividual differences in children’s and adolescents’ competence development and their associations with opportunities and demands related to different social contexts. Findings also highlight how individual agency unfolds over time and dynamically relates to the mutual influence of important socialization agents in children’s and adolescents’ lives (parents, teachers) when coping with educational transitions. Exemplary findings are discussed with regard to the conceptual framework and signature features of the study, providing novel evidence for the study of child and adolescent development and potential implications.