Th e language of the book is comprehen-sible and characteristic for the research is-sues discussed. Th e author does not use rhe-torical devices that could distort the fi ndings of his study. Th ose readers who are unfamil-iar with the issues associated with nation-building processes and national identity, may consider the lack of a strictly theoretical chapter with broader deliberations on this theoretical category a fault of this book. Re-petitiveness, which is primarily caused by the manner in which the results of the study are presented (i.e. as a collection of articles), is one of the fl aws of the book.
Th e author employed research methods characteristic for the field of humanities and social science, particularly those for so-ciology and cultural anthropology. He used critical content analysis for the analysis of source materials. Th e author also made use of the comparative method, which he em-ployed to highlight in a comprehensible manner the distinctive features of the na-tion-building process in Belarus and the Belarusian society. He also based his delib-erations on the survey results. However, the book lacks a chapter on the main research assumptions, the main hypothesis, detailed hypotheses, and the way source material was selected. Readers learn about the re-search assumptions as they proceed to read the subsequent articles.
Another fault of this book is the lack of a suffi cient presentation of the literature on the subject. Th e author limited himself to presenting only a short bibliographical note informing the reader of which articles were previously published in other
peri-odicals and which were “new”. On the oth-er hand, the book has the advantage of having updated research results included in the articles that were reprinted in this publication.
To sum up the deliberations concerning the book by Prof. Ryszard Radzik, it is nec-essary to state that it is an interesting read, which – in spite of a few remarks – is an excellent introduction to further studies on its subject matter.
Sylwia Maria Zakrzewska Nicolaus Copernicus University
Beata Popiołek, Krzysztof Dziurzyński: Th e XXII National Conference of Devel-opmental Psychology Titled “Social Con-text of the Development from the Child to the Adult”, Gdańsk 26–29 May 2013.
Th e XXII National Conference of the De-velopmental Psychology, which was enti-tled, “Th e Social Context of the Develop-ment – From the Child to the Adult” was dedicated to the refl ection about the psy-chological development of the human being within the context of social-cultural condi-tioning and within the categories of conti-nuity, stability, and the changes happening over a man’s entire lifetime.
Th e conference was held between 26-29 May 2013 at the Social Sciences Faculty at Gdańsk University. Th e organizers of the conference were the Developmental Psy-chology Section of the Polish Psychological Association and the Psychology Institute of Gdańsk University.
Th e scientifi c patronage over that event was taken by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and research by the au-thorities of Gdańsk University – Rector professor dr hab. Bernard Lammek, Dean of Social Sciences Faculty prof. dr hab. Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska and the Director of the Psychology Institute prof. dr hab. Ma-riola Bidzan.
Th e Childrens’ Rights Spokesman; the governor of Pomorskie Voivodeship; and the mayors of Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot were the honorary patrons.
Th e crucial issues of the conference in-cluded intercultural psychology of develop-ment, interpersonal relationships in fami-lies, generation transmission, prenatal and postnatal environment, language and com-munication as the moderators of develop-ment, and the challenges for life-long edu-cation.
Th e attention of the conference partici-pants was focused also on some issues as-sociated with experiencing corporality and human sexuality over the lifetime, coopera-tion and competitiveness, development in the context of consumption culture and materialism, and the religiousness and spir-ituality in the development of human be-ings, among other things. The methodo-logical problems also appeared to be very important for the research as well as the specifi city of the diagnosis process over the particular stages of our life.
Additionally, the session dedicated to the issues of neuropsychology and psycho-pathology of development was very inter-esting. Th at session was presided by prof.
Aneta Borkowska and prof. Agnieszka Mar-yniak, then by prof. L. Cierpiałowska and prof. B. Pastwa-Wojciechowska. Th e sub-jects and results of many years of neuropsy-chological and neuro-image research, based on the analysis of some exceptional cases, were presented. Th en, the presentations of the session lecturers associated with the do-main of psychopathology of development were related to the “contemporary research on early psychopathy symptoms in children and teenagers, the psychical resistance of alcoholics’ children, the harmful attachment and the defi cit of mentality or the subject of the child as a victim and the violence of-fender”. Th e choice of the sessions’ subjects was the real challenge for the participants of the conference because of the attractiveness of the undertaken problems and because of the variety of methodological attitudes and the diversity of the content.
Th e organizers of the conference ena-bled the participants to choose diff erenti-ated forms of presentations, e.g. plenary lectures given by the invited visitors, the symposia and the subject sessions, the post-er sessions, and the workshops registpost-ered by the participants of the conference.
Th e suggested subject of the conference confronted with the research carried on within the sub-disciplines of psychology and with the knowledge from the other do-mains of science provided the substantial refl ections about the importance of the so-cial development of the human being over the particular periods of lifetime. Th e prob-lems undertaken during the conference not only improved the knowledge of the
par-ticipants from Polish and foreign academic centers, but also encouraged exchanging refl ections over the numerous discussions.
Th e debates were initiated by the Leader of Developmental Psychology Section PTP, prof. dr hab. Maria Kielar-Turska. In her presentation, she referred to both the classi-cal conceptions considering the social con-text of development (for example, the cul-tural-historic theory by Lew S. Wygotski and Jean Piaget) and the contemporary conceptions by Michael Tomasello and Charles Fernyhough.
Social relationships are linked with the particular periods of human development; they appear at the moment when a child learns the language, recognizes the diff er-ences connected with gender, makes con-tacts with peers, builds his/her own image of the world, and develops the attitudes to-wards social groups and institutions. Whereas the adolescence period and adult-hood bring an unlimited number of social relationships linked with shaping the male and female roles, building relationships with peers tend to the independence in dif-ferent domains of life. Th e individual per-son uses these relationships for the own development to improve the personality independently of the stage of growth.
The research by Michael Tomasello about inter-subjectiveness and the concep-tion of the dialogue thinking by Charles Fernyhough constitute an improvement in the deliberations presented by prof. Kielar-Turska in her speech. She emphasized that the child has the right to participate in the interactions with adults and peers and to
express the own opinions. Th e child has the assured possibility to be heard by the adults. Th e Charter of Children Rights (1989) le-gally guarantees the participation in social interactions by children.
Thanks to the social relationships, a child obtains knowledge about the world and communicates with it and the corporal – psychological contacts (real) are improved by the contacts created by the mind. Th at happens every time when a child enters the other mental world: reads books, newspa-pers, listens to the radio, or watches televi-sion.
Professor Marta Fulop, a visitor from Hungarian Academy of Sciences, presented the inaugural lecture entitled, “Growing up in a competitive world as a boy as a girl: universal challenges and culturally diff erent responses”. Professor Fulop emphasized that nowadays there are obligatory high stand-ards for children, teenagers, and adults in every domain of life throughout most of the world. According to the professor, competi-tiveness starts in the family, then it transfers to the playground, and to school and it is developed in games, sports, classes, etc. Th e discussion was about the perception of the traditional opinion about girls who are not afraid of competitiveness; they are pro-so-cial; and they cooperate better than the boys, which is the result of the change in viewing the role of a woman in modern so-cieties.
Th e point of reference was the research carried out in several countries, including Hungary, Poland, and China. Th e research referred to coping with the victory and
fail-ure over the adolescence period. Both boys and girls were involved in the research. Pro-fessor Fulop particularly emphasized the policy of the government in the Chinese People’s Republic concerning the one-child policy. Both girls and boys have to meet the expectations of their parents, who prepare the children to cope with the challenges ap-pearing in highly competitive societies. Th e purpose of the research was to better under-stand how girls and boys achieve success in a competitive society in similar and diff er-ent ways.
Th e plenary lecture by prof. dr hab. Bar-bara Weigl from the Academy of Special Pedagogy referred to the associations be-tween the functioning stereotypes and the ethnic attitudes towards the developmental opportunities of children from diff erent so-cial groups with a particular reference to the children from the Romany minority. Th e lecture was prepared on the basis on the re-search of many years. Th e author focused on the mutual perception of young Poles and Romanies. She also focused on the methodological diffi culties appearing with-in the research on the ethnic attitudes and stereotypes of children and teenagers.
Prof. dr hab. Maria Bisert encouraged the audience to search for the answer to three questions asked by herself in her lec-ture titled “Th e sexuality of the child from the contemporary perspective”. Firstly, do social changes infl uence the way of perceiv-ing child sexuality and, if so, how? Secondly, do the changes in the way of treating child sexuality have a destructive character? Thirdly, do the results of the changes in
treating child sexuality fi nd their expression in the results of the research? Th e questions asked by professor initiated the participants’ discussion about child sexuality since the supportive and protective activities known so far are still accompanied by the abuses of children and their sexuality.
Another lecture presented by prof. dr hab. Barbara Harwas-Napierała was dedi-cated to the problems of the contemporary threats to the individual development of the adult person. In the presentation, there were given the phenomena which shape the general context of these threats like the social transformation or the specifi c treat-ment of the autonomy. Th e diffi culties ap-pearing during the realization of the devel-opmental tasks connected with the family and professional career were mentioned in that lecture. Additionally, protective ac-tivities against the threats were recom-mended.
“Th e period of late adulthood – devel-opment or regression” was the lecture deliv-ered by prof. dr hab. Roman Ossowski. In the lecture, he presented the challenges of the late adulthood period, such as working passiveness, progressive breakdown, loneli-ness and the problems associated with this, loss of social prestige, and the escalating feeling of approaching death. Taking into consideration the aging society, it is particu-larly important to motivate the environ-ment to the cooperation in creating the fa-vorable conditions to keep the psychical and physical balance, and at the same time to maintain the existing biological and so-cial potential.
In the lecture by professor dr hab. Małgorzata Lipowska entitled, “Th e beauty of the human body from the perspective of the psychology of development”, the emo-tional attitude to one’s own body during the adolescence period and at the same time the motivation to changes. Th e important factor of the prestige and social acceptance over the adolescence and adulthood periods is the interpersonal success dependent sub-stantially on the physical appearance. How-ever, reality shows that with time tolerance towards body changes grows.
Th e presentation by prof. dr hab. Eleon-ora Bielawska-Batorowicz from Łódź Uni-versity made the participants of the confer-ence focus their attention towards the kinds of psychical disorders which appear in preg-nant women and in women after giving birth. In the lecture entitled, “Th e psychical disorders at the pregnant women and aft er giving the birth and the development of a child,” the professor characterized the in-fl uences on pregnancy, the birth, and the relationships with the newborn. Professor dr hab. Mariola Bidzan of Gdańsk University dedicated her presentation to the analysis of the teenage parenthood from the develop-mental perspective. Bidzan presented the scale and types of problems associated with the adolescence period and the adolescence crisis linked with the depression caused by teenage parenthood. Th e presented medical, psychological and social situation of the teenage parents was based on the results of the research carried on by the lecturer.
During the fi rst day of the conference there were some symposia. Th e fi rst was
ti-tled “Th e social contexts of the musical de-velopment”. Th e lecturers presented the ex-isting theories about and the research show-ing the infl uence of biology and the social surrounding on the musical development of a man over his lifetime (the symposium was led by dr R. Lawendowski and dr J. Kaleńska --Rodzaj). Th e next symposium led by dr D. Czyżowska and dr M. Grygielski was related to “Th e context of shaping identity”. Th e re-ports presented the contemporary problems and the main themes of research referring to the theoretical models, empirical valida-tions, and the social conditioning of the identity ontogenesis. During the second day of the symposium, the subjects oscillated between the language competences in social relationships (lead by prof. M. Kielar-Turska and prof. M. Lipowska) and the relation-ships among the family members in the context of transformations (presented by prof. H. Liberska and prof. T. Rostowska). At the same time, there was a discussion about the problem of forgiveness in the family and the essence of links among the people in families. Th e participants of the symposium presented their psychological attitude to-wards the phenomenon of “prolonging the process of becoming the adult” (conception emerging adulthood J.J. Arnetta). During the third day of the conference, six sympo-sia were held. Th e lecturers presented re-search about the possible associations be-tween the attitudes towards globalization and the quality of psychical and social life (the symposium was presided over by A. Senejko and dr Z. Łoś). Th e school and the children and teenagers environment were
the subject of interest of the following sym-posium. The participants discussed the “problem of adapting the school environ-ment to the diversity of students”. Th e dis-cussion was presided over by dr A. Jasielska. Th e subjects of about 40 presentations were connected by diff erent areas, which includ-ed the memory and cognitive processes, professional development, adolescence cri-sis, the role of sport, and “the autumn of life”.
Th e participants of the conference had the chance to take part in fi ve workshops, which linked theoretical knowledge with practice. Th e workshop related to “Applying the EEG method Biofeedback in the process of therapy of Soft Cognitive Defi cits” (the organizer – mgr Dariusz Tucholski) pre-sented the infl uence of systematic EEG BFB training on the normalization of EEG re-cording at the people with early ŁDP diag-nosis (particularly concentration the atten-tion disorders).
Professor Arvind Kumar Gupta from Pune University presented the workshop “How to transform the rubbish into the toys”, learning at the same time the basic rules of science and designing. Th e participants of the conference had also the possibility to take part in the workshops presenting the tools of diagnosing the important psychical func-tions i.e. “Mnemotechnics in teaching the musical notes: Notes for joys and sorrows” (the organizer was mgr I. Poświerz–Mar-ciniak), “Th e risk of dis calculation – the de-velopmental diagnosis of the math compe-tences at the early school age children”, (the organizer – mgr A. Walerzak-Więckowska) and “Th e functional diagnosis of school
dif-fi culties applying the latest diagnosing tools in psychological-pedagogical advisory ser-vice” (the organizer – mgr B.M. Radtke).
Th e permanent element of the confer-ences is the poster session. Th e presentation of 43 works informed the conference par-ticipants about the research projects being carried out at the moment. During the ses-sion, as usual, there was the poster competi-tion and the participants voted for the best work. Th e winning work was by mgr Karo-lina Lutkiewicz and prof. Mariola Bidzan and was entitled, “Female sexual function-ing durfunction-ing pregnancy and the evaluation of the quality of marriage”.
Th e expected permanent moment of the conference was the announcement of the winner of Stefan Schuman Prize and the fi nal lecture. Th at prize was established by the Section Board of the Developmental Psychology in 2004. Th is prize is awarded to the best research work carried out in Poland within the psychology of human develop-ment. In 2013, the Chapter Prize was award-ed to dr Małgorzata Stępień Nycz for her work entitled, “Th e development of express-ing emotions durexpress-ing the childhood period”. Th is is the doctor’s dissertation under the supervision of dr hab. Maria Kielar-Turska.
To sum up, during the XXII National Conference of Developmental Psychology there were seven plenary lectures, 12 sym-posia (with 89 reports), 22 subject sessions (with 147 reports), fi ve workshops and the poster session. In total, the participants lis-tened to over 250 presentations.
Th e conference program refl ected the meritorious range of the current research
being carried out and the methodological solutions applied within the research pro-jects. Over 350 participants presented a wide range of psychological deliberations and other research. Like in the previous years, the symposia and the subject sessions in-cluded the reports linking the psychology of human development and its borders, not just the sub-disciplines of psychology, but also the other domains of science (sociology, pedagogics, and medicine, among others).
Prof. dr hab. Maria Kielar-Turska con-cluded the conference and informed the audience that the XXIII National Confer-ence of Developmental Psychology of the Polish Psychological Association would be held in Lublin.
Beata Popiołek Academy of Special Education in Warsaw Krzysztof Dziurzyński Alcide De Gasperi University of Euroregional Economy in Józefów
