Interactive Minds harnesses both research and theory from several disciplines to study cognitive development in the social context of the life course.

Part I. General Theoretical Framework: 1. The evolution of cooperation: within and between generations Peter Hammerstein; 2. Interacting minds in a lifespan perspective: a cultural-historical approach to culture and cognitive development Michael Cole; 3. Essentially Social: on the origin of linguistic knowledge in the individual Wolfgang Klein; 4. Knowledge and the construction of women's development Gisela Labouvie-Vief; Part II. Interactive Minds: 5. Peer interactive minds: development, theoretical, and methodological issues Margarita Azmitia; 6. Collaborative rules: how are people supposed to work with one another Jacqueline Goodnow; 7. The lifelong transformation of moral goals through social influence Damon William; 8. Adults Telling and retelling stories collaboratively Roger A. Dixon; 9. Planning about life: towards a social-interactive paradigm Jacqui Smith; 10. Wisdom and the social-interactive foundation of the mind Ursula Staudinger; Part III. Interactive Minds: Perspecxtives from Cognitive and Educational Psychology: 11. Rationality: Why Social Context Matters Gerd Gigerenzer; 12. Styles of thinking Robert J. Sternberg; 13. Cooperative construction of expert knowledge: the case of knowledge engineering Gerhard Strube; 14. Communities of practice towards expertise: social foundation of university instruction Heinz Mandl; Epilogue: reflections and future perspectives; 15. Cognitive pychology Peter Graf; 16. Developmental psychology Laura Carstensen; 17. Educational psychology Franz Weinert; 18. Cognitive and cultural anthropology Richard Shweder.