How much of parenting is instinct, and how much is culture?
According to Prof. Marta Białecka, leader of the CCC (Culture, Childhood and Cognition) project, the question itself may be misleading:
It is like asking what is more important for a rectangle: its width or its length, as famous Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb argued, she says. Human development is a process which emerges not only during but also within and through an interaction with others.
This conviction lies at the heart of the CCC project, which explores how parental and grandparental beliefs shape children’s development and well-being. Rather than focusing solely on parenting practices, the researchers are interested in something less visible but equally powerful: the beliefs adults hold about what children need and how they should be raised.
The project centres on the concept of ethnotheories—assumptions, expectations and beliefs that guide parenting. These beliefs influence how adults interpret children’s behaviour, what values they prioritise and what kind of adults they hope their children will become.
Parents have assumptions about children, about their needs and about what it means to be a good parent. When we understand these beliefs, we can better understand parental behaviour. — Prof. Białecka
Many of these beliefs are so deeply embedded in everyday life that they often go unnoticed. Yet they shape countless decisions, from educational aspirations to everyday interactions within the family.
The CCC team studies childhood not as an individual process, but as something shaped by a broader social and cultural environment. Family routines, everyday practices and parental expectations all influence how children learn to navigate the world around them.
According to Prof. Białecka, many parents want their children to be honest, hardworking and responsible, while simultaneously encouraging them to realise their individual potential and pursue personal gains. This balancing act may reveal something distinctive about contemporary Polish society, situated between different cultural influences (being independent and interdependent at the same time).
The project also looks beyond parents alone. In Poland, grandparents continue to play an important role in family life, often bringing different experiences, values and perspectives into the upbringing process. By comparing parental and grandparental beliefs about children in Poland, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan, the researchers hope to identify both cultural differences and universal aspects of raising children.
At the same time, families today face challenges that previous generations could hardly have imagined. One of the most significant concerns identified by the team is the growing influence of technology on childhood: “There is a kind of struggle over who will capture the child’s attention first,” says Prof. Białecka.
The issue is not simply screen time. Rather, it is the possibility that digital environments may increasingly replace experiences traditionally gained through direct human interaction—negotiating conflicts, understanding different perspectives, and learning how to cooperate with others. These everyday encounters play a crucial role in social and emotional development.
Yet the CCC project is not about judging contemporary parenting. Instead, it seeks to understand it. By examining the beliefs that underpin parenting decisions across generations and cultures, the team hopes to answer a broader question: which aspects of raising children are shaped by culture, and which are shared across societies?
We do not want to see only the differences. We want to understand universalities, namely which core elements of raising children are shared. — Prof. Białecka
The project ultimately points out that to understand childhood, we must also understand the cultural assumptions, aspirations and values through which adults interpret it.
