Developmental psychology grew up in the environment of late 19th century social science, which sought to apply scientific methods to human behavior. Since beliefs about the nature of children and the aged, and about their role in society, vary culturally, the dominance of research funding, training, and publications by Europeans and Americans has affected the focus of research in the field. Besides major research issues and study methods, this essay discusses pragmatic perspectives on development and some relations of pragmatics to developmental issues.