Culture refers to societal beliefs, values, and attitudes. Socialization is the process by which one ultimately internalizes familial values as well as rules of conduct. The question being raised in this forum concerns factors that affect cultural socialization in the context of a multicultural society, and that affect the young child's construction of sense of self and self-identity. Willard ͑1998͒ notes that cultural scripts are societal "stories" supported by institutional structures that guide individuals through major life transitions. Thus, cultures are constructions that become manifest in the events, scripts, and social mores that give definition to a particular social group as they are interpreted by parents and other caregivers: "Beliefs are constructed through the exchange of social meanings among people as individuals integrate personal experiences with their participation in the parenting role suggested by the culture at a particular point in history" ͑McGillicuddy-DeLisi & Subramanian, 1996, p. 147͒.
The extant literature on cultural learning supports five broad conclusions: ͑1͒ Cultural learning occurs by age 5, ͑2͒ New cultural patterns are learned easiest by young children. ͑3͒ Values are determined by the child's culture of origin. ͑4͒ Understanding one's culture of origin interferes with understanding a second culture. ͑5͒ Old habits are not easily changed. As children increasingly become exposed to out-of-home settings, they are challenged to contrast familial values and beliefs with those of the dominant culture. In many cases there is a match, but as population diversity increases, the number of contrasts between cultural and familial value structures will also increase.
During the preschool years, three important developmental transitions begin to organize and integrate. Cognitive theorists refer to these as autobiographical memory, cognitive self, and theory of mind. Autobiographical memory refers to memory for events, such as those associated with mother-infant interactions. These events are related to the development of a representational or cognitive model of self as well as a representational model of relationships. The cognitive self provides a venue for the child to organize event memories both from self-reflective processes and from social interactions that contribute to reconstructions of the meaning of events. Understanding others requires, in part, making inferences about the intended meaning of another's behavior. In short, cultural and familial scripts affect the organization of the child's theory of mind, sense of self, and self-other relationships.
All relationships involve an actor ͑attempting to convey meaning to an observer͒, and an