Domain specificity in social interactions, social thought, and social development.

J. E. Grusec and M. Davidov (this issue) have taken good steps in formulating a domain-specific view of parent-child interactions. This commentary supports the introduction of domain specificity to analyses of parenting. Their formulation is an advance over formulations that characterized parental practices globally. This commentary calls for inclusion of definitions of the classification system of domain-specific interactions and criteria for each domain. It is also maintained that Grusec and Davidov's domains of social interaction imply that processes of development are involved, along with socialization; that bidirectionality in parent-child relations needs to be extended to include mutual influences and the construction of domains of social thought; and that conflicts and opposition within families coexist with compliance and social harmony.