Project Summary: Cultural Differences in Caring for Infants The major assumptions of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development are that infants are active agents in constructing knowledge and that the interaction of experience and biology leads to growth and development. The cultural-contextual view agrees with these assumptions but adds two more: (1) other people make active contributions to infant development, and (2) cultural practices, which reflect the dominant beliefs and values of a culture, shape infant interaction with others and, ultimately, shape cognitive development. Variations in sleeping and feeding behaviors reflect the role of infants in a culture. Beliefs about babies in different cultures determine how they are treated, who interacts with them, and, consequently, how babies experience their world.