Beatrice Whiting

Beatrice Whiting was an American developmental psychologist. She collaborated with and was married to John Whiting the anthropologist.

Main areas of interest
Together with her husband Beatrice organized the Six Cultures Study of Socialization, the largest and most comprehensive comparative study of child rearing and child development. The study assigned teams of anthropologists with interdisciplinary training in psychology and child development to six sites around the world: The six cultures studied are Nyansongo: a Gusii community in Kenya (Robert A. LeVine and Barbara B. LeVine); the Rajputs of Khalapur, India (Leigh Minturn and John T. Hitchcock); Taira: an Okinawan village (Thomas W. Maretzki and Hatsumi Maretzki) ; the Mixtecans of Juxtlahuaca, Mexico (Kimball Romney and Romaine Romney); Tarong: an Ilocos barrio in the Philippines (William F. Nydegger and Corinne Nydegger); and the New Englanders of Orchard Town, USA. (John L. Fischer and Ann Fischer). The Whitings continued work on comparative child development, both with their own fieldwork and through many students and collaborators, throughout their careers.

Honors
In 1987 she received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for Research in Child Development In 1982, Beatrice and her husband John Whiting, won the American Anthropological Association's Distinguished Service Award. In 1989, they received the Society's first Career Contribution Award.