HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1PSYCHOLOGY 3050:

Social Construction of Mind

Dr. Jamie Drover

SN-3094, 864-8383

e-mail -- jrdrover@mun.ca

Fall Semester, 2012

Sociocultural perspective

• Focus on species typical structure-function relationships that underlie thought

• Cognitive universals– Attention, learning, memory, information

processing

• However, cognition develops in the child who develops in a familial, social, and cultural context

Sociocultural perspective

• Cognitive development is inseparable from its cultural context– Only humans have developed culture

– Provides a unique source of influence • How we develop and learn to think is primarily

a function of the social and cultural environments in which we are reared– Family, school, community, social institutions, etc.

Sociocultural perspective

• Focuses is on what makes us different, rather than on the universals that make us similar.

Interaction: Four interrelated levels of development are important

• Ontogenetic: development of the individual across the lifespan

• Microgenetic: changes over brief periods of time– Changes in problem-solving over a school year

• Phylogenetic: development of a species through evolution– Understanding species development (history) informs

individual development

• Sociohistorical: changes that occur in one’s culture, values, norms, and technologies– Literacy, info technologies

Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

• We enter the world with elementary mental functions.

• Culture provides us with tools of intellectual adaptation.– Methods of thinking and problem-

solving that children internalize from interactions with more competent members of society.

– Enable children to use mental functions adaptively, i.e., how to think.

• These cultural tools do indeed affect development.

• Some cultures have numbers only for 1, 2, and “many”.

• Members of these cultures can operate on small amounts, but have difficulty with larger numbers.

Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

• Even more subtle differences in number names can affect development.

• Miller et al. (1995) provided evidence that Chinese children are superior counters at 4 and 5 years of age than American children.– Numbering system is more logical.

Tools of Intellectual Adaptation

• Culture also transmits beliefs and values.– What to think

• The relevance of cultural tools can be seen in the computer.– Access to and the use of computers will have effects both

between and within cultures. – Computers will affect how we think and process information.

The Social Origins of Early Cognitive Competencies

• Vygotsky emphasized the social contributions to cognitive development.

• He believed that all higher psychological processes originate socially and then develop on a psychological plane.– General genetic law of cultural development

The Social Origins of Early Cognitive Competencies

• Much of what children learn occurs within the context of cooperative or collaborative dialogues between a skillful tutor and a novice pupil.– i.e., collaborative or guided learning– The pupil seeks to understand the tutor’s instruction

and then internalizes this information.– This fosters cognitive growth (see puzzle eg, p 83).

Zone of Proximal Development

• The difference between a child’s actual developmental level determined by independent problem solving and his/her level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under the guidance of others

• New cognitive growth can occur in “the zone” and instruction should be targeted there

• Children can learn material that is just a bit more advanced than what they know at any given point – Too advanced – can’t be incorporated

• Scaffolding occurs when experts are sensitive to the abilities of a novice and work to guide the child’s performance so that his/her understanding increases

Zone of Proximal Development

• Scaffolding will be most effective in the “zone of proximal development”

• Commonly observed as parents and young children solve a problem or have a conversation together.– See dice example pp. 84-85

Zone of Proximal Development

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Rogoff (1990) viewed transactions between adults and children as reflecting “apprenticeship in thinking” – novice improves their skills and understanding

through participation with more skilled partners in culturally organized activities.

• All the responsibility is not placed on adults.• Rogoff extended the idea of “zone of proximal

development.”

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Rogoff applied to “guided participation” to adult child interactions during explicit instructions, but also to day to day activities and everyday life.– Doing chores, watching TV

• In post-industrial societies, transactions between parents and children are designed for the schooling that will follow.– Context-independent learning

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Another school-related skill associated with parent-child interactions is reading.– Whitehurst (1988): interactive

reading led to gains in verbal expressiveness

• Parents use scaffolding when reading to children.– They are more directive when

children are younger, but less so as children get older.

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Parents and older siblings can also guide children’s development in symbolic play.– Requires mental

representation• Mothers tend to bring out high

levels of symbolic play in their children.– Bring out challenging play

interactions• Symbolic play is related to

other aspects of cognitive development.– E.g. theory of mind

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Guided participation is universal, but there are differences in the nature of guided participation.

• Occurs in two cultures– Cultures in which children are segregated from adults

and receive instruction in school (middle class)– Cultures in which are in close contact with adults

while performing culturally important activities (traditional)

• Rogoff studied interactions and guided participation in both types of cultures (pp 90-91).

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• Middle-class communities – place more emphasis on verbal instruction and

provide plenty of structure.– Use praise to motivate children.

• Traditional communities– Use explicit nonverbal instruction– Don’t provide direct instruction– Children possess good observational skills

Apprenticeship in Thinking and Guided Participation

• In different cultures, different forms of guided participation are likely to be used.

• One form is no better than the other.• Cognitive development is rooted in one’s culture.

Implications for Education

• Vygotsky stressed active learning and assessment of what the child already knows.

• Teachers should structure activities and provide helpful hints or instructions tailored to the child’s abilities.

• Cooperative learning between children could also be used.

Implications for Education

• Freund (1990) found that children who practiced a dollhouse furniture sorting task with their mother showed dramatic improvement.

• Cooperative learning between students is also beneficial– Enhances motivation, requires explanation, higher

quality strategies.