HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1 PSYCHOLOGY 3050: Social Construction of Mind

1. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 1PSYCHOLOGY 3050:Social Construction of Mind Dr. Jamie Drover SN-3094, 864-8383 e-mail -- jrdrover@mun.ca Fall Semester, 2012

2. 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

3. 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.

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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. Tools of Intellectual Adaptation • 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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).

12. 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

13. Zone of Proximal Development • 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

14. 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

15. 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.”

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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).

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.