SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Social construction of cognition-the idea that how
children learn to think is governed in great part by the
culture in which they grow up. Many cognitive
theorists (Piaget, Scarr) look at the universals of how
we learn to think, not the uniqueness of thought
according to the culture. Socioculturalists believe it’s
essential to understand cultural practices to
understand how children learn to function effectively.
Vygotsky emphasized that learning is guided by
parents/teachers through their interactions. All
learning is first interactive and collaborative.
Carrying this concept even farther, development
is seen as a process of transformation of
participation. This means moving from passive
observation, to helping, to coordinating activity with
others, sharing, and finally initiating activity on the
basis of one’s own goals.
The role of culture in cognitive development
Vygotsky described development from 4
interrelated levels in the environment:
 Ontogenetic development-development over
the lifetime
 Microgenetic development-changes occurring
in short periods of time (using a new strategy)
 Phylogenetic development-changes over
evolutionary time, understanding species’ history
 Sociohistorical development-changes within a
culture that generate new values, technology
We come into the world with a few mental functions
that are capable of being transformed by the culture
into more sophisticated mental processes- higher
mental functions. (We have the neural capability of
preserving experiences in memory, but in the
beginning of life memory is only about sensation and
physical experiences. Later we develop the ability to
symbolize with language and imagination and our
memory expands dramatically.)
Tools of intellectual adaptation are cultural
shortcuts that allow more expansive mental abilities.
Computers, adding machines, abacus, writing. So not
only do these things help us think, they teach us how
to think. (One reason Asians do have a better mastery
of math and higher math concepts is because of early
experience with the abacus.) Research shows that
Chinese children have an edge in counting as early as
age 4, due to the Chinese number-naming system,
which is completely base-10. After kids get to
counting from 20 up, American children have an
equal ability, but our 10s are confusing for children.
Culture also stresses what is important to learn &
master.
The general genetic law of cultural development
describes a dual-nature of cognitive development. It
begins with a social process, then becomes
internalized and psychological. To understand
children’s advances intellectually, you must examine
the context of their discoveries. How are they
learning from peers, tutors, models? Vygotsky called
this guided learning. Tutors offer strategies in
problem-solving that children rarely stumble on
themselves.
The Zone of Proximal development is the
difference between a children’s independent level of
accomplishment and his/her level of function with
some guidance or tutoring. This level of collaboration
will result in the child internalizing skills and tricks
and rising to a higher level of independent mastery.
Scaffolding occurs as helpers, teachers, older, more
experienced peers tailor their aid to the learning
ability of the learner. More competent learners trigger
more sophisticated helping techniques in the helper.
The prompts are gradually drawn away as the child
succeeds more independently without help.
Scaffolding is used within the ZPD. The most
effective techniques recognize the needs of the
learner. Some need more encouragement and support,
others need more freedom to explore and try things.
Some children are simply more driven to learn and
explore. Others are more passive, even fearful of
failing by nature.
Guided participation is the interaction between
people as they engage in shared activities. So older
children can help younger ones, peers can help one
another, as well as teachers help students. It is the
casual activities that people share in which there are
opportunities to expand understanding.
Cognition is shaped in these teachable moments.
This is the idea behind doing apprenticeships in a
vocation. The more children are included in everyday
activities, the more confidence they develop, as well
as ease at learning a wider variety of skills. Children
in our culture have been excluded more and more
from the activities of parents and education has been
handed over to professionals in a formal setting. The
Japanese, on the other hand, simply engage in
questioning of children in a variety of environment,
to enhance their knowledge in general, not for a
specific purpose.(context-independent learning)
Language in general usage is also an expansion
of education. It helps if the language used at home is
useful for school.
Reading to children links to reading skills in the
child later. Interactive story reading stops to ask the
child what might happen next, suggest possibilities.
After one month of this interactive reading, children
in the exp. Group were 8.5 mo. ahead of the control
group in verbal expression. (They were equal at the
beginning of the study). Encouraging active
participation in reading enhances literacy & language
development.
Talking to children also enhances literacy, but
it means interactive talking, elaborations on events
shared, making associations with other events.
Talking at children is not very helpful (which may be
one reason twins learn to talk later- moms tend to
give directives to multiple children, not interact).
Play is another opportunity for guided
development, especially learning symbolic play.
Pretend play, especially how complex it is, is an
indication of cognitive development. It represents the
way kids understand the world, schemas, concepts. It
requires a playmate to develop much symbolic play.
It helps if it’s an older, more skilled playmate. This
play also helps children develop empathy and
understanding of others’ feelings & thoughts- a
theory of mind. Different cultures teach these things
in different ways. American middle-class parents use
more verbal instruction and structure the learning
environment. Other cultures rely on children
observing the adults’ behavior, or giving nonverbal
demonstrations. In these cultures children develop
more astute powers of observation than here in US.
Vygotsky believed the learning environment
should be interactive. He thought the child’s level of
understanding should be assessed in order to structure
guided learning activities at that child’s level.
Progress should be monitored so that help could be
fine-tuned and phased out as the child no longer
needs it. Teachers should arrange cooperative or
collaborative learning exercises to allow students to
help one another- both members benefit. Group
projects are valuable if they are designed well. They
are effective because:
 They enhance motivation
 They require communication of ideas,
persuasion and consideration of
alternative ideas. Talk enhances more
sophisticated problem solving.
 They use higher-quality strategies,
generating ideas together they would not
have come up with individually.
Even so, collaborative learning may be a challenge
for children in some cultures- the US especially since
we emphasize competition and individual effort.
Collaborative learning requires sharing and
negotiation skills. Not all children have those.
SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Social construction of cognition-the idea that
how children learn to think is governed in great
part by the culture in which they grow up.
 Vygotsky emphasized that learning is
guided by parents/teachers through their
interactions. All learning is first interactive
and collaborative.
 Transformation of participation.
The role of culture in cognitive development:




Ontogenetic development
Microgenetic development
Phylogenetic development
Sociohistorical development
We come into the world with a few mental
functions that are capable of being transformed
by the culture into more sophisticated mental
processes- higher mental functions.
Tools of intellectual adaptation are cultural
shortcuts that allow more expansive mental
abilities.
The general genetic law of cultural
development describes a dual-nature of
cognitive development. It begins with a social
process, then becomes internalized and
psychological. Vygotsky called this guided
learning.
The Zone of Proximal development is the
difference between a children’s independent
level of accomplishment and his/her level of
function with some guidance or tutoring.
Scaffolding occurs as helpers, teachers, older,
more experienced peers tailor their aid to the
learning level of the learner.
Guided participation is the interaction between
people as they engage in shared activities.
Language in general usage is also an
expansion of education. It helps if the language
used at home is useful for school.
Reading to children links to reading skills in
the child later. Interactive story reading stops
to ask the child what might happen next, to
suggest possibilities.
Talking to children also enhances literacy,
but it means interactive talking, elaborations on
events shared, making associations with other
events.
Play is another opportunity for guided
development, especially learning symbolic play.
This play also helps children develop
empathy and understanding of others’ feelings &
thoughts- a theory of mind.
Teachers should arrange cooperative or
collaborative learning exercises to allow
students to help one another- both members
benefit. Group projects are valuable if they are
designed well. They are effective because:
 They enhance motivation
 They require communication of ideas,
persuasion and consideration of
alternative ideas. Talk enhances more
sophisticated problem solving.
 They use higher-quality strategies,
generating ideas together they would
not have come up with individually.