The Social Context of Cognitive Development

Traditional approaches to cognitive development can tell a great deal about the internal processes involved in learning. Sociocultural perspectives, on the other hand, provide insights into the influences on learning of relationship and cultural variables. This volume provides a bridge between these disparate bodies of research, examining the processes through which children internalize the lessons learned in social contexts.

Traditional approaches to cognitive development can tell us a great deal about the internal processes involved in learning. Sociocultural perspectives, on the other hand, provide valuable insights into the influences on learning of relationship and cultural variables. This volume provides a much-needed bridge between these disparate bodies of research, examining the specific processes through which children internalize the lessons learned in social contexts. The book reviews current findings on four specific domains of cognitive development--attention, memory, problem solving, and planning. The course of intellectual growth in each domain is described, and social factors that support or constrain it are identified. The focus throughout is on how family, peer, and community factors influence not only what a child learns, but also how learning occurs. Supporting her arguments with solid empirical data, the author convincingly shows how attention to sociocultural factors can productively complement more traditional avenues of investigation.

I. The Social Foundations of Cognitive Development1. Introduction2. Processes of Change: The How of Cognitive Development3. The Sociocultural Context of Cognitive DevelopmentII. The Development of Specific Higher Mental Functions in Social Context4. Acquiring Knowledge: Intersubjectivity, Joint Attention, and Social Referencing5. Remembering: The Social Construction of the Past6. Solving and Learning to Solve Problems in Social Context7. Constructing the Future: Planning in Social Context8. Conclusions and Future Directions

Mary Gauvain, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of California at Riverside. She received her master's degree in Sociology of Education from Stanford University and her doctoral degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Utah. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and has served on the Executive Committee of the APA Division of Developmental Psychology. She is also a member of the Society for Research in Child Development. Her research on children's cognitive development in social and cultural contexts is widely published and has been funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and The Spencer Foundation, among others.