Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont

The Social and the Psychological: Structure and Context in Intellectual Development.

This paper discusses the distinct meanings of internalization and interiorization as ways of rendering intelligible the social constitution of the psychological in a line of research that started with Piaget and extended into a post-Piagetian reformulation of intelligence in successive generations of studies of the relations between social interaction and cognitive development. While the same clarity cannot be found in Vygotsky’s work, the emphasis on the cultural embeddedness of cognitive activity in contemporary cultural psychology has also been a significant influence on the evolution of this work. This paper proposes a further integration of these perspectives by developing the idea of operativity-in-context as a means of retaining the advantages of Piaget’s structural analysis of cognition whilst recognizing the situational and cultural constraints on cognitive functioning.

Psychosocial Processes in Argumentation

This chapter examines argumentation as a psychosocial practice, embedded in institutional, historical, and cultural contexts. Even though they are in reality interwoven, several dimensions (cognitive, interactive, and cultural) will be distinguished. At the cognitive and individual level, the questions comprise the following ones: what are the cognitive prerequisites for engaging into an argumentative interaction? How is the development of argumentative skills taking place in children? But focusing only on the individual level would not take into consideration other dimensions that are important such as the relational and dialogical aspects of argumentation, the status of the partners and characteristic of the “audience.” The specific demands of the cultural context in which argumentation takes place are also examined.

Using Graphical Tools in a Phased Activity for Enhancing Dialogical Skills: An Example with Digalo

ICT tools have been developed to facilitate web-based learning through and learning about argumentation. In this paper we will present an example of a learning activity mediated by Digalo-software for knowledge sharing through visually supported discussion-developed in a university setting. Our aim is to examine, in particular, socio-cognitive construction of knowledge and argumentation by students debating a controversial question in history. We propose a descriptive approach of understanding and meaning-making processes based on two levels of analysis: (1) a topic meaning-making process oriented level and (2) an argumentation oriented level. We focus our studies on how the participants-small groups of students-develop understanding of the topic, their arguments and their interactions through the use of different functionalities of this software. Our results show that interactive and argumentative processes are themselves objects of learning and develop through collective activity. Development of the understanding of the topic through argumentation is discussed and linked to the design of the activity and the affordances of the Digalo software.

Problems in assessment of learning: The social construction of questions and answers in the scholastic context

Abstract This chapter analyses the actualization of knowledge by the child when questioned by an adult (teacher or researcher, for example). We first examine the situation of questioning between teacher and pupils and then compare this to (1) interactions between an experimenter and a pupil concerning scholastic knowledge in order to analyze the impact of the interaction context and the adult interlocutor and (2) the childs display of competencies in psychological testing interviews to study the articulation of the object of discourse.

Psychosocial Perspective on Cognitive Development: Construction of Adult-Child Intersubjectivity in Logic Tasks

Obviously the concepts used in psychology at the beginning of this century were directly influenced by the then pervasive ideas of the theories of evolution. Looking back to this period it can be seen how such ideas gave a very important impulse to the study of human behavior. However several decades later, it would be well worth reviewing these concepts and either enlarging on them (as seemingly suggested by the organizers of the present symposium through the consideration of “sociogenesis”) or substituting new metaphors and concepts to the existing ones, in order to draw attention to aspects of psychological reality that the preceding perspective might cause to be neglected. This presentation takes as standpoint the crossroad of these two lines of thought. Indeed, in our opinion, suggesting new concepts (e.g., “intersubjectivity”) can be fruitful for the advance of science mostly if it can simultaneously account for both the already known phenomena and for newly described processes.

Four social psychological lenses for developmental psychology

How can the advances of social and developmental psychology be integrated? This conceptual paper proposes to examine four basic theoretical models of social situations through which learning and development have been observed in the post-piagetian tradition: the psychosocial triangle, the frame, models of transfer and transitions, and models integrating the notion of cultural instrument. We show different dynamics highlighted by series of studies using these models. We finally discuss the notions of development and of the person emerging through such social developmental approaches.RésuméComment intégrer les progrès de la psychologie et de la psychologie du développement? Cet article théorique propose d’examiner quatre modèles utilisés dans la tradition post-piagétienne pour étudier le développement et l’apprentissage dans leur situation sociale: le triangle psychosocial, le cadre, l’idée de transfert ou de transition, et les modèles intégrant l’idée d’outil culturel. Nous montrons les dynamiques que les travaux utilisant ces modèles ont pu mettre en évidence. Nous discutons finalement les notions même de développement et de personne qui se dégagent de ces approches.

Socio-cognitive dynamics in dyadic interaction: How do you work together to solve Kohs cubes?

This study presents a detailed analysis of collaborative interaction modes employed by 9- to 10-year-old children in a spatial problem solving a task called the Kohs cubes. All the children were videotaped during non-interactive pre-test and post-test sessions (stages 1 and 4) and two types of interactive sessions: (1) novice children training with adults (stage 2); and (2) competent instruction by children, or competent children, interacting with novice children (stage 3). Dyadic sessions between competent and novice children are analysed in more detail to show how children share their involvement with the task and how they manage to solve the problem depending on their level of task competence. Three particular dimensions of these interactive sessions have been studied: (1) making strategies explicit; (2) childrens task management; and (3) modes of interaction and their evolution in the course of the task resolution. Through a qualitative case-based analysis of four dyads extracted from the experiment, the results highlight the plurality and complexity of the socio-cognitive dynamics in dyadic interactions. The discussion focuses on the processes of collaborative learning involved in such interactions.

The Architecture of Social Relationships and Thinking Spaces for Growth

Psychologists who spend a lot of time observing children know how much effort it requires from their parents, teachers and others to help them develop the capacity to listen, to make their own points and desires clear, and then to find ways to negotiate perspectives and actions that can satisfy all partners and not only their immediate wish. This is a long way towards the managing of frustration and the discovery of the world. It requires the learning of both self-control and the understanding of social order. In doing so, individuals interiorize the expectations and moral values of their family and group of belonging. Under certain circumstances, they are likely to develop a critical reflection of these concepts. This social and cognitive development starts with play and toys, personal belongings and common properties (Rosciano, 2008); includes making friends (Selman, 1980); and continues with joint activities (Rubtsov, 1989), exploratory talk and dialogue in school situations (Mercer, 2000; Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Littleton & Howe, 2010), group work (Schwarz et al., 2008; Howe, 2010; Tar tas et al., 2010; Buchs et al, 2013), informal spaces of cooperation (Ghodbane, 2009) and involvement in youth based organizations (Heath, 2004). Only with the careful training of their social and cognitive skills and with rich “symbolic resources”(Zittoun, 2006) can young people be raised into cooperative adults patient enough to invest time in discovering ways to resolve their conflicts or overcome disruptive events with “imagination” (Zittoun & Cerchia, 2013) and hence to expand their futures.

Perspectivas psicosociológicas del aprendizaje en situación colectiva

espanolSe presentan una serie de trabajos cuyo objetivo es la mejora de los metodos de ensenanza. En estos trabajos subyacen dos cuestiones: el fracaso de la educacion compensatoria y la busqueda de alternativas a las relaciones pedagogicas existentes. La idea es favorecer el desarrollo intelectual promoviendo tipos de relacion menos individualistas y mas horizontales. Se parte de la base de que el trabajo en grupo favorece el aprendizaje. Varias investigaciones muestran que creando una situacion de interaccion social, los aprendizajes quedan mejor estructurados desde el punto de vista cognitivo. La necesidad de solucionar el conflicto socio-cognitivo que aparece en la confrontacion con el otro favorece el desarrollo de los procesos cognitivos. Se requiere una ulterior profundizacion sobre el tema, intentando que las investigaciones se aproximen lo mas posible a la practica pedagogica. EnglishThe paper reviews studies aimed at improving methods of instruction. The underlining theme is the failure of compensatory education, and the need to find alternatives to current educational relations. The idea is to favour intellectual development by promoting more horizontal and less individualistic types of relations. Group work is considered to optimize learning. Various studies show that through a situation of social interaction the material learned is, from a cognitive viewpoint, structured better. The need to solve the sociocognitive conflict that arises when confronting another person seems to favour the development of cognitive processes. Finally, more research work in this area focusing on educational practice is needed

Psicosociología y escuela: hacia una psicopedagogía genética

RESUMENAnte el fracaso de las experiencias de la Educacion Compensatoria y conscientes de que las desigualdades sociales superan el marco educativo y psicologico, el articulo intenta definir el papel de la interaccion social en el proceso cognitivo. El metodo experimental consiste en estudiar el comportamiento de los ninos en diversas tareas que ejecuten solos, en grupo o con un adulto, y de evaluar las repercusiones de sus interacciones sociales en el desarrollo cognitivo. Los resultados demuestran la funcion estructurante de la interaccion social: el grupo mejora las respuestas del individuo, sobre todo en los ninos mas pequenos, y ademas favorece la interiorizacion del progreso y el desarrollo cognitivo. Estos progresos aparecen en situaciones denominadas de conflicto socio-cognitivo, que provocan en el individuo una regulacion cognitiva. Las diferencias de ejecucion entre los ninos de bajo nivel socioeconomico despues de la interaccion y los ninos de alto nivel antes de la fase de aprendizaje fueron i...