Mary Gauvain

Thinking in Niches: Sociocultural Influences on Cognitive Development

The development of thinking is discussed from a sociocultural perspective, with particular attention to how Super and Harkness’ [1986] concept of ‘developmental niche’ may be used as a framework for o

Cultural Tools, Social Interaction and the Development of Thinking

This paper discusses the role of cultural artifacts or tools in cognitive development. It examines how social interaction with more experienced partners helps children learn how to use tools that support thinking. Of particular interest is how children come to understand and use external representations, such as plans, to guide action. The discussion is illustrated by a study in which 4- to 5- and 6- to 7-year-old children and their mothers were observed as they constructed a toy by following a step-by-step action plan. The view is expressed that in order to understand cognitive development it is important to examine thinking and its development in relation to the cultural tools that support much of the intelligent action in which humans engage.

Instruction by mothers and fathers during problem solving with their young children.

Mothers and fathers of 163 5-year-olds were observed interacting with their children in dyads on 2 separate occasions on a familiar and unfamiliar cognitive activity. Within- and between-family comparisons were conducted. Few differences in the instruction provided by mothers and fathers appeared, and those that did were on the unfamiliar task. On this task, instruction by mothers, within and across families, was more responsive to childrens changing skill than was instruction by fathers. Directive and disapproving comments by parents were related to poorer posttest performance by the child. High level of instruction by both parents was related to better posttest performance than was low level of instruction by parents. Contributions of parents to their childrens cognitive development are discussed.

Contributions of societal modernity to cognitive development: a comparison of four cultures.

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in childrens play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in cognitive scores across generations, and the ways in which societal modernization may contribute to cognitive development.

Family interaction, parenting style, and the development of planning : A longitudinal analysis using archival data

Data from 68 families that participated at 3 times in the Family Socialization and Developmental Competence Project (D. Baumrind, 1973) were used to study childrens participation in planning-related discussions during family interactions in relation to parenting style. Results indicate that such discussions occur from early in the childs life and that with age children initiate more of them. Childrens initiations at adolescence were predicted by the frequency of initiations when the child was 9 years old and by parenting style. Children with authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parents initiated more planning discussions in adolescence than children with directive parents. The benefits and limitations of analyzing archival family data in such research are discussed.

Social Influences on the Development of Planning in Advance and during Action.

This paper reports on a study of the development of childrens planning skills with particular attention to the development of planning in advance of action as contrasted with planning during the course of action as adults and children plan together. The nature and extent of maternal assistance and child involvement during dyadic planning involving 40 mothers and their 4 or 8-year-old children, and the influence of the process of joint planning on the childs later individual planning were examined using a route planning task. In addition to planning in advance and planning-in-action, adult and child concern with the rules and organisational aspects of the task versus more strategic concerns were compared in the two ages to examine how microgenetic processes are responsive to ontogenetic development. Older children displayed more planfulness than younger children during interaction with an adult and later on their own, with the important difference being that the older children planned more during the course of action, a strategy that was related to the development of more effective plans during joint planning and to greater planfulness when children planned on their own. Mothers planning with older children were more concerned with strategy and mothers planning with younger children were more concerned with task procedures and rules, indicating that adults structure their guidance in relation to cognitive developmental needs.

Joint attention by mothers and children while using plans

This paper reports on the role of joint attentional processes in the development of children’s skill at using pictorial plans to construct objects. Efforts to establish joint attentional focus between mother and child were identified, and the nature and extent of maternal assistance and child involvement during planning were examined. Sixteen 4 to 5-year-old and sixteen 6 to 7-year-old children and their mothers participated in three problem-solving sessions (i.e., child-only pre-test and post-test, and mother-child interaction) that involved constructing a toy from multiple pieces using a pictorial, step-by-step plan. Older children were more planful than younger children during all the planning sessions. Mothers planning with younger children assumed greater responsibility for establishing joint attentional episodes than mothers planning with older children. Results indicate that mothers tailor their guidance on joint planning tasks in relation to developmental needs, and that an important aspect of these efforts is the establishment and maintenance of joint attention.

Children’s Questions in Cross-Cultural Perspective A Four-Culture Study

This study investigated language data collected in 1978-1979 from ninety-six 3- to 5-year-old children in four different non-Western cultures: Garifuna in Belize, Logoli in Kenya, Newars in Nepal, and Samoans in America Samoa. There were 24 children per culture; half of the children were 3 years of age, and half were 5 years of age. The study examined the use of information-seeking questions in everyday life situations and the proportion of explanation-seeking questions (why-questions) in these communities relative to those reported among Western samples. Results revealed that the number of information-seeking questions does not differ from those of Western samples, but the proportion of explanation-seeking questions was much lower than that reported for Western children. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Parental guidance as children learn to use cultural tools: The case of pictorial plans

Abstract This study examines how social interaction with more experienced partners may help children learn about cultural tools that aid thinking. Thirty-two children between the ages of 4 and 7 years and their mothers were observed as they constructed a toy made up of multiple pieces using a pictorial, step-by-step plan of construction. Before and after the interaction, children participated in a similar activity on their own. Results indicate that with increasing age, children referred to the plan more often, and these references were both anticipatory and confirmatory. Working with mother was related to greater anticipatory use of plans during the posttest for younger but not older children. Results are discussed in relation to how the social context may assist children as they learn about the meaning and use of cultural tools for representing knowledge that supports cognitive activity.

Culture, development, and theory of mind: comment on Lillard (1998)

In response to A. Lillards (1998) suggestion that research on theory of mind does not adequately examine the cultural context of this thinking, the author proposes an extension of this view that emphasizes the development of theory of mind in sociocultural context. Questions about the study of theory of mind both across and within cultural communities are also raised.