Culture and Cognitive Development in Phylogenetic, Historical, and Ontogenetic Perspective

Cole, Michael

doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0215

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…This genotype is already the product of the selection process faced by many generations and reflects the interactions with past environmental conditions. This approach postulates a constant interaction of the genetic make-up with the environmental conditions that may result in quite a range of outcomes (e.g., Cole, 2006;Geary, 2005;Laland & Janik, 2006;West-Eberhard, 2003;Williams, 1966;Wilson, 1975). So, each individual's abilities result from an interaction between history and experience.…”

Section: Developmentalist Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes us human (Homo sapiens)? The challenge of cognitive cross-species comparison.

Boesch

2007

Journal of Comparative Psychology

205

193

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Two major theoretical approaches have dominated the quest for uniquely human cognitive abilities: a developmentalist approach stressing the importance of environmental and social conditions, and a predominant approach in experimental and comparative psychology, the deterministic approach suggesting the effect of environmental and social conditions to be minimal. As a consequence, most claims of human cognitive uniqueness are based on comparisons of White middle class Westerner humans (Homo sapiens) with captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). However, humans are much more than only White middle class Westerners, and chimpanzees are much more than only captives. A review of some data available on different populations of humans and chimpanzees reveals that only the predictions of the developmentalist approach are supported. In addition, systematic biases are too often introduced in experiment protocols when comparing humans with apes that further cast doubts on cross-species comparisons. The author argues that only with consideration of within-species population differences in the cognitive domains and the use of well-matched cross-species experimental procedures will an objective understanding of the different cognitive abilities between species emerge. This will require a shift in the theoretical approach adopted by many in experimental and comparative psychology.

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Section: Developmentalist Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes us human (Homo sapiens)? The challenge of cognitive cross-species comparison.

Boesch

2007

Journal of Comparative Psychology

205

193

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“…In choosing this form of analysis we are following a general premise of culturalhistorical theories -that to understand behavior one has to study the history of behavior along four timescales -phylogenetic, cultural/historical, ontogenetic, and microgenetic (Vygotsky, 1997;Wertsch, 1998). The phylogenetic scale is beyond the purview of this essay (Cole, 2008), but the historical scale is a central concern. History matters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Living Hand of the Past: The Role of Technology in Development

Pea

Cole

2019

Human Development

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“Technology” is lately equated with hardware and software, but for the Ancient Greeks, a technology combined two linked features: the doing of an art/craft (techne) and theorizing about the doing (technologia). We thus consider a “technology” as a “sociotechnical system” – an entanglement of humans with one another, the tools, arts, crafts, practices and institutionalized forms of life of their time. Writing systems and new media are each relevant to understanding the roles of technologies in development, considered at an ontogenetic or historical level. We consider two ostensibly conflicting claims by Piaget that lead to the question of how the postnatal environment fundamentally differs from the intrauterine environment and how this difference changes the process of development. Vygotsky’s focus on the cultural/historical mediation of social relations helps us understand the dynamic interplay of technology and development as part of a single process of human development – and to resolve Piaget’s multifaceted views. To illustrate the insights offered by our cultural-historical approach, we compare the ancient period coupled with the development of literacy/numeracy and current historical circumstances in which new digital technologies are the focus. These two cases illuminate ways current changes are replaying in new circumstances a developmental process as old as Homo sapiens.

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“…For instance, there is considerable cultural variance in the ways in which mental states, emotions, and actions are verbalized and even conceived (e.g., linguistic groups can differ markedly in the number of emotion words available; Cole, 2006). How is performance on ability tests that require interpretation of others' actions, mental states, emotions, and intentions mediated not only by the children's access to such vocabulary in their native language but also by their cultural proclivities in expressions of mental/emotional states?…”

Section: Social Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology Advances: Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Culture as Group Traits

Artiles

Thorius

Bal

et al. 2011

Learning Disability Quarterly

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The construct of culture has been largely invisible In the research and long-standing debates in the learning disabilities (LD) field, such as those pertaining to the definition of LD and how research knowledge is used in local settings. When used, the idea of culture tends to be defined as unrelated to LD and studied as restricted to individual/group traits. We challenge the culture-LD dichotomy and the limited conception of culture used in this knov^ledge base. For this purpose, v^e make the case for a cultural model of learning that can inform scholarship about the nature of LD, and we propose a culturebased model for the study of research knov^^ledge use in professional practices. Moreover, we offer a third perspective on culture to study the strategies that the LD research community might be using to demarcate and maintain a cultureless paradigm of LD. Our discussion offers potentially rich opportunities for a culturally minded and reflexive stance in the LD field that is urgently needed in our increasingly diverse society.

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Culture and Cognitive Development in Phylogenetic, Historical, and Ontogenetic Perspective

Cited by 26 publications

References 109 publications

What makes us human (Homo sapiens)? The challenge of cognitive cross-species comparison.

What makes us human (Homo sapiens)? The challenge of cognitive cross-species comparison.

The Living Hand of the Past: The Role of Technology in Development

Beyond Culture as Group Traits

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