Western and East Asian sociocultural learning models: Evidence from cross‐cultural and immigrant research

Abstract

We review Li's research and theory of cultural learning models in light of Chirkov's (2019) theory of sociocultural models that draw on previous theories and research across social sciences. We recast Li's models as sociocultural learning models (SCLMs) by incorporating Chirkov's three emphases: (a) the inseparability between the social and the cultural, (b) the public versus individuals' internalization of SCLMs and their mutual enforcement, and (c) collective intentionality and intersubjectivity as embedded in the enactment of SCLMs. As an initial attempt to document how public SCLMs become internalized, we further examine the role of joint intentionality and intersubjectivity at the person-to-person level. We use discourse analysis to look at two mother-child conversations about learning from our current European American and Chinese immigrant research data. We show evidence that both joint intentionality and intersubjectivity are prevalently and deeply present in the process of parental socialization (transmitting SCLMs to their young). We conclude that intentionality and intersubjectivity are indispensable to enable SCLMs to exist and to continue by enabling the public to become internalized. The internalization is then enacted and repeated by members across the culture, who in turn function to uphold and renew SCLMs.

The sociocultural movement in psychology, the role of theories in sociocultural inquiries, and the theory of sociocultural models

“…Li and Yamamoto’s article in this issue (Li & Yamamoto 2020 ) and the first author’s previous publications (Li, 2004, 2012) serve as illustrations of applications of the cultural model approach to the cross‐cultural analysis of the cultural learning models in China and the United States. This same logic has been applied to the understanding of mental pathology and related inquiries in clinical psychology (Chentsova‐Dutton & Ryder, 2020).…”

“…For nearly 20 years, Li has successfully used the cognitive anthropological version of the theory of cultural models in her research (Li, 2001, 2002, 2003). Subsequently, she has summarised her studies on cross‐cultural comparisons of these cultural learning models in her book (Li, 2012). Even though Li’s research has been based on solid theoretical and empirical foundations, she and her colleague understand that gaps exist in their theoretical conceptualisation and that these gaps must be addressed for them to successfully continue to explore further the psychosociocultural mechanisms of teaching and learning and the cross‐cultural differences in these processes.…”

The cultural in the social: A reflection on sociocultural models approaches

“…Chirkov’s insistence on the inseparability of the cultural and the social is noteworthy (also see Li & Yamamoto, this issue). I agree with this fundamental proposition that the cultural and the social are ontologically inseparable, but I would like to retain an analytical (or conceptual) distinction between the two.…”

“…Li and Yamamoto (this issue) provide an excellent illustration of how the seemingly universal process of internalisation‒externalisation is at once a mechanism for cultural diversity and its maintenance in the context of mother‒child interaction. After reviewing Li and Yamamoto’s empirical research on cultural differences in Western and East Asian learning processes, their reported a highly informative discourse analysis of European American and Chinese American mother‒child interactions, expertly illustrating how intentionality and intersubjectivity play out in the enactment, transmission, and reinforcement of SCMs of learning socially in situ.…”

“…As the internalisation‒externalisation cycle continues, however, Li and Yamamoto’s (this issue) analysis also shows that an individual shows some deviation and diversion from the canonical form of learning in the mother and child’s sociocultural milieu. This is perhaps expected, as their research was concerned with problems about learning.…”