Human development is incorporation of culture.

Studies like the “Wild boy of Averyon” (Itard, 1962) call into question whether human nature exist in isolation from culture. In this early historical study Itard investigated the lack of development in a boy found in the forest of the district of Averyon in France, a boy thought to have survived in the wild without human contact. The boy was devoid of human qualities including the use of speech or recognizable emotional responses. These and similar studies of children brought up in the wild suggest that there are no discernible human qualities developed apart from the interaction of the child with others. Vygotsky had that right when he argued that the origin of human cognition is social interaction (Vygotsky, 1978; see also discussion by another Soviet psychologist Luria, 1976). All cultural development occurs as a result of interaction at the social level, and later represented intra-psychologically. Biological foundations are important as we shall see, however culture is what gives us human features and variations in behavior.

Human development is a function of many influences. Culture mediates between the child and the biological and environmental imperatives. Cole (1996) for example maintained that biology does not interact directly with the ecological context but via the social environment. There is a basic distinction between the ecological context and the environment. More precisely, it is the complex interactions of biology, phylogenetic contributions, and cultural-historical factors that determine individual development. Biological influences are not directly responsible for behavior, as the impact on the child occurs through the filter of cultural values. Culture frames the social interactions that are eventually responsible for the internalization of cultural values.

Cultural values also play important roles in lifespan development (Baltes, 1997). Here biology and culture also interact dynamically. Evolutionary selection benefits derived from biology decrease in effectiveness with increasing age as the genome of older people produce more dysfunctional genes. The benefits of biological selection for fitness really have no role to play in later life, since evolutionary pressures for selection have passed with the end of the childbearing age at around 30 years. Biological decline is associated with greater demand on culture for a variety of support resources that provide culturally based functioning in the later stage of the lifespan. Lifespan development through all the stages of life is dependent on the continual interaction of genetic heritage with what culture can offer in support. Culture can help offset the lower functioning produced by aging through for example improving skills in reading or writing that allows the individual to continue to participate and live actively at a time in life not possible in the dawn of humankind.

4.10 Stage theories of human development: Culturally unique or universal.

Several prominent theorists in developmental psychology have proposed stages of development thought universal for all humans. There is evidence to support this assertion as we now have theories describing stages of cognitive, moral and psychosocial development. Nevertheless the universality is far from established as cultural ideology and the ecological context may prove more influential.

4.10.1 The evolution of cognition.

Developmental theory has been enriched by several stage theories of human cognitive development. If these theories are validated in all societies investigated it would lend support to the presence of universal cognitive structures, and by inference point to the biological basis for development. Piaget (1963) was the most influential researcher in the field of cognitive development. In-depth studies of children, some his own grandchildren, led him to formulate a theory of cognitive development in four stages. Stage one is called sensorimotor where the infant learn from direct sensory engagement with the environment. This stage last from infancy to about two years. The child understands his world through sensory perceptions and motor behaviors that occur in the process of interacting with the demands of the environment. Other cognitive achievements include learning to imitate others and learning by observation. Also the child begins language acquisition at this stage an achievement significant for later communication.

Stage two from about 2 to 7 years of age is called the preoperational stage where egocentrism is supreme as children don’t understand the perspectives of others. However, this stage is also fundamental to language acquisition as the child expands vocabulary and understanding. Children’s thinking is dominated by conservation defined as the ability to understand that changes in appearance do not change an objects volume or weight. Centration is another characteristic of cognition in stage 2 that allows the child to focus on solitary objects or problems. The child also masters irreversibility which is the ability to reverse the process of problem solving. Egocentrism that is manifested as this stage show that children cannot yet see problems from the perspectives of others. Finally, animism is the child’s fantasy that all objects have life. A doll is living and may take on aspects of personality as children at this stage do not operate by logic.

Stage three is the concrete operations stage and last from about 7 to 11 years of age. At this stage cognition actually increases in complexity as children are able to view problems from a variety of perspectives. Taking the perspectives of others is considered a significant cognitive achievement. Children at this stage begin the development of more abstract thinking since they can assess more than one aspect of a problem or issue.

Finally, children learn to think abstractly in the fourth stage called formal operations. That stage last from about 11 years of age until the end of life. The individual operating at this stage can think logically about abstractions like notions of democracy and justice. As life progresses thinking become more systematic in problem solution. Formal operations is a cognitive process that allows for stage movement called assimilation where the individual fits new concepts into what is already understood, and accommodation where the individual changes his understanding by integrating concepts that don’t fit the preexisting conceptual structure.

Piaget in fact believed that these stages of cognitive development were universal and each followed the preceding sequentially. Dasen (1984, 1994) found evidence for the universality of the stage sequence across cultures. However, methodological problems make valid comparisons difficult (Gardiner, Mutter, & Koskitzki, 1998). Although Piaget valued the final stage of formal operations there is little evidence that it is a form of universal cognition as people can indeed have reproductive success in Western cultures and other societies without abstract thinking.

However, some support is present in the literature. The invariance of the stages was found in a study on school age children in several countries that showed that these children learned problem solving in the order predicted by Piaget (Shayer, Demetriou, & Perez, 1988). However, the ages that children achieved these stages varied by culture (Dasen, 1984). Some research indicated that Piaget’s cognitive stages are not invariant as the children do not achieve the skills in the same order (Dasen, 1975). Finally, abstract thinking found in formal operations may be a cognitive development especially favored in societies that have benefitted from scientific development. Islamic cultures focus more on the rigid cultural transmission of faith that is less adaptable to abstract thinking required in a world of transition. Cole argued that formal operations required a Western education demonstrating the dependence of the Piagetian model of cognition on cultural values (Cole, 2006).

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 770