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The general processor implied in cognitive styles versus contextualized cognition.

Cole and his coworkers criticized the work on cognitive styles that essentially sought to link cognitive behavior to some hypothesized underlying processor (Cole, 1992, 1996). To substitute grand cognitive theories they suggested that cognitive performance should be understood through an examination of contextual features of the culture and specific cognitive operations. The authors received inspiration from the well-established traditions of the sociohistorical and cultural traditions that emphasized everyday behavior (Vygotsky, 1978; Luria, 1974). In particular Luria and Vygotsky noted that cognitive expertise comes from the salience of cognition to the individual and from repetition. Consequently cultural differences in cognition derive from cultural differences in situations to which cognitive processes are applied and not from differences in cognitive processors. In other words the presence of some central processor in the form of an organizing cognitive style is rejected by Cole.

The work on cognitive style represents a search for universal laws of the mind that control cognitive development. By contrast the context-specific approach tries to understand how cognitive processes that are initially context specific take on a generalizing role in people’s lives over time. Cognition from the context-specific perspective occurs within domains of activity. As the consequence of interactions within specific domains cognitive expertise is gradually developed. Research on quantitative skills and complex cognition support the idea that thought processes are determined by the situational context and since cognition is domain specific it is not possible to generalize achievement in one domain to other contexts. More specifically, Cole’s work challenged the literacy concepts of Luria that education is the signal event in human history and illiterates cannot carry out abstract cognitive operations Research results supported the idea that literacy made some limited differences in skills connected to specific contexts. The researchers concluded that there was no evidence that literacy transformed cognition in any major way (Scribner & Cole, 1981). Of course Cole did not address or discuss the cultural consequences of literacy or the type of societies that evolve with or without literacy. The research addressed simply generalizing affects of literacy that was rejected by Cole and his co-workers.


Date: 2015-01-11; view: 897


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