Term 3 - Sociocultural Factors in Development

Sociocultural Factors

Sociocultural Factors:

• Sociocultural factors play a significant role in cognitive development

• Piaget argued that children learn through self-discovery in their environment

• As a result, a child's environment makes a difference

• For example, a family's socioeconomic status can affect development

• Conversely, Vygotsky's argued that social interaction, often in the form of play, allows children to develop cultural tools that promote development

• Children develop within their families through socialisation

• This applies to their cognitive and social development

• Parents and older siblings take a leading role

• Vygotksy (1978) emphasised the importance of interaction with a more knowledgeable other in cognitive development

• Children raised in environments where they are encouraged to read, play a musical instrument, or engage in sports have the intellectual and social stimulation that supports the development of cognitive skills

• On the other hand, poverty and a lack of access to education reduce the opportunity for cognitive growth

Peers and Play

Peers and Play:

• Play is sometimes seen as a "waste of time" in a preschool program

• It is often defined as when children are not "learning"

• However, developmental psychologists say this perception is wrong

• Psychologists believe that play is an important tool for helping young children develop motor skills, a sense of morality, and even a "theory of mind" - the ability to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives different from one's own

 

• The nature of play changes over time and reflects a child's development

• Piaget and Vygotsky studied play to understand a child's cognitive development

• According to Piaget, play develops in line with the stages of cognitive development

• In the sensorimotor stage, a child's play is dominated by practice play, which is based on imitation

• Through this, the child learns, but this does not always mean that the child understands

• For example, toddlers often ask, "Why?" to practice question-asking-not that they really want an answer

Symbolic Play

Symbolic Play:

• Symbolic play develops at around two years old and marks the beginning of representational thought through substitute objects or actions. These are "pretending" behaviours

• Symbolic play emerges with the development of language, and the child may pretend to cook, drive, or talk on the phone

• Symbolic play is when the child begins to use imagination to construct their own play world

• At first, play is engaged in alone, but by 3-5 years, objects are no longer the focus of attention here, but social roles are

• As children become more socially skilled, they engage in joint problem-solving

• Empirical studies have demonstrated that children working together can solve problems that neither can solve alone

• Finally, around age 7, the child becomes primarily interested in games with rules

• This final stage is characterized by competition between individuals, regulated by cultural norms or a temporary mutually agreed-upon set of rules

• The development of play is additive and not a replacement

• Children often engage in more than one type of play during a single play episode

Convergent Problem & Divergent Problem

Convergent Problem: A convergent problem has a single correct solution or answer

Divergent Problem: A convergent problem has many potential solutions