D2L_Lecture5 - CHAPTER 5 CULTURE LANGUAGE AND COGNITION...

CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND
CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND
COGNITION
COGNITION

Focus of Chapter 5
•
Influence of culture, cognition, and language on
development
•
Examine 2 opposing theories by looking at cross-
cultural research data
•
Examine the link between cognitive & linguistic
behaviors across cultures
•
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory and
Vygotsky’s ZPD

Culture, Language , Cognition
•
Cognition
–
the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension,
including thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving.
–
These are higher-level functions of the brain
•
Language
–
a system of communicating with other people using sounds, symbols and
words in expressing a meaning, idea or thought.
–
primarily through oral and written communications as well as using
expressions through body language.

Culture- Language- Cognition
•
Does cognition influence language?
•
Does language influence thinking?
•
In what language does a bilingual/bicultural
think in?
–
Native language or second language?
•
Do people who speak different languages think
about and experience the world differently?

Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

Culture- Language- Cognition
•
Do people who speak different languages think
about and experience the world differently?
–
Argument: If people’s thinking is influence by their
language, then we could explain differences in
cognition by studying differences in language spoken
in different cultures

Culture- Language- Cognition
•
Research has not been able to support the hypothesis
–
i.e., Thinking is not determined by language.
–
Rather, how we talk about “things” determines how we
perceive the topics
•
Vygotsky’s perceived culture-language-cognition are
interrelated and dynamic
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i.e., social interactions shape language development and
thinking abilities
–
“ talking to learn ”—as children interact with others, they
internalize language, and organize their thinking

Culture- Language- Cognition
•
Acculturation
–
The modification of the culture of a group or
individual as a result of contact with a different
culture.
•
Enculturation
–
the adoption of the behavior patterns of the
surrounding culture; "the socialization of children to
the norms of their culture"

Culture- Language- Cognition
•
As children learn language, their cognition also develop
through a process called enculturation
•
A method to help children enculturate is scaffolding or
guidance
•
This usually occurs during the Zone of Proximal
Development
•
Important initial guidance and support comes from
caretakers,
–
A behavior strongly influence by culture

•
Does cognition influence language?
•
Does language influence thinking?