Social Interaction and Cognitive Development in Children

Fülszöveg

Psychologists of the Genevan school have attempted to explain the regularity which characterizes individual cognitive development. Using the famous tests of conservation, fór example, they have shown how children centre their attention on different aspects of situations at different stages of their development, yet all emerge with the same complex mentái operations. This orderly acquisition of progressively more complex operations is supposed to ensure that each child attains the competences required fór success at school. Sociologists point out a different regularity - that many children, especially those from certain underprivileged environments, do nőt pass through the school system without a great deal of trouble. All kinds of speculations have attempted to link these two sorts of regularities. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont's work has placed her at the centre of the controversy. The title of her book clearly indicates that she no longer considers cognitive coordinations to be... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Psychologists of the Genevan school have attempted to explain the regularity which characterizes individual cognitive development. Using the famous tests of conservation, fór example, they have shown how children centre their attention on different aspects of situations at different stages of their development, yet all emerge with the same complex mentái operations. This orderly acquisition of progressively more complex operations is supposed to ensure that each child attains the competences required fór success at school. Sociologists point out a different regularity - that many children, especially those from certain underprivileged environments, do nőt pass through the school system without a great deal of trouble. All kinds of speculations have attempted to link these two sorts of regularities. Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont's work has placed her at the centre of the controversy. The title of her book clearly indicates that she no longer considers cognitive coordinations to be exclusively individual, but studies them in the context of social interaction. The thesis of this book is that it is cognitive coordinations between individuals which are the foundation of individual cognitive coordination. To illustrate the thesis, research is used which shows how, at certain levels of cognitive development, collective performances are superior to individual ones. The author shows convincingly that structuring in social interactions plays a part in subsequent individual cognitive structuring and how the social conflict of viewpoints plays an important role in the elaboration of new cognitive coordinations. This is an important contribution to the debate on the link between cognitive processes and social processes, because it introduces a psycho-sociological conception of intelligence. The results raise the question of how well founded are purely individuálist conceptions of intelligence. It will appeal not only to students of social, developmental, experimentál and educational psychology, but to sociologists, socio-linguists and epistemologists interested in the impact of social factors on individual development. Vissza