Social Learning

Learning is a process that occurs through relationships and interaction with the external environment. The sociocultural theory addresses the effect of a child's social environment on their cognitive development. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky was one of the first researchers to develop sociocultural theory. In this thoery, Vygotsky cites two central ideas which are as follows; "(1) cognitive development occurs in social interaction, and (2) psychological functioning is mediated by cultural tools, including language (Alibali & Siegler 109). " A great deal of research has recently been shifted to focus on cultural differences and what effects these differences have on psychology. In general, most people adopt the beliefs and customs of the culture they are immersed in. One's culture can shape the way they learn about the wrold and their place within it. Community and culture also depict the way a child will spend the majority of their time and what activites they will be exposed to.
Learning is thus very subjective and dependent on the environment in which it ensues. To me this seems to counteract the theories of conceptual development learned in Chapter 8. In an earlier post I discussed biological concepts and my skepticism that they are innately determined. From the biological concepts theory, it is stated that preschoolers eventually come to understand the concept of inheritance without direct instruction on the concept. However, in some Native American cultures where folk lore plays a large part in their belief system, it is believed that humans have animal relatives and can often morph into animals. In such cultures, inheritance is often determined by the will of the gods and is not necessarily genetically based. Their concpet of biology is very different from the concept of biology that I was taught. Thus as seen in sociocultural theory, learning takes place largely through community and social interaction causing it to be a product of nurture over nature.