While the productive role of social interaction between peers in promoting cognitive development has been clearly established, the communicative processes through which this is achieved have not been clearly identified. This paper reports a study in which 184 children aged between 6.5 to 7.5 years were presented with a Piagetian task of conservation of liquid. Both male and female non-conservers worked with a conserving partner in either same or mixed-sex dyads, thus creating four different pair types. The pairs were asked to discuss their conflicting answers and agree upon a joint response. Cognitive progress was assessed by pre-to post-test gains. The results indicated that the type of conversation established during the interaction was strongly related to the outcome. The results also indicate that the gender composition of the pairs influenced the type of conversation which occurred and the outcome measures. These results are discussed in relation to the general model of sociocognitive conflict, and highlight the role of representations and expectations of gender in the way in which the conflict is expressed and resolved in conditions of aligned or conflicting knowledge and gender asymmetries.
This paper introduces the idea of symbolic resources as the use of cultural elements to mediate the representational work occasioned by ruptures or discontinuities in the smooth experience of ordinary life, moments when the 'taken-for-granted' meanings cease to be taken for granted. In particular we are concerned with the use of symbolic resources in moments of developmental transitions, that is, the mobilization of symbolic elements ranging from shared bodies of knowledge or argumentative strategies to movies, magazines or art pieces. The paper begins with a brief theoretical sketch of these ideas, and then presents three case studies, each of which involves the use of a different type of symbolic resource within a particular age group. In the first, children are observed in interaction with a peer about a conservation problem. In the second, adolescents are observed negotiating the meaning of their art productions with their peers, teachers and parents. The third example looks at Western tourists searching for spirituality, adventure and freedom in Ladakh as an alternative to the materialism of modernity. In each case the analysis of the symbolic resources employed indicates the significance of the gaze of the other in the construction of meanings, and of the various constraints operating within specific situations. The analysis also reveals different modes of use of symbolic resources, linked to changing forms of reflectivity.
SUMMARY
This paper describes the further development of a new rating scale for use by teachers, the Prosocial Behaviour Questionnaire (PBQ). The PBB is designed For use in the investigation of positive aspects of children's behaviour in primary school (ages 5–11 years). Tests of internal and external reliability and of validity are reported. It is concluded that the PBQ is a useful research instrument, However, teachers need training in its use and should be aware of the possible “halo” effects on their ratings of the child's sex. reading ability, aggressiveness and deviant behaviour
Thirty-nine educated middle-class residents of Patna, India, were interviewed about a vignette describing the behaviour of a seemingly mad man or woman. The interview explored their representations of traditional healing methods and of modern psychiatric notions. Besides explanations for mental illness and madness, the interviews also covered the reaction of families and neighbours to such phenomena. Respondents thought of different causes depending on the context, ranging from frustrated desires, shock and heredity to spirit possession.The majority's spontaneous preference for modern psychiatric treatment often co-exists with a faith in traditional healing. This faith is strengthened by their family's traditional preference. The results are discussed as an example of a process of modernization of common sense in which popularized scientific notions become anchored in the traditional setting of social structure and family life. The newly acquired knowledge forms a loosely organized social representation confronting a strongly objectified cultural representation of traditional thinking.
This paper discusses the distinct meanings of internalization and interiorization as ways of rendering intelligible the social constitution of the psychological in a line of research that started with Piaget and extended into a post-Piagetian reformulation of intelligence in successive generations of studies of the relations between social interaction and cognitive development. While the same clarity cannot be found in Vygotsky’s work, the emphasis on the cultural embeddedness of cognitive activity in contemporary cultural psychology has also been a significant influence on the evolution of this work. This paper proposes a further integration of these perspectives by developing the idea of operativity-in-context as a means of retaining the advantages of Piaget’s structural analysis of cognition whilst recognizing the situational and cultural constraints on cognitive functioning.
This study examines the relationship between alternative sources of authority which might in¯uence a child's moral reasoning. It returns to Piaget's (1932) work to explore features of a child's social relations which may act either to promote or constrain the communication and acceptance of moral knowledge. Children were asked to judge which of two boys was naughtier in one of Piaget's moral`stories'. Those who had independently given dierent responses were placed in a pair and asked to agree a response together. An authority of status was introduced into some pairs by varying the gender composition of the dyad and contrasted with epistemic authority derived from the arguments more closely associated with moral autonomy. In the absence of an authority of status (in same-sex pairs) in¯uence through epistemic authority occurred with relative ease. When status and epistemic authority con¯icted subjects took far longer to accept the legitimacy of the epistemic authority.
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