Contributions of Societal Modernity to Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Four Cultures

Abstract

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in children's play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in cognitive scores across generations, and the ways in which societal modernization may contribute to cognitive development.

Approaches to Reduction in Treatments of Culture-Cognition Relations: Affordances and Limitations

“…To address the question, they report an ambitious project that contrasts the cognitive development of people from two small-scale traditional societies (in Kenya and Nepal) with those from two industrial societies (in American Samoa and Belize) [Gauvain & Munroe, 2009]. The findings produced are consistent with other studies that have investigated similar questions in less targeted ways: individuals from more industrialized communities perform more successfully on IQ-like measures than individuals from small-scale traditional groups.…”

Cultural Change, Human Activity, and Cognitive Development

“…Another test involved exploration of novelty. Both of our theoretical frameworks are similar in terms of cognitive development and would make the same prediction: that Cultural Change, Human Activity, and Cognitive Development 231 Human Development 2012;55:229-232 more industrial or Gesellschaft elements on the societal and individual level would improve performance, and these predictions were confirmed by the data reported by Gauvain and Munroe [2009]. It is therefore not surprising that we have similar views of the causes of the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in IQ performance since the 1800s, in terms of the growth of education, technology, and urbanization [Flynn, 1987;Greenfield, 1998].…”

“…I believe that this theory could be a parsimonious description and analysis of what Gauvain and Munroe [2009] have demonstrated in their research and in the theoretical framework presented in their article. For example, one of the tests in the research by Gauvain and Munroe was an embedded figures test, requiring abstraction in the sense that a figure must be mentally separated from its background.…”

Cultural Change, Human Activity, and Cognitive Development

“…As noted, in a recent article, we analyzed and interpreted cultural differences in cognitive performance among young children [Gauvain & Munroe, 2009]. In the present article, we discuss what we believe to be some of the implications of our findings and, by extension, the possible implications for understanding the relation between ontogenesis and sociogenesis.…”