JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT, 12(2):121–133 Copyright # 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1524-8372 print=1532-7647 online DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2011.563481 TOOLS OF THE TRADE Applying the Cultural Approach to Cognitive Development Mary Gauvain, Heidi Beebe, and Shuheng Zhao University of California at Riverside Cognitive development is a cultural process. More experienced cultural mem- bers and the practices, institutions, and artifacts of the culture provide support and guidance for children as they develop knowledge and thinking skills. In this article, the authors describe the value that is added to our understanding of cognitive development when cultural contributions are taken into account. They discuss theoretical and practical issues of cultural research with the aim of encouraging researchers to consider culture more centrally in their own work. Developmental psychologists have long striven to discover universal features of intellectual growth. Despite many decades of research, a clear understanding of such properties has yet to emerge. A main obstacle is the conventional method of research. Although it is known that the repre- sentativeness of a sample can impede the interpretation and generalization of results, research on cognitive development has nonetheless been overre- presented by one group—middle-class children of European American ancestry. This sampling approach not only threatens external validity, but it introduces a standard of development, based on untested assumptions of universality, to gauge the development of children who grow up in cir- cumstances that depart substantially from the original tested group. This practice also has theoretical ramifications. In most contemporary theories, Correspondence should be sent to Mary Gauvain, Department of Psychology, University of California at Riverside, 900 University Ave., Psychology Building 2133, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. E-mail: [email protected] 121 122 GAUVAIN, BEEBE, AND ZHAO the child and the social and environmental context co-construct cognitive development (Miller, 2011). This suggests that for theory to advance, it is imperative that researchers include diverse samples and attend to the vari- ous contexts that support cognitive growth. In this article, we discuss a remedy in the form of a cultural approach. Natural contextual variation in human development offers the opportunity to investigate systematic relations between social and environmental con- ditions and cognitive development. To elaborate on this view, we describe insights from research on cognitive development in cultural context, which has increased appreciation of human cognition in its various forms. It has also led researchers to focus less on universals and more on how cognitive competencies are expressed in particular cultural contexts (Munroe & Gauvain, 2010). WHAT IS A CULTURAL APPROACH TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT? This approach is concerned with how experience in culture affects thinking and its development. It is based on sociocultural theory that contends that culture is the species-specific medium of psychological development (Cole, 1996). Through its institutions, practices, artifacts, and symbols, culture is inextricably entwined with human phylogenesis or evolution (Cole & Hatano, 2007). In ontogenesis or development throughout the life course, culture is evident in the patterns of behavior and understanding that are passed across generations through social and experiential means. The imparting and adoption of cultural behaviors and understandings occur in the process of socialization (Gauvain & Parke, 2010). Cultural Means That Support and Direct Cognitive Development Children live in a wide range of cultural contexts—a diversity that attests to the adaptability and creativity of the human species (Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002). Culture contributes to cognitive development by providing children with structured, meaningful, and motivating opportunities to acquire, prac- tice, refine, and extend their understanding and skills (Rogoff, 2003). There are three interrelated ways that culture contributes to cognitive development: social processes that support and guide learning, participation in everyday activities, and symbolic and material artifacts that support and extend thinking. These contributions exist across cultures (and therefore are universal processes), but their frequency and manner vary substantially. The outcome is a mature individual in whom the culturally specific nature of CULTURAL APPROACH TO COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 123 experience is an integral part of how the person thinks and acts. In the fol- lowing sections, we describe these contributions. Keep in mind that the cul- tural nature of cognitive development can be studied comparatively (across cultures) as well as within a cultural setting. Culture is the medium through which cognitive development occurs, and therefore, culture is present in all aspects of human cognition (Cole, 1996). Social processes that support and guide learning. During social inter- action, adults and more experienced peers make cultural ways of thinking and acting available to children. Many social-psychological processes are involved, including attention regulation, observation, imitation, demon- stration, instruction, collaboration in the zone of proximal development, scaffolding, and guided participation (Bandura, 1986; Rogoff, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978; Wood & Middleton, 1975). These processes include inex- perienced cultural members as they interact with or observe the behaviors of more experienced cultural members (e.g., in guided participation adults support children’s learning during an activity [e.g., making a cake] by directing children’s attention and involvement [e.g., mother measures the ingredients and encourages the child to pour them into the mixing bowl]). During social learning experiences, much of the information transmitted to children is cultural; that is, it concerns the knowledge, behaviors, and ways of solving problems that are valued in the com- munity (Goodnow, 1990). This research has been influenced by the ideas of Vygotsky (1987), who argued that social interaction transforms the child’s innate cognitive abilities, such as involuntary memory, into complex, higher-order cogni- tive functions, such as intentional memory, that are tailored to the needs and interests of the culture. Consider attention. Human babies have innate perceptual biases that make them more watchful of human beings relative to other (especially inanimate) stimuli. Other people build on these biases and support the development of attention and learning through the processes of intersubjectivity (Trevarthen, 1980), joint atten- tion (Bakeman & Adamson, 1984), and social referencing (Campos & Stenberg, 1981). Sociocultural experiences, often defined by caregiving routines and kin relations, teach children what to attend to as well as how to deploy atten- tion. Chavajay and Rogoff (1999) observed that 14- to 20-month-olds living in a Mayan community in Guatemala attended to two events simul- taneously, whereas same-age children in the United States alternated their attention between events. Close examination revealed that mothers in these communities modeled and encouraged different uses of attention in children. 124 GAUVAIN, BEEBE, AND ZHAO Participation in everyday activities. Many forms of participation sup- port and guide cognitive development and these, too, reflect culture. From early in life, children participate in routines, rituals, and institutions that provide examples of mature cultural behaviors to observe and practice (Goodnow, Miller, & Kessel, 1995). Because these experiences are repeated, they offer multiple opportunities for learning. Children usually participate in these activities alongside more experienced cultural members, who pro- vide guidance for learning. It is significant that this participation occurs dur- ing goal-directed activities. As discussed in activity theory (Wertsch, 1981), the means and goals of everyday activities are, in large measure, defined and organized by culture. Research illustrates the connection between cultural participation, every- day practices, and the development of cognitive skills. Parental expectations about development reflect cultural values and influence how parents interact with children and interpret their behaviors (Sigel, McGillicuddy-DeLisi, & Goodnow, 1992). We found that parental support for the development of planning reflects parental expectations regarding when children develop these skills (Gauvain & Perez, 2005). Children whose parents had older age-related expectations, which were more common among Latino than European American parents, had less opportunity than their peers to practice planning outside of school. Symbolic and material artifacts that support and extend cognitive devel- opment. Everyday activities often incorporate cultural artifacts or tools that support and extend thinking, including symbol systems such as lan- guage, numeracy, and literacy, as well as material artifacts such as tech- nology (Olson & Cole, 2006). Children learn to use cultural tools to mediate thinking, which, in turn, helps them solve problems and engage with the world in ways consistent with their culture. Because these tools are transmitted across generations, they preserve the practices and values of the culture in tangible form. One way to understand the connections between cultural artifacts and human thinking is to examine how variation in artifacts transforms