The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Sociocultural Perspective

Social psychology is an empirical science that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This field focuses on how individuals view and affect one another. Social psychology also produces the idea of construals which represent how a person perceives, comprehends or interprets the environment. Construals introduce the idea that people want to make themselves look good to others and they want to be seen as right. It is also said that the social setting in which people interact impacts behavior, which brings up the idea of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior is a function of the person and the environment.

Vygotsky proposed that children’s development is affected by their culture and social interaction. He also suggested that children are not born with knowledge but they gain it through their social interactions with peers and adults; he does not rule out the importance of biological processes but proposes an interdependent relationship between biological development alongside social activity and cultural interaction.

Across all aspects and various lenses of development it is evident that children from birth until adolescence require guidance. In contrast, some theorists such a Piaget suggest that children are vastly independent and do not require parental or adult assistance for majority of their development. However, theorists such as Vygotsky believe otherwise. As Vygotsky was discussed during lecture, his developmental theory surrounding the methods of which children learn was a main focus. Namely, the methods of which children learn with adult

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development was one of the first steps in understanding how children become who they are as adults. In early childhood, children begin to understand symbols and representations (Berk, 2014, p. 227). Their learning shifts from sensing the world as in the sensorimotor stage to trying to find commonalities like symbols. According to Berk (2014), Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory focused on “social context of cognitive development” (p. 234). Vygotsky incorporated social context and social interactions into childhood development; in other words, who, how, and what children interact with in their everyday social environment contributes to their mental and emotional development. When it comes to both of these cognitive theories, there are many similarities and differences between Piaget and Vygotsky.

However, in a classroom setting, the teacher is responsible for structuring interactions and developing instruction in small steps based on tasks the learner is already capable of performing independently. The teacher is also charged with providing support until the learner can move through all tasks independently. In order, for teachers, to guide learners through the tasks associated with learning a concept, they must understand Vygotsky’s perspective, that explain how cognitive tasks fit into the child’s cultural activities (Woolfolk, 2014).

There were three questions asked at the start of this paper. What is Social Psychology all about? Why is the study of it so important? Is there truly a purpose or benefit from the findings of the studies? Social Psychology is the study of attitude, behavior, and interactions of individuals within a group setting. You may have heard the saying "for every action, there is a reaction," Social Psychologists observe and interpret behaviors in effort to provide further explanation of cause and effect. It is thru the studies of Social Psychology we can learn how to get into the cause and begin to foresee patterns of reactions. A simple yet sophisticated theory.

From a social constructivist perspective, parents and carers are key in child development. Vygotsky theorized that cognitive development was achieved through social interaction. He stated that without the support of a ‘more knowledgeable other’ (MKO) children were unable to build upon their knowledge of a particular subject. The MKO may refer to a parent, teacher or peer. (Atherton

The approach is based on the idea that an individual’s activities occurs in a cultural context and can be best understood in their historical development (Kagitcibasi, 2012). Vygotsky developed this theory with the intent of coming up with a way to explain human behavior. The theory examined various subjects including the psychology of art, thought and language; and also focused on education of students with special needs. Vygotsky believed that caregivers, parents, peers, and culture at large play an important role in developing an individual’s higher order functions. There are various modern time interpretations of this theory with one focused on explaining human development. In this context, the sociocultural theory explains that learning is a social process and the society makes a significant contribution to individual development. The theory states that learning is based on interactions with other people and once this has happened, the information is then incorporated on a personal level (Hutchison,

In life people will come in contact with others, who are from a different background, culture, lifestyle or ethnicity as them, yet still every individual is equal, they’re all humans. As humans, people have the tendency to have their own unique perspectives on the world around them and everything it encounters. Psychologist Gordon Allport (1985), one of the founding fathers of personality psychology, defined social psychology as a discipline in which scientific methods are used in order “to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings” (Cherry).Social psychology involves

I recalled throughout my own learning experiences that my parents were the backbone of my development. They made me feel safe when I was afraid. Then I recalled what I learned about the Vygotsky theory on cultural involvement and how it helps both cognitive and motor development growth. When families are involved the students feel more comfortable, the children become more responsive. Families can learn to demonstrate skills learned in the classroom and implement what is taught at home. I learned with family's involvement, I am helping children reach their individual cognitive goals. Parents and teachers collaborating idea together can make a difference in helping a child reach their highest potential developmental

Child development is divided into four areas of development; social / emotional, physical (motor), cognitive, and language. Typically children develop in a sequence of stages in each area. Although development normally follows the same series of stages, there are individual differences in what age each stage occurs. Development in part depends on the experiences a child encounters. According to Wardle (2004), young children learn from their total experience in a program. For example, children not only learn during teacher directed activities, they also learn while playing in interest areas, on the playground, while riding the bus, or during meals. Vygotsky saw the child as part of an

Sociocultural perspective is mainly about how different people are from one another. This theory is used to determine what might trigger or influence someone's behavior or mental stage, such as their surroundings, gender, culture, or even ethnicity. A person's surroundings is a major part of their behavior or actions because this could help a psychologist understand why they think something is normal, or where they picked up some of the habits they may have. For example, someone from a more individual or smaller society will have a more independent of others as well as themselves. Society is also put into the socio-cultural perspective because children tend to lean towards what everyone else does so they could feel pressured to do things just to fit into a group.

A pioneer of the sociocultural approach was psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934). L. Vygotsky believed that children’s learning and development is strongly influenced by child’s culture and how children develop and learn can be different from culture to culture. He proposed that children, in order to learn, need to be supported by other people. For example, teachers and peers, who already gained particular knowledge.

Lev Vygotsky has had increasing influence on the practices of early childhood professionals. (Morrison, 2009). The work of the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky provided the grounds for the use of sociocultural learning theory. Vygotsky

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of development suggested that to develop cognitively, children must have social interaction. He also “believed that this lifelong process of development was dependent of social interaction and that social learning actually leads to cognitive development” (Riddle, 1999). Vygotsky believed that children 's social learning must come before social development. Vygotsky also believed that "human activities take place in cultural settings and cannot be understood apart from these settings" (Woolfolk, 2004). Therefore, our culture helps shape our cognition.