Objective 2.4 Discuss how social or cultural factors affect one cognitive process

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Objective 2.4Discuss how social or cultural
factors affect one cognitive process
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Social and cultural influences

• If one assumes that cognitive processes follow
  universal laws then all humans all over the
  world, regardless of environment and culture,
  would perform the same cognitive tasks with the
  same results. Is this the case?
• Human cognition is socially and culturally
  dependent  i.e. Cognitive abilities are
  influenced by the social and cultural context in
  which people live. What does this mean? Explain
  this concept.

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Social and cultural influences

• If one assumes that cognitive processes follow
  universal laws then all humans all over the
  world, regardless of environment and culture,
  would perform the same cognitive tasks with the
  same results.
• Human cognition is socially and culturally
  dependent  ie. Cognitive abilities are
  influenced by the social and cultural context in
  which people live.

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Social and cultural influences

• Although the processes memory,perception,
  language etc may be universal (etic concepts of
  memory) how they function in the context of
  social and cultural situations may differ (emic
  concepts of memory).
• For example, the concept of memory may be
  universal, but specific cultures may have
  specific ways of categorizing information (i.e.
  cultural schemas). You can refer to Bartletts
  War of the ghosts to support this statement.

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Social cognitive theory (SCT)

• Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) describes learning
  in terms of the interrelationship between
  behavior, environmental factors, and cognitive
  factors.
• It also provides the theoretical framework for
  interactive learning used to develop both
  Constructivism and Cooperative Learning. It is
  the foundation of social learning theory.

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Social cognitive theory (SCT)

• According to SCT, the learner acquires knowledge
  as his or her environment converges with personal
  characteristics and personal mental schemas.
• New experiences are evaluated in comparison to
  the past prior experiences help to subsequently
  guide and inform the learner as to how the
  present should be investigated. (these mental
  representations guide behavior, as previously
  stated).

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Bellwork

• What is social learning? What is one example of
  something you have socially learned.

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Social affects on learning

• Social learning refers to the acquisition of
  mental representations that happens exclusively
  or primarily by interactions in a social group.
• Social learning theory focuses on the learning
  that occurs within a social context. It considers
  that people learn from one another, including
  such concepts as observational learning,
  imitation, and modeling. Among others Albert
  Bandura is considered the leading proponent of
  this theory.

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Basic concepts of social learning

• There are three core concepts at the heart of
  social learning theory.
• First is the idea that people can learn through
  observation.
• Next is the idea that internal mental states are
  an essential part of this process. Meaning that
  the ability to form memories from what you
  observe are key to learning.
• Finally, this theory recognizes that just because
  something has been learned, it does not mean that
  it will result in a change in behavior.

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Learning by Observation

• Higher animals, especially humans, learn through
  observing and imitating others.
• Example The monkey on the right imitates the
  monkey on the left in touching the pictures in a
  certain order to obtain a reward. Hence the
  phrase monkey see monkey do.

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Reviewing mirror Neurons

• As previously discussed, mirror neurons in the
  brains of animals and humans are active during
  observational learning.
• Thus, we can create a schema of how to behave in
  social situations simply by observing a behavior

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Imitation Onset

• Learning by observation begins early in life.
  This 14-month-old child imitates the adult on TV
  in pulling a toy apart.
• This would suggest that we can create memory
  models of how to act, respond, and adapt to our
  environment simply by seeing something occur. How
  can this positively and negatively influence our
  behavior from a cognitive perspective?

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Bandura's Experiments

• Albert Banduras research in the 1970s laid the
  foundation for social learning.
• In his famous "Bobo doll" studies, Bandura
  demonstrated that children learn and imitate
  behaviors they have observed in other people.
• Summary of Experiment
• http//video.google.com/videoplay?docid\458646581
  3762682933
• http//psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm

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Bandura's Experiments

• The children in Banduras studies observed an
  adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll.
• When the children were later allowed to play in
  a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate
  the aggressive actions they had previously
  observed. (This can be used for the ethical
  considerations question).

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Bandura's Experiments

• Bandura identified three basic models of
  observational learning
• A live model, which involves an actual individual
  demonstrating or acting out a behavior. (Seeing
  someone perform the behavior)
• What are ecological examples of learning from a
  live model?

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Bandura's Experiments

• Bandura identified three basic models of
  observational learning
• A verbal instructional model, which involves
  descriptions and explanations of a behavior.
• This is the foundation of education. Thus,
  students learn from teacher descriptions and
  explanation. This is also true with sports
• What are ecological examples of learning from a
  verbal instructional model?

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Bandura's Experiments

• Bandura identified three basic models of
  observational learning
• A symbolic model, which involves real or
  fictional characters displaying behaviors in
  books, films, television programs, or online
  media.
• Thus, you can learn how to behave in a social
  situation simply from watching it on a
  television, or in a movie. What are ecological
  examples of learning from a verbal instructional
  model?

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Intrinsic motivation The cognitive component to
social learning.

• Bandura noted that external, environmental
  reinforcement was not the only factor to
  influence learning and behavior.
• He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of
  internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and
  a sense of accomplishment.
• Thus, we can create mental representations for
  things that we find rewarding and gravitate
  towards these behaviors.

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Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in
behavior.

• While behaviorists believed that learning led to
  a permanent change in behavior, observational
  learning demonstrates that people can learn new
  information without demonstrating new behaviors.
• In other words, you can learn something socially
  without personally showing the behavior.

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Applications of Observational Learning

• Unfortunately, Banduras studies show that
  antisocial models (family, neighborhood or TV)
  may have antisocial effects.
• In other words, his model suggests that we can
  socially emulate positive and negative behaviors.
  

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Creating negative and maladaptive social schemas.

• Researchers argue that social experiences
  (whether through live models, verbal models or
  symbolic models) can cause people to form a
  negative (or positive) social schema.
• These schemas, also called working models and
  knowledge structures, consist of organized
  elements of past behaviors and experiences that
  form a relatively cohesive and persistent body of
  knowledge which guides ones subsequent
  perception and appraisal of the world (Segal,
  1988).
• How can our experiences (or encoding/retrieval
  of memories) cause us to have negative mental
  representations or models?

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Creating negative and maladaptive social schemas.

• In the area of aggressive behavior, several
  studies have identified cognitive structures
  consisting of normative appropriateness of
  aggressive behavior as an important risk factor
  for aggression (Huesmann, 1988 Huesmann
  Guerra, 1997).
• This research supports the notion that many
  children can model aggression seen in the home
  and form a social schema of how to behave and
  interact with peers.
• Further research on social schemas of aggression
• http//www.ucm.es/info/psi/docs/journal/v13_n1_201
  0/art190.pdf

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Creating negative and maladaptive social schemas.

• In addition to influencing other psychologists,
  Bandura's social learning theory has had other
  important implication in the field of education.
• Today, both teachers and parents recognize the
  importance of modeling appropriate behaviors as
  well as creating positive social schemas that
  guide behavior.
• Many children have been shown to learn social
  schemas from teacher and parent models.

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Further research on social and cultural affects
on cognitive processes

• SOCIAL LEARNING AND DEVIANT BEHAVIOR A SPECIFIC
  TEST OF A GENERAL THEORY (RONALDL. AKERS,M ARVIND
  . KROHNL, ONNL ANZA-KADUCE) http//www.colorado.ed
  u/ibs/pb/thornberry/socy7004/pdfs/Social20Learnin
  g20and20Deviant20Behavior.pdf
• Cultural Influences in Decision Making David F.
  Noble, Ph.D., Jonathan K. Sander, Catherine M.
  Obenshain
• http//www.dodccrp.org/events/5th_ICCRTS/papers/Tr
  ack5/085.pdf
• Cultural Influences on Memory Angela H. Gutchess
  and Allie Indeck
• http//www.brandeis.edu/gutchess/publications/Gutc
  hess_Indeck.pdf