Socio-cultural Perspective

Socio-cultural Perspective

1. Sociocultural theory is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development.

   • This focuses in how cultural beliefs and attitudes impact how instructions and learning take place

2. Sociocultural theory grew from the work of a psychologist Lev Vygotsky

   • Vigotsky, said that learning has its basis in interacting with other people, once this has occurred, the information is then integrated on the individual level
   • is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.
     • An important concept in sociocultural theory is known as the zone of proximal development

3. According to Vygotsky, children are born with basic biological constraints on their minds.

   • Each culture, however, provides what he referred to as 'tools of intellectual adaptation.' These tools allow children to use their basic mental abilities in a way that is adaptive to the culture in which they live.

4. Vygotsky believed that each culture presents unique differences. Because cultures can vary so dramatically, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory suggests that both the course and content of intellectual development are not as universal as Piaget believed.