Synopsis: People respond not to the external stimulus, but to their perceptual interpretation of its significance.
People tend to perceive the world through cultural frameworks, and accordingly, understand reality.
First language
Thought structures generally develop along cultural lines. People prefer to express themselves in the language they are comfortable thinking in. From their socio-cultural interactions they are actively involved in constructing their knowledge of the world. This is a collective activity. Conceptual schemes are generally bound to background, and so is the language used to transmit them.
In the cross-cultural context, the dependence on a specific first language imposes certain limitations to the perceptive outlook. Thus, meaning is given to the world in a culturally defined sense. People learn to respond to stimuli in characteristic ways, in interactions with the environment and other people. Multilingual abilities enable people to widen their perceptual fields and recognise different cultural contexts and realities.
External and internal
External stimuli motivate people to react with characteristic (learned) behaviour. Some researchers say people respond not to the external stimulus, but to their perceptual interpretation of its significance. The motivation to think and then act beyond the cultural limits comes from within.
Other researchers point out that both external and internal motivations operate in learning. Because it occurs through social activity, learning is tuned to social rewards. However, the drive to learn depends on the individuals themselves.
Cognitive development
They argue that all our cognitive functions – like voluntary attention, logical memory, and formation of concepts - originate from the social interactions we are exposed to as children.
The cultural socializing is the process of being integrated into the prevalent knowledge community. This motivates learning. Guidance of teachers or elders, and peer collaborations influence the understanding of, and the attitudes towards, organized and unorganized routines.
Therefore, development occurs first on the social level, from significant interactions between people. It then proceeds within each person, on the individual level. People eventually learn to think in a particular mode - convergent or divergent - as a result of their actual relationships with others. They also learn to be individualistic or collectivist.
Using resources
Convergent thinking provides technical depth and expertise generally associated with academics. Divergent thinking contributes to people being streetsmart. Globalization brings together people of different cultures, with perspectives developed by such different thought processes.
It also shows up clear distinctions of space and time in people’s minds. Clearly, having the same culture and language helps to understand others and be understood by them. People sharing the same workspace may think, feel and act differently in each situation. But companies and their decision makers sometimes tend to become hidebound over what ‘works’ in the attempt to conserve resources and preserve structure.
How cognitive resources are actually used in problem solving should then depend on circumstances, and not on our comfort zone with one or the other process alone. Sharing perspectives bring to view areas or dimensions that are unusual or being overlooked. For effective problem solving, these group participations are important, even critical for the system’s healthy survival.
Comments/opinions, anyone??
Social Constructivism
No comments:
Post a Comment