Culture, communication and socio-cognitive development: Understanding the minds of others

Abstract

This chapter reviews the literature on the role of children's social experience in promoting cognitive development. During early childhood, children develop a psychological understanding of others, in which they become increasingly skilled at recognising and identifying the internal states that motivate behaviour. This development does not take place in a vacuum, however, with robust evidence that the interactions children engage in with their caregivers-particularly discussion about their own and others' mental states-predict children's socio-cognitive development. Such discussions reflect the culturalmilieu and thus vary significantly across cultural groups. The focus of this chapter is on cultural differences in the style and content of parent-child language interactions, and the significance of these differences for the development of a psychological understanding of others. In integrating previous findings across a range of cultural groups, I hope to advance our theoretical understanding of socio-cognitive development.