Barbara Rogoff - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Barbara Rogoff
Sociocultural Studies of Mind
Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: participatory appropriation, guided participati... more Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: participatory appropriation, guided participation, and apprenticeship Barbara Rogoff This chapter proposes a sociocultural approach that involves observation of development in three planes of analysis corresponding to personal, interpersonal, and community processes. I refer to developmental processes corresponding with these three planes of analysis as apprenticeship, guided participation, and participatory appropriation, in turn. These are inseparable, mutually constituting planes comprising activities that can become the focus of analysis at different times, but with the others necessarily remaining in the background of the analysis. I argue that children take part in the activities of their community, engaging with other children and with adults in routine and tacit as well as explicit collaboration (both in each others' presence and in otherwise socially structured activities) and in the process of participation become prepared for later participation in related events. Developmental research has commonly limited attention to either the individual or the environment-for example, examining how adults teach children or how children construct reality, with an emphasis on either separate individuals or independent environmental elements as the basic units of analysis. Even when both the individual and the environment are considered, they are often regarded as separate entities rather than being mutually defined and interdependent in ways that preclude their separation as units or elements (Dewey & Bentley, 1949; Pepper, 1942; Rogoff, 1982, 1992). Vygotsky's emphasis on the interrelated roles of the individual and the social world in microgenetic, ontogenetic, sociocultural, and phylogenetic development (Scribner, 1985; Wertsch, 1985) includes the individual and the environment together in successively broader time frames. Likewise, Vygotsky's interest in the mutuality of the individual and the sociocultural environment is apparent in his concern with finding a unit of analysis that preserves the essence of the events of interest rather than separating an event into elements that no longer function as does the whole (e.g., studying water molecules rather than hydrogen and oxygen to understand the behavior of water;
Developmental Psychology, 2010
Children commonly observe and pitch in to ongoing activities in Indigenous communities of Mexico,... more Children commonly observe and pitch in to ongoing activities in Indigenous communities of Mexico, according to ethnographic research. The present study examines the generality of this approach to learning by comparing its use among Mexican immigrants of two cultural backgrounds in the United States. Results showed more sustained attention to (and learning from) instruction directed to another person by 22 U.S. Mexican-heritage 6-to 11-year-old children whose families likely have experience with Indigenous practices (and limited involvement in Western schooling), compared with 16 U.S. Mexican-heritage children whose families have extensive involvement in Western schooling (and related practices).
Families, Intergenerationality, and Peer Group Relations, 2016
This chapter discusses two cultural paradigms of children’s involvement in family and community e... more This chapter discusses two cultural paradigms of children’s involvement in family and community endeavors that channel many aspects of children’s everyday lives and their families’ approaches to child rearing. One paradigm – in which children are segregated from many family and community endeavors – is commonly assumed in scholarship on children’s development to characterize childhood generally, but this paradigm is likely to be limited to highly schooled communities like those of many researchers. In a distinct paradigm that occurs in some communities in which Western schooling has not been prevalent, children are integrated as valued, mutual contributors in family and community endeavors. Theories of motivation and prosocial development do not yet adequately account for learning paradigms related to children’s integration as collaborative contributors in mature endeavors. The chapter examines how each paradigm organizes children’s contributions in everyday household work, with an illustration of cultural differences between two communities in Mexico. It appears that in the paradigm where children are integrated as collaborative contributors in shared, mutual family responsibilities, children regularly take initiative to make complex prosocial contributions and their mothers value their helpfulness. By contrast, it appears that in the paradigm where children are segregated from mature family responsibilities, they contribute minimally, they seldom take initiative in family work, and their mothers assign them their “own” chores to do and rarely expect children’s help without adult management. Our chapter considers the potential ramifications of the segregation or collaborative integration of children in meaningful and mutual roles in family and community endeavors. We examine how each paradigm organizes children’s contributions in everyday household work, with an illustration of cultural differences in two communities in Mexico. In a paradigm where children are incorporated as mutual contributors in shared family responsibilities, children regularly take initiative to make complex prosocial contributions, and their mothers value their helpfulness stemming from children’s sense of being mutual contributors. By contrast, in a paradigm where children are segregated from mature family responsibilities and are assigned their “own” chores to do, children contribute minimally and seldom take initiative in family work. These children’s mothers rarely expected children’s help without adult management.
Human Development, 2014
This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home... more This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home. Many 6- to 8-year-old children from an Indigenous-heritage community in Guadalajara, Mexico, were reported to engage, on their own initiative, in complex work for the benefit of the whole family (such as tending younger siblings, cooking, or running errands). In contrast, few children from a cosmopolitan community in Guadalajara, in which families had extensive experience with Western schooling and associated practices, were reported to contribute to family household work, and seldom on their own initiative. They were more often reported to be involved in activities managed by adults, and to have limited time to play, compared with the children in the Indigenous-heritage community, who were often reported to have plenty of time for free play and often planned and initiated their own after-school activities. The differences in children's contributions on their own initiative support...
Human Development, 2014
Children's views on their household work as mutual contribution within the family may encoura... more Children's views on their household work as mutual contribution within the family may encourage their initiative in pitching in. We asked 9- and 10-year-old children from a Mexican city how they viewed child participation in family household work. Almost all of the 16 children reported that children want to contribute to family household work, which they regarded as the shared responsibility of everyone in the family. However, the 8 children who lived in an Indigenous-heritage community were more often reported to take initiative to make broad and complex work contributions than children from a newly schooled community. The children in the Indigenous-heritage community more often emphasized their mutual coordination and collaboration with other members of the family, whereas children from the newly schooled community often focused on their personal contributions. We examine cultural values that may support children in viewing household work as part of being a responsible family ...
Human Development, 2014
This article examines and contrasts two distinct patterns of assisting children's learning th... more This article examines and contrasts two distinct patterns of assisting children's learning that relate to adults' participation in different cultural practices: strategies to control children's attention and motivation versus supportive guidance including children's initiative. We report case studies of the instructional approaches taken by 4 research assistants who were asked to follow a script to casually demonstrate how to make an object, leaving room for children's initiative. The 2 research assistants who were bilingual European American elementary school teachers attempted to control the children's attention, motivation, and behavior in accord with accepted pedagogical practice - calling children's attention, controlling children's pace and keeping them on task using extensive step-by-step explanation, and evaluating the children's efforts with praise - even when they were trying not to, in order to follow the script. In contrast, the 2 bili...
Educational Researcher, 2003
This article addresses a challenge faced by those who study cultural variation in approaches to l... more This article addresses a challenge faced by those who study cultural variation in approaches to learning: how to characterize regularities of individuals’ approaches according to their cultural background. We argue against the common approach of assuming that regularities are static, and that general traits of individuals are attributable categorically to ethnic group membership. We suggest that a cultural-historical approach can be used to help move beyond this assumption by focusing researchers’ and practitioners’ attention on variations in individuals’ and groups’ histories of engagement in cultural practices because the variations reside not as traits of individuals or collections of individuals, but as proclivities of people with certain histories of engagement with specific cultural activities. Thus, individuals’ and groups’ experience in activities—not their traits—becomes the focus. Also, we note that cultural-historical work needs to devote more attention to researching reg...
Infancia y Aprendizaje, 2012
A puzzle presented itself when I began to study cognitive development in a Guatemalan Mayan town,... more A puzzle presented itself when I began to study cognitive development in a Guatemalan Mayan town, decades ago: How do people learn without being taught? In many Indigenous communities of the Americas, children are included in the wide range of activities of the community and they learn by observing what goes on around them and by pitching in. A new puzzle emerged as I wrote my 2011 book, Developing Destinies: A Mayan Midwife and Town. The midwife who is central to this book claims that she did not learn by being taught, nor by observing and pitching in to childbirth events, but through dreams and divine selection. This invited article reflects on this research and my ongoing work on cultural values and practices associated with children pitching in to collaborative endeavors with initiative.
Monogr Soc Res Child Develop, 2008
Children instruct primarily through demonstration and models, while their teachers show a greater... more Children instruct primarily through demonstration and models, while their teachers show a greater reliance on verbal instruction. However, several authors have noted differences between the instructional styles used in classrooms and those used in nonacademic instruction. Nine-year-old teachers use more nonverbal than verbal instruction, and refer more frequently to specific instances or items, than to general concepts. Adult teachers use more verbal than nonverbal instruction, and provide more concept or category information than information specific to instances. Learners taught by adult teachers perform better on tests of memory and generalization than do those taught by child teachers. Task differences in instructional strategies are also evident. Both child and adult teachers provide more verbal information, particularly category information, in the school than in the home task. More nonverbal information is also provided in the school than in the home task. Adults and children utilize different instructional strategies which vary in effectiveness. The choice of instructional strategies is influenced by the context in which the instruction occurs.
Revista Educación y Pedagogía, 2009
RESUMEN RÉSUMÉ LAS BASES CULTURALES DEL DESARROLLO COGNITIVO. EVOLUCIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN ES... more RESUMEN RÉSUMÉ LAS BASES CULTURALES DEL DESARROLLO COGNITIVO. EVOLUCIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN ESTE CAMPO EN NORTEAMÉRICA Este artículo describe la transformación de la investigación en cognición y cultura desde los estudios comparativos transculturales de pruebas psicológicas hasta recientes investigaciones y teorías sobre el pensamiento de la gente en actividades socioculturales. Los autores describen esta transformación, no sólo para aquellos interesados en esta línea particular de investigación, sino también porque los estudios sobre la cognición parecen estar girando alrededor de los mismos problemas que actualmente se abordan en los estudios de cultura y cognición.
Current opinion in psychology, Jan 9, 2018
This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where i... more This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where individuals join their separate ideas, or collaboration, as people mutually engage together in a unified process, as an ensemble. We argue that these paradigms are culturally based, with the negotiation model fitting within an assumption system of separate entities-an assumption system we believe to be common in psychology and in middle-class European American society-and the collaboration model fitting within a holistic worldview that appears to be common in Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas. We discuss cultural differences in children's interactions-as negotiation or collaboration-that suggest how these distinct paradigms develop.
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Sep 1, 2017
Cultural research can help to identify strengths of cultural communities that are often viewed th... more Cultural research can help to identify strengths of cultural communities that are often viewed through a deficit model. Strengths-based approaches open researchers, practitioners, and the public to seeing the logic and value of cultural practices that vary from mainstream approaches. Strengths-based approaches include and extend beyond concerns for social equity: They are necessary for scientific characterization of human cognitive and social processes as well as for effective educational and societal practices. An example of a cultural strength is the sophisticated collaboration shown by many Indigenous-heritage children from North and Central America, which contrasts with the common practice in middle-class communities of dividing up activities into separate roles. These distinct approaches to working together fit with broader cultural paradigms that offer insights into human development as well as inspiration for alternative approaches. As an anonymous reviewer noted, the strengt...
Developmental Psychology, 1986
Developmental Psychology, 1987
International Journal of Educational Psychology Ijep, Jun 25, 2012
Forty-four pairs of Mexican-heritage and European-heritage US children were asked to characterize... more Forty-four pairs of Mexican-heritage and European-heritage US children were asked to characterize differences between two contrasting cultural patterns of working together in video clips that showed a) Mexican Indigenous-heritage children working together by collaborating, helping, observing others, and using nonverbal as well as verbal communication, and b) middle-class European-American children working alone and using predominantly verbal communication. Through experience in two cultural settings, bilingual Mexican-heritage US children may become familiar with these contrasting cultural patterns that have been identified in research. Mexican-heritage US children characterized the clips in ways that corresponded with researchers' descriptions more often than did European-heritage children, when discussing working together and helping but not when discussing communication. The children from the two backgrounds differed in their treatment of talk. In addition to talking more overall, half of the European-heritage US children considered talk a requirement for working together or helping, excluding nonverbal communication as a way of working together or helping. In contrast, the Mexicanheritage US children included nonverbal communication as a means of working together and helping, and some seemed to include nonverbal communication as a form oftalking.
Developmental Psychology, 1992
Sociocultural Studies of Mind
Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: participatory appropriation, guided participati... more Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: participatory appropriation, guided participation, and apprenticeship Barbara Rogoff This chapter proposes a sociocultural approach that involves observation of development in three planes of analysis corresponding to personal, interpersonal, and community processes. I refer to developmental processes corresponding with these three planes of analysis as apprenticeship, guided participation, and participatory appropriation, in turn. These are inseparable, mutually constituting planes comprising activities that can become the focus of analysis at different times, but with the others necessarily remaining in the background of the analysis. I argue that children take part in the activities of their community, engaging with other children and with adults in routine and tacit as well as explicit collaboration (both in each others' presence and in otherwise socially structured activities) and in the process of participation become prepared for later participation in related events. Developmental research has commonly limited attention to either the individual or the environment-for example, examining how adults teach children or how children construct reality, with an emphasis on either separate individuals or independent environmental elements as the basic units of analysis. Even when both the individual and the environment are considered, they are often regarded as separate entities rather than being mutually defined and interdependent in ways that preclude their separation as units or elements (Dewey & Bentley, 1949; Pepper, 1942; Rogoff, 1982, 1992). Vygotsky's emphasis on the interrelated roles of the individual and the social world in microgenetic, ontogenetic, sociocultural, and phylogenetic development (Scribner, 1985; Wertsch, 1985) includes the individual and the environment together in successively broader time frames. Likewise, Vygotsky's interest in the mutuality of the individual and the sociocultural environment is apparent in his concern with finding a unit of analysis that preserves the essence of the events of interest rather than separating an event into elements that no longer function as does the whole (e.g., studying water molecules rather than hydrogen and oxygen to understand the behavior of water;
Developmental Psychology, 2010
Children commonly observe and pitch in to ongoing activities in Indigenous communities of Mexico,... more Children commonly observe and pitch in to ongoing activities in Indigenous communities of Mexico, according to ethnographic research. The present study examines the generality of this approach to learning by comparing its use among Mexican immigrants of two cultural backgrounds in the United States. Results showed more sustained attention to (and learning from) instruction directed to another person by 22 U.S. Mexican-heritage 6-to 11-year-old children whose families likely have experience with Indigenous practices (and limited involvement in Western schooling), compared with 16 U.S. Mexican-heritage children whose families have extensive involvement in Western schooling (and related practices).
Families, Intergenerationality, and Peer Group Relations, 2016
This chapter discusses two cultural paradigms of children’s involvement in family and community e... more This chapter discusses two cultural paradigms of children’s involvement in family and community endeavors that channel many aspects of children’s everyday lives and their families’ approaches to child rearing. One paradigm – in which children are segregated from many family and community endeavors – is commonly assumed in scholarship on children’s development to characterize childhood generally, but this paradigm is likely to be limited to highly schooled communities like those of many researchers. In a distinct paradigm that occurs in some communities in which Western schooling has not been prevalent, children are integrated as valued, mutual contributors in family and community endeavors. Theories of motivation and prosocial development do not yet adequately account for learning paradigms related to children’s integration as collaborative contributors in mature endeavors. The chapter examines how each paradigm organizes children’s contributions in everyday household work, with an illustration of cultural differences between two communities in Mexico. It appears that in the paradigm where children are integrated as collaborative contributors in shared, mutual family responsibilities, children regularly take initiative to make complex prosocial contributions and their mothers value their helpfulness. By contrast, it appears that in the paradigm where children are segregated from mature family responsibilities, they contribute minimally, they seldom take initiative in family work, and their mothers assign them their “own” chores to do and rarely expect children’s help without adult management. Our chapter considers the potential ramifications of the segregation or collaborative integration of children in meaningful and mutual roles in family and community endeavors. We examine how each paradigm organizes children’s contributions in everyday household work, with an illustration of cultural differences in two communities in Mexico. In a paradigm where children are incorporated as mutual contributors in shared family responsibilities, children regularly take initiative to make complex prosocial contributions, and their mothers value their helpfulness stemming from children’s sense of being mutual contributors. By contrast, in a paradigm where children are segregated from mature family responsibilities and are assigned their “own” chores to do, children contribute minimally and seldom take initiative in family work. These children’s mothers rarely expected children’s help without adult management.
Human Development, 2014
This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home... more This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home. Many 6- to 8-year-old children from an Indigenous-heritage community in Guadalajara, Mexico, were reported to engage, on their own initiative, in complex work for the benefit of the whole family (such as tending younger siblings, cooking, or running errands). In contrast, few children from a cosmopolitan community in Guadalajara, in which families had extensive experience with Western schooling and associated practices, were reported to contribute to family household work, and seldom on their own initiative. They were more often reported to be involved in activities managed by adults, and to have limited time to play, compared with the children in the Indigenous-heritage community, who were often reported to have plenty of time for free play and often planned and initiated their own after-school activities. The differences in children's contributions on their own initiative support...
Human Development, 2014
Children's views on their household work as mutual contribution within the family may encoura... more Children's views on their household work as mutual contribution within the family may encourage their initiative in pitching in. We asked 9- and 10-year-old children from a Mexican city how they viewed child participation in family household work. Almost all of the 16 children reported that children want to contribute to family household work, which they regarded as the shared responsibility of everyone in the family. However, the 8 children who lived in an Indigenous-heritage community were more often reported to take initiative to make broad and complex work contributions than children from a newly schooled community. The children in the Indigenous-heritage community more often emphasized their mutual coordination and collaboration with other members of the family, whereas children from the newly schooled community often focused on their personal contributions. We examine cultural values that may support children in viewing household work as part of being a responsible family ...
Human Development, 2014
This article examines and contrasts two distinct patterns of assisting children's learning th... more This article examines and contrasts two distinct patterns of assisting children's learning that relate to adults' participation in different cultural practices: strategies to control children's attention and motivation versus supportive guidance including children's initiative. We report case studies of the instructional approaches taken by 4 research assistants who were asked to follow a script to casually demonstrate how to make an object, leaving room for children's initiative. The 2 research assistants who were bilingual European American elementary school teachers attempted to control the children's attention, motivation, and behavior in accord with accepted pedagogical practice - calling children's attention, controlling children's pace and keeping them on task using extensive step-by-step explanation, and evaluating the children's efforts with praise - even when they were trying not to, in order to follow the script. In contrast, the 2 bili...
Educational Researcher, 2003
This article addresses a challenge faced by those who study cultural variation in approaches to l... more This article addresses a challenge faced by those who study cultural variation in approaches to learning: how to characterize regularities of individuals’ approaches according to their cultural background. We argue against the common approach of assuming that regularities are static, and that general traits of individuals are attributable categorically to ethnic group membership. We suggest that a cultural-historical approach can be used to help move beyond this assumption by focusing researchers’ and practitioners’ attention on variations in individuals’ and groups’ histories of engagement in cultural practices because the variations reside not as traits of individuals or collections of individuals, but as proclivities of people with certain histories of engagement with specific cultural activities. Thus, individuals’ and groups’ experience in activities—not their traits—becomes the focus. Also, we note that cultural-historical work needs to devote more attention to researching reg...
Infancia y Aprendizaje, 2012
A puzzle presented itself when I began to study cognitive development in a Guatemalan Mayan town,... more A puzzle presented itself when I began to study cognitive development in a Guatemalan Mayan town, decades ago: How do people learn without being taught? In many Indigenous communities of the Americas, children are included in the wide range of activities of the community and they learn by observing what goes on around them and by pitching in. A new puzzle emerged as I wrote my 2011 book, Developing Destinies: A Mayan Midwife and Town. The midwife who is central to this book claims that she did not learn by being taught, nor by observing and pitching in to childbirth events, but through dreams and divine selection. This invited article reflects on this research and my ongoing work on cultural values and practices associated with children pitching in to collaborative endeavors with initiative.
Monogr Soc Res Child Develop, 2008
Children instruct primarily through demonstration and models, while their teachers show a greater... more Children instruct primarily through demonstration and models, while their teachers show a greater reliance on verbal instruction. However, several authors have noted differences between the instructional styles used in classrooms and those used in nonacademic instruction. Nine-year-old teachers use more nonverbal than verbal instruction, and refer more frequently to specific instances or items, than to general concepts. Adult teachers use more verbal than nonverbal instruction, and provide more concept or category information than information specific to instances. Learners taught by adult teachers perform better on tests of memory and generalization than do those taught by child teachers. Task differences in instructional strategies are also evident. Both child and adult teachers provide more verbal information, particularly category information, in the school than in the home task. More nonverbal information is also provided in the school than in the home task. Adults and children utilize different instructional strategies which vary in effectiveness. The choice of instructional strategies is influenced by the context in which the instruction occurs.
Revista Educación y Pedagogía, 2009
RESUMEN RÉSUMÉ LAS BASES CULTURALES DEL DESARROLLO COGNITIVO. EVOLUCIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN ES... more RESUMEN RÉSUMÉ LAS BASES CULTURALES DEL DESARROLLO COGNITIVO. EVOLUCIÓN DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN ESTE CAMPO EN NORTEAMÉRICA Este artículo describe la transformación de la investigación en cognición y cultura desde los estudios comparativos transculturales de pruebas psicológicas hasta recientes investigaciones y teorías sobre el pensamiento de la gente en actividades socioculturales. Los autores describen esta transformación, no sólo para aquellos interesados en esta línea particular de investigación, sino también porque los estudios sobre la cognición parecen estar girando alrededor de los mismos problemas que actualmente se abordan en los estudios de cultura y cognición.
Current opinion in psychology, Jan 9, 2018
This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where i... more This paper contrasts two ways that shared thinking can be conceptualized: as negotiation, where individuals join their separate ideas, or collaboration, as people mutually engage together in a unified process, as an ensemble. We argue that these paradigms are culturally based, with the negotiation model fitting within an assumption system of separate entities-an assumption system we believe to be common in psychology and in middle-class European American society-and the collaboration model fitting within a holistic worldview that appears to be common in Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas. We discuss cultural differences in children's interactions-as negotiation or collaboration-that suggest how these distinct paradigms develop.
Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Sep 1, 2017
Cultural research can help to identify strengths of cultural communities that are often viewed th... more Cultural research can help to identify strengths of cultural communities that are often viewed through a deficit model. Strengths-based approaches open researchers, practitioners, and the public to seeing the logic and value of cultural practices that vary from mainstream approaches. Strengths-based approaches include and extend beyond concerns for social equity: They are necessary for scientific characterization of human cognitive and social processes as well as for effective educational and societal practices. An example of a cultural strength is the sophisticated collaboration shown by many Indigenous-heritage children from North and Central America, which contrasts with the common practice in middle-class communities of dividing up activities into separate roles. These distinct approaches to working together fit with broader cultural paradigms that offer insights into human development as well as inspiration for alternative approaches. As an anonymous reviewer noted, the strengt...
Developmental Psychology, 1986
Developmental Psychology, 1987
International Journal of Educational Psychology Ijep, Jun 25, 2012
Forty-four pairs of Mexican-heritage and European-heritage US children were asked to characterize... more Forty-four pairs of Mexican-heritage and European-heritage US children were asked to characterize differences between two contrasting cultural patterns of working together in video clips that showed a) Mexican Indigenous-heritage children working together by collaborating, helping, observing others, and using nonverbal as well as verbal communication, and b) middle-class European-American children working alone and using predominantly verbal communication. Through experience in two cultural settings, bilingual Mexican-heritage US children may become familiar with these contrasting cultural patterns that have been identified in research. Mexican-heritage US children characterized the clips in ways that corresponded with researchers' descriptions more often than did European-heritage children, when discussing working together and helping but not when discussing communication. The children from the two backgrounds differed in their treatment of talk. In addition to talking more overall, half of the European-heritage US children considered talk a requirement for working together or helping, excluding nonverbal communication as a way of working together or helping. In contrast, the Mexicanheritage US children included nonverbal communication as a means of working together and helping, and some seemed to include nonverbal communication as a form oftalking.
Developmental Psychology, 1992