The Development of Teaching and Social Learning Across Cultures

在动物中，人类文化的变异在其范围、复杂性和世代变化方面都是独一无二的。人类表现出广泛的社会习得和传播行为，这些行为在群体之间有所不同，并随着时间而变化。适应社会学习——获取、创造和传播文化知识——为人类文化提供了基础。这些学习机制应该是灵活的，使个人能够对不同的文化背景作出反应。这个跨文化研究项目的目的是研究让我们学习、创造和传播文化的心理过程。将记录和解释人群内部和人群之间儿童发展的连续性和差异性。多种方法-观察，访谈和实验-将用于检查跨文化文化传播实践（教学）和习得策略（社会学习）的心理基础。该项目的合作伙伴包括五名发展心理学家、两名进化人类学家和一名经济心理学家，他们都具有跨文化研究方面的专长。西方文化背景之外的系统研究的缺乏是心理科学理论进步的主要障碍。发展心理科学需要一条新的前进道路，以更好地理解人类发展的全球多样性。这些研究的结果有可能通过增加对世界各地教学和社会学习实践变化的理解，为国际教育项目的发展提供信息，使教师能够适应人们不同的学习方式。这个研究小组将与当地社区密切合作，在我们的国内和国际实地站点，为保存有关这些独特文化背景的信仰、价值观和实践的信息做出贡献。这种广度和深度的研究将通过展示联系、成长和适应的方式，帮助加强美国和其他地方的社区。对教学和早期社会学习的全面描述需要对儿童教育实践和信仰进行系统的研究。本研究的目的是记录和解释教学实践和社会学习策略在代表儿童保育实践多样性的人群内部和跨群体中的连续性和变化。本研究考察了成人和同伴的教学实践与儿童社会学习之间的相互作用。首先，自然发生的教学和社会学习实践将使用集中跟踪进行检查，并收集有关教学和社会学习信念的结构化访谈数据。其次，收集标准化的观察数据，评估成人和同伴在模仿和联合问题解决任务背景下的教学实践。将教学实践的自然和标准化评估与儿童的社会学习进行比较。观察和实验数据将进行比较，以检查在实验任务中评估的教学实践在多大程度上代表了日常生活中发生的教学实践。教学风格的变化取决于教学内容、难度、学习者的年龄和地位。这项研究将提供第一个系统的跨文化教学，通过照顾成人和同伴和儿童的社会学习。收集观察、访谈和实验数据将产生更丰富的关于教与学中的文化连续性和差异的图景。本项目由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

Variation in human cultures is unique among animals in its extent, complexity, and modification over generations. Humans display a wide repertoire of socially acquired and transmitted behaviors that vary between groups and change over time. Adaptations for social learning - acquiring, creating, and transmitting cultural knowledge - provide the foundation for human culture. These learning mechanisms should be flexible, enabling individuals to respond to diverse cultural contexts. The objective of this cross-cultural research project is to study the psychological processes that allow us to learn, create, and transmit culture. Continuity and variation in child development within and across populations will be documented and explained. Multiple methods - observation, interviews, and experiments - will be used to examine the psychological foundations of cultural transmission practices (teaching) and acquisition strategies (social learning) across cultures. This project partners five developmental psychologists, two evolutionary anthropologists, and an economic psychologist, all with expertise in cross-cultural research. The dearth of systematic research outside of Western cultural contexts presents a major impediment to theoretical progress in the psychological sciences. There is a need for a new path forward in developmental psychological science to better understand global diversity in human development. The results of these studies have the potential to inform the development of international education programs by increasing understanding of variation in teaching and social learning practices around the world, allowing teachers to adapt to the diverse ways that people learn. This research team will work closely with local communities, at our domestic and international field sites, to contribute to the preservation of information about the beliefs, values, and practices of these unique cultural contexts. This breadth and depth of study will help strengthen communities in the United States and elsewhere by showing ways for them to connect, grow and adapt. A comprehensive account of teaching and early social learning requires systematic study of childrearing practices and beliefs. The objective of this research is to document and explain continuity and variation in teaching practices and social learning strategies within and across populations that represent the diversity of childrearing practices. This research examines the interaction between the teaching practices of caregiving adults and peers and children's social learning across populations. First, naturally occurring teaching and social learning practices will be examined using focused following, and structured interview data on beliefs about teaching and social learning will be collected. Second, standardized observational data will be collected to assess the teaching practices of adults and peers in the context of imitation and joint problem solving tasks. The naturalistic and standardized assessments of teaching practices will be compared to children's social learning. The observational and experimental data will be compared to examine the extent to which the teaching practices assessed in experimental tasks are representative of teaching practices that occurs in everyday life. Variability in teaching style depending on content, difficulty, and age and status of the learner will be examined. This research will provide the first systematic cross-cultural account of teaching by caregiving adults and peers and children's social learning. Collecting observational, interview, and experimental data will yield a far richer picture of cultural continuity and variation in teaching and learning. This project is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.