Question

How do you explain cognitive differences among children frim different cultures?

Answer 1

The development of children is a very dynamic and interactive process. Culture does affect the cognitive of children. Children growing up in different cultures receives very specific type of inputs from their social surrounding. Withing a cultural context there is a particular language shared by the members of that culture. Along with the language, the ritual of the culture is also different. Cultural rituals also shape a child's cognitive development. Cultural beliefs, rituals, practices, ideologies influence the psychological processes of the children in terms of their cognitive schema or self- construal style. Culture also affects the perception of the children i.e., what we see and how we see and their attribution style. Research shows that executive functions like higher-order cognitive skills that we use to reason, plan and adapt to various circumstances are shaped by various factors including parental and cultural influences. For example, research shows that children in Hong Kong had higher executive function scores as compared to their same-aged peers in the UK.