Cultural perspectives on relational learning: Variation in parental input and children’s performance

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Relational learning—a key process by which children acquire abstract knowledge and learn relational information that fosters their understanding of concrete experiences—lies at the core of cognitive development (Hofstadter, 2001). Growing evidence has shown variation across Eastern and Western cultures in children’s and adults’ attention to relations and objects (Kuwabara & Smith, 2012; Masuda & Nisbett, 2001). However, it remains unclear how these observed cultural differences emerge in early life. Based on extensive laboratory evidence showing that language fosters children’s relational learning (Christie & Gentner, 2010), we hope to fill the research gap and probe possible mechanisms of relational learning by examining parental linguistic input in children’s everyday learning contexts.
Four papers address topics in parental input and children’s performance in relational learning from three countries. Using spatial play and reading activities, the first paper shows that Chinese-immigrant parents were more likely than European-American parents to highlight spatial relations when solving puzzles with 3-year-olds. Through a storybook reading activity, the second paper shows that Chinese parents frequently talk about objects and the relations between agents but rarely make comparisons across scenes. The third paper highlights how Japanese parents discuss multiple agents in negative social events, whereas U.S. parents typically focus on a single agent. The fourth paper finds cultural variation in Chinese and American children’s performance and preferences in relational tasks, and discusses possible sources of cross-cultural variation in relational reasoning.
Together, these papers provide compelling approaches to examine how parental language practices influence relational learning in early childhood.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Yu Zhang, University of Chicago

Individual Presentations

• Parental use of relational language in spatial activities with 3-year-olds: A cross-cultural perspective - Presenting Author: Yu Zhang, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Su-hua Wang, University of California - Santa Cruz

• How do parents talk about analogy? - Presenting Author: Yang Gao, Tsinghua University; Non-Presenting Author: Stella Christie, Tsinghua University

• Focus on one or more? Cultural differences in how parents talk about social events to preschool children - Presenting Author: Megumi Kuwabara, California State University, Dominguez Hills; Non-Presenting Author: Linda B. Smith, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Early diversity in abstract thought: Context shapes the developmental trajectory of relational reasoning - Presenting Author: Alexandra Carstensen, University of California - San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Caren M. Walker, University of California - San Diego