Culture shapes how we learn to reason?

Culture shapes how we learn to reason?

by Uni of Cali

The under-3 set do comparably well at recognizing the relationships between pairs of blocks—whether they're the same or different—and then figuring out whether these blocks' sameness or difference is responsible for activating a musical toy. But then the skills diverge in the two cultures for a while. Also, when given a choice between favoring an object-based solution (concrete thinking) and a relation-based solution (abstract), U.S. 3-year-olds favor the former while Chinese 3-year-olds, on the other hand, go for the latter.

Why? Why does the development curve for American kids looks like a "U," with relational reasoning skills dipping around age 3 until they pick up later—while Chinese children show no such dip in the middle, and their development seems to follow a linear trajectory?

The root reasons could be linguistic, the paper's authors suggest, or they could be cultural, environmental or some combination of these. In any case, what seems to be at work is a "learned bias," with children in the U.S. learning, for a while, to focus on objects to the detriment of relations.

Interesting, Sci and I clipped part of the same paragraph as you : 

"The root reasons could be linguistic, the paper's authors suggest, or they could be cultural, environmental or some combination of these."

In other words they don't really know. I wish mainstream psychologists would pay some (at least) attention to the concept/possibility of reincarnation and the amount of evidence there is for it. I know (personally without a doubt) that babies are returning 'spiritual beings' (or whatever anyone wants to call them).

I remember coming here (as I've said before) and that fundamental part of me (the psyche) is exactly the same as the psyche of the infant, because I remember the thoughts I had when I arrived. "Profoundly disappointed" was the general theme but also reconciled to the hard fact that I would have to get on with it. And also understanding perfectly well (frustratingly so) the motivations and methods of adults, who think babies are imbeciles.

I know how absurd this will sound to some on here but I know it to be. I also realise it's of no help to anyone else, but nonetheless, there it is.

I remember coming here (as I've said before)

Where can I read about this Tim? I maybe have but if so have forgotten about it. Sorry.

Where can I read about this Tim? I maybe have but if so have forgotten about it. Sorry.

I think I have some of it typed out, Stan. I'll send it to you by PM, as soon as I can find it (if I can find it) no worries.

[Laird]

I think I have some of it typed out, Stan. I'll send it to you by PM, as soon as I can find it (if I can find it) no worries.

Can you send me a copy too please, tim?

Interesting, Sci and I clipped part of the same paragraph as you : 

"The root reasons could be linguistic, the paper's authors suggest, or they could be cultural, environmental or some combination of these."

In other words they don't really know. I wish mainstream psychologists would pay some (at least) attention to the concept/possibility of reincarnation and the amount of evidence there is for it. I know (personally without a doubt) that babies are returning 'spiritual beings' (or whatever anyone wants to call them).

I remember coming here (as I've said before) and that fundamental part of me (the psyche) is exactly the same as the psyche of the infant, because I remember the thoughts I had when I arrived. "Profoundly disappointed" was the general theme but also reconciled to the hard fact that I would have to get on with it. And also understanding perfectly well (frustratingly so) the motivations and methods of adults, who think babies are imbeciles.

I know how absurd this will sound to some on here but I know it to be. I also realise it's of no help to anyone else, but nonetheless, there it is.

Yeah... with what I've posted on here I'm pretty sure you don't need to worry about people thinking your stuff's absurd. I think I set that bar pretty high. It also does help to hear other people's stories regardless of how crazy they may feel to say, which is why I post mine. Nothing will change if I don't. I do find it interesting that your sense when you came here was disappointment, mine was that some mistake had been made, like I ended up in the wrong place or that I'm not even supposed to be here in the first place. Things like this give insights into the incarnation process as far as I'm concerned. If you felt disappointment, it's relatively safe to say that you didn't show up entirely voluntarily.

Whereas, best as I can tell, I did choose to come down, but maybe... not like this... or not here... or something. It would be interesting to hear anyone elses stories of their first thoughts or impressions of being here. I don't think literally every baby born is a returning soul, I'm sure there's a number of fresh ones mixed in. But I do know that past life memory can influence your learning of certain skills even if you aren't consciously aware of it. It can be subtle, like you just intuitively understand it and learn it faster as a result. As such it can present as a sort of natural talent.

I don't think I really understood that I might be a human until well into my childhood. I was puzzled just after I started school, I found myself in the school hall at assembly with many children and a few adults. But I didn't really think I was a child. I didn't know what I was. I did though feel a certain sense of being privileged to be accepted amongst this crowd, a kind of floating spirit sitting down at a desk side by side with a lot of children.

There were though quite a few disconcerting episodes, these I think were when something that was said, or some environment or situation we were in, would trigger some past-life recall. But I didn't recognise it as such. It was a kind of overlay, so that I'd be there among everyone else, but I'd be asking questions in my mind, what is this all about, what are they trying to do to us here, today. School felt a lot like being an article on a production line in a factory, being bounced along from one process to the next, and all the time I'm asking, what the h*** are they doing to me now?

It wasn't until I reached my mid-teens, perhaps when we were gradually granted more of the autonomy that comes with adulthood, that I began to feel ok about school.

But outside of school, I felt happy. Just being myself, thinking my own thoughts in my own time.

I mentioned past-life recall. But that doesn't really cover it. It is just recall. Remembering who we are, being who we are, not according to any man-made name or label, but in a timeless sense. That sense of timelessness has often been an issue for me. This world is bound up with clocks and schedules and deadlines. Even in my working-life, though I did pretty well and blended in to the structures, my sense of timelessness was often in conflict with the kind of ethos with which they tried to indoctrinate us. As long as people let me just get on with something, I'd get it done. But when they tried to encourage us, give us some sort of inspirational talk, I'd become downhearted and my work would suffer.

- Sorry - much of this is a long way off from the opening topic in this thread and probably doesn't belong here.