ece353 final-Synthesis of Learning

Ever wonder where infants and children develop an understanding of the world around them? The knowledge that the infants and children gain about the world around them is called cognitive development. From the minute that a child enters this world from their mother’s womb they begin their life living in a profoundly social environment. It is not just social because of the ­­people and other children that the child will interact with but also because of many relics that exist such as books, television, technology and much more. In this paper I will discuss social cognitive development, summarize the current knowledge that exist about it, analyze the applicability of my findings to the differentiation of instruction for children of different needs and abilities and discuss the anticipated challenges that could impact social cognitive development. Social cognition has been a vital topic in child psychology since the establishment of the field (Harris,2006). The work of psychologist Vygotsky has had a lot of influence on the idea of how children learn through their social environment. He emphasized the social building of knowledge. He looked closely at the way children obtain their knowledge through interacting with people that are more knowledgeable and the role that language plays in the process. Vygotsky’s work in the field of social cognitive development led to the definition of social cognitive. Social cognition is one of many sub topics of the world of social psychology. It emphasizes on how people process, store and information about other people and social situations (Cherry,2014). In addition it emphasizes on the role that cognitive processes play in people’s social interactions. Social cognition circumscribes the values about other people, the self, specific aspects of people and about social groups (Miller, 2010). Social cognition also has to do with what the children learn from the culture that they live in and the way they learn

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