Key idea: Cultures differ in what people need to remember, and memory skills grow to meet those needs.
Culture and cognition
1
Culture teaches
Each culture teaches what is important to notice and remember.
2
Attention
People learn to attend to the main object, or to the whole scene and its context.
3
Memory
Skills that matter in daily life, such as finding the way, become stronger.
Teach · Attend · Remember
Kearins (1981) compared Aboriginal children from desert areas with white Australian children. The Aboriginal children remembered where objects had been placed on a grid better.
What HL adds: The culture extension: culture cannot be randomly assigned. HL essays judge which other differences, such as schooling or language, might explain a result.
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Key idea: Culture shapes what people notice and remember, but culture is hard to separate from other differences between groups.
Strengths
- Shows cognition is not universal
- Links to daily life
- Replicated with other tasks
Limitations
- Groups differ in many ways
- Tasks may suit one culture
- Students or children only
Strong evaluation asks whether culture, schooling or familiarity with the task explains the result.
Watch out: Name the cultural factor. Say what in the culture would cause the difference.