Re: Evolutionary Psychology and Sociocultural Theory

Ellice A Forman (ellice+ who-is-at pitt.edu)
Tue, 16 Apr 1996 13:46:57 -0400 (EDT)

Jorge and others,
I can think of three references that relate to your question about the
relationship between these two theoretical approaches:
The first two appeared recently in Human Development with the Gauvain
article addressing sociocultural theory and the Tomasello commentary
making the connections to evolutionary theory (and primate communication
in particular). The third article addresses both of these issues and the
extensive commentaries (by Rogoff, Bruner, myself and others) extends
this discussion.
1) Gauvain, M. (1995). Thinking in niches: Sociocultural influences on
cognitive development. Human Development, 38, 25-45.
2) Tomasello, M. (1995). Commentary. Human Development, 38, 46-52.
3) Tomasello, M., Kruger, A.C., & Ratner, H.H. (1993). Cultural learning.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 495-522.
I've used the video you mentioned in my classes in conjunction with these
articles and the connections are obvious (Tomasello even refers to the
same primate experiments).
Ellice Forman
University of Pittsburgh