ABSTRACT
Introduction In the previous chapter I touched on models that have stressed the relationship between cognitive development and contexts of cognition. That description was mainly of physical contexts, as interpreted in a broadly constructivist framework, although I also touched on social contexts. Here I want to offer a much broader description of the many models that have attempted to describe and explain human cognition and development in social context in a fuller sense. The fact that humans exist in social conglomerates has challenged psychologists to describe and characterise relationships between the individual and the social world, and to specify their implications for cognitive development. Does the child think purely for him or herself, or as part of a social conglomerate? Is the child’s developing knowledge and reasoning purely personal, or are they patterns shared with others? What are the implications of either of these presuppositions for the understanding of the developing mind?
