Putting Culture in the middle
Michael Cole (1996)
Michael Cole
- One of the founders of cultural psychology
- Professor of Psychology, Communication, and Human Development at UC San Diego
- Influenced by Vygotsky and cultural-historical theory
- Advocate for cultural psychology, not cross-cultural psychology
Summary
In this chapter, Cole argued that psychological processes cannot be understood apart from the cultural contexts in which they develop. Culture facilitates and limits cognition.
Index
Context
Artifacts
Schema
ARtifacts
Artifacts are the building blocks of culture. They have physical and symbolic properties. They exist in heterarchies and are interconnected.
Food for thought
What level of artifact do you think a passport is?
Schemas + Scripts
Cognitive tools to mediate individuals and culture
Schemas and scripts as cognitive tools
Two modes of existence
Artifacts mediation
Human cognition is contextual and mediated, meaning we don’t simply store schemas internally, we co-construct them through shared cultural practices.
Context
Culture is expressed through artifacts, tools, and practices, but the meaning of these artifacts depends on the context in which they are used.
Mediating triangle
Books, teacher's instructions, grammatical rules
Understanding written language
Child
Classmates, family, teachers
Classroom expectations
Teacher guides, child practices, parent supports
Mediating artifacts
Object
Subject
Community
Rules
Division of labor
Cultural mediation and development
Cultural mediation accumulates activities of prior generations. Artifacts become the human-made part of the environment. Social interaction is essential for human development.
1996
1876
1988
1960s
Cell phone meets the Internet
Rotary dial phone
Car phone
Touch tone pad
How has culture influenced your work so far?
Executive Functions in Jordanian Children: What Can the Hearts and Flowers Task Tell Us About Development in a Non-Western Context
(Nketia et al., 2024)
- Economy: Upper middle-income; sample income (~USD 10K) below national average (~USD 16K); higher income and education in suburban Al-Salt than urban Amman.
- Education: Valued and compulsory from age 6; high literacy (93%); low preschool attendance (13%); limited extracurricular access (24%).
- Family & culture: Islamic, family-centered; fathers provide financially, mothers and extended family handle caregiving.
- Parenting: Generally progressive—emphasizing obedience, good manners, and diligence. Fathers with more education are more engaged in children’s schooling.
- Sample: Half of mothers homemakers; few family disruptions, no violence exposure.
Context
Jordan, a Middle Eastern country, has seen major population growth (59%) due to refugee influxes; population ≈10.2 million, with 33% under age 15.
Sample: 93 Jordanian (age 5.5 - 8.5)Measures: Hearts & Flowers Task and parent's report on the Arabic Child Behavior Checklist.
In Western studies, H&F task performance improves with age. 4–5-year-olds do well on simple blocks but struggle on the Mixed block. Performance improves sharply at age 6, with major gains on the Mixed block by age 7.
Results
H&F task performance: Jordanian children (5.5–8.5 years) performed as expected on the three task blocks: slower and less accurate on Incongruent vs. Congruent, and on Mixed vs. both other blocks.Age effects: Unlike Western studies, no age-related improvements in accuracy or reaction times were observed in this sample. Task sensitivity: The H&F task is likely not sensitive to developmental changes in EFs in this population, as age-related EF development has been detected using other tasks (eg: Go/NoGo) in Jordanian children. Parent-report measures: H&F performance showed no correlation with CBCL scores (academic, internalizing, externalizing) -> limited ecological validity in this context. Sociodemographic factors: EF performance correlated with paternal education and school location, consistent with broader Jordanian cognitive development findings.
The task can capture condition-level EF differences but cannot detect developmental changes.
Can cross-cultural and cultural psychology approaches be combined in cognitive research? What would a study that integrates both look like?
Cognitive tools
Schemas: organized frameworks that help people interpret experiences. Scripts: event schemas - they describe how things typically happen, who is involved, and in what order. Artifacts are mental tools for organizing experience and guiding action.
Schemas and scripts mediate between individuals and culture - connecting thought and action. Understanding culture is partially shared but also requires personal judgement.
Cole argues that schemas and scripts have two modes of existence: Internal (psychological): They live in our minds as mental structures. External (cultural/material): They are encoded in artifacts, routines, language, rituals, and symbols.
Thread of context
Putting Culture in the middle
Kristen Le
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Transcript
Putting Culture in the middle
Michael Cole (1996)
Michael Cole
Summary
In this chapter, Cole argued that psychological processes cannot be understood apart from the cultural contexts in which they develop. Culture facilitates and limits cognition.
Index
Context
Artifacts
Schema
ARtifacts
Artifacts are the building blocks of culture. They have physical and symbolic properties. They exist in heterarchies and are interconnected.
Food for thought
What level of artifact do you think a passport is?
Schemas + Scripts
Cognitive tools to mediate individuals and culture
Schemas and scripts as cognitive tools
Two modes of existence
Artifacts mediation
Human cognition is contextual and mediated, meaning we don’t simply store schemas internally, we co-construct them through shared cultural practices.
Context
Culture is expressed through artifacts, tools, and practices, but the meaning of these artifacts depends on the context in which they are used.
Mediating triangle
Books, teacher's instructions, grammatical rules
Understanding written language
Child
Classmates, family, teachers
Classroom expectations
Teacher guides, child practices, parent supports
Mediating artifacts
Object
Subject
Community
Rules
Division of labor
Cultural mediation and development
Cultural mediation accumulates activities of prior generations. Artifacts become the human-made part of the environment. Social interaction is essential for human development.
1996
1876
1988
1960s
Cell phone meets the Internet
Rotary dial phone
Car phone
Touch tone pad
How has culture influenced your work so far?
Executive Functions in Jordanian Children: What Can the Hearts and Flowers Task Tell Us About Development in a Non-Western Context
(Nketia et al., 2024)
Context
Jordan, a Middle Eastern country, has seen major population growth (59%) due to refugee influxes; population ≈10.2 million, with 33% under age 15.
Sample: 93 Jordanian (age 5.5 - 8.5)Measures: Hearts & Flowers Task and parent's report on the Arabic Child Behavior Checklist.
In Western studies, H&F task performance improves with age. 4–5-year-olds do well on simple blocks but struggle on the Mixed block. Performance improves sharply at age 6, with major gains on the Mixed block by age 7.
Results
H&F task performance: Jordanian children (5.5–8.5 years) performed as expected on the three task blocks: slower and less accurate on Incongruent vs. Congruent, and on Mixed vs. both other blocks.Age effects: Unlike Western studies, no age-related improvements in accuracy or reaction times were observed in this sample. Task sensitivity: The H&F task is likely not sensitive to developmental changes in EFs in this population, as age-related EF development has been detected using other tasks (eg: Go/NoGo) in Jordanian children. Parent-report measures: H&F performance showed no correlation with CBCL scores (academic, internalizing, externalizing) -> limited ecological validity in this context. Sociodemographic factors: EF performance correlated with paternal education and school location, consistent with broader Jordanian cognitive development findings.
The task can capture condition-level EF differences but cannot detect developmental changes.
Can cross-cultural and cultural psychology approaches be combined in cognitive research? What would a study that integrates both look like?
Cognitive tools
Schemas: organized frameworks that help people interpret experiences. Scripts: event schemas - they describe how things typically happen, who is involved, and in what order. Artifacts are mental tools for organizing experience and guiding action.
Schemas and scripts mediate between individuals and culture - connecting thought and action. Understanding culture is partially shared but also requires personal judgement.
Cole argues that schemas and scripts have two modes of existence: Internal (psychological): They live in our minds as mental structures. External (cultural/material): They are encoded in artifacts, routines, language, rituals, and symbols.
Thread of context