Common Characteristics
Influences of Culture
The Changing Face of the United States:
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The Influence of Culture of Early Child Development Notes
The shift in perspective:
Thinking about families when designing service plans, educational programs, and policy decisions
“families matter” and “culture matters”
Rethinking “Culture”
Early calls for “cultural competency” sometimes put forward a list of observed parenting traits of “minority” cultures with little explanation of how these aspects of culture may be part of a whole and with little understanding of the cultural participants’ intention behind these actions. This type of, thinking though well meant, can solidify stereotypes instead of helping penetrate them.
“ironically, teachers may conscientiously try to create culturally sensitive environments for their students (e.g. through multicultural displays and activities) while simultaneously structuring classroom interaction patterns that violate invisible cultural norms of various nondominant groups. Teachers may also inadvertently criticize parents for adhering to a different set of ideals about children, families, and parenting.” (Greenfield, Raeff, &Quiroz, 1996, p.40)
ZERO TO THREE Definition:
Culture is a shared system of meaning, which includes values, beliefs, and assumptions expressed in daily interactions of individuals within a group through a definite pattern of language, behavior, customs, attitudes, and practices.
Expanding our understanding in the following ways:
Using Research Studies to Enhance Understanding
“system of shared meaning” “scientific outsider”
exploring how parents actually think culture reduced to a combo
about their children or their child-rearing of ethnicity and class, then
practices correlated with social,
cognitive, or language outcomes
Emic approach: attempt learning from the “cultural insiders”, in depth observations, conversations with families, or a combo.
*though relatively rare, is gaining more favor in child development studies
;finding of differences between groups are not necessarily a result of “cultural” differences but may be a result of other
differences in life experiences shaped by the families’ immersion in these ecological niches
ex. Research on African American families acts as a reminder that differences in parent-child interaction styles between ethnic
groups may be a function of the group’s place in wider society rather than a cultural difference per se.
ex. Study in psychological distress and parental stress
greater stress=mother control of child
ex. Study of African-American parents living in impoverished neighborhoods coping with racism
denied experiences of racism=more behavior problems
confronting racism=less rates of anxiety and depression
*behaviors based on cultural differences vs behaviors elicited because of environmental stress
Individualistic vs Interdependent Cultures
“Individualistic”: individual fulfillment, and to aid in reaching the goal, children are encouraged to make choices and to strive assertively to achieve them
“Interdependent” (sociocentric): well-being of the group, and personal assertiveness can be frowned on to the degree that it upsets group harmony
Ex. Difference b/w standing out and fitting in
USA = highest scores in individualistic culture
Asian and Latin American = highest scores in interdependent culture
The psychological costs:
Interdependence = experienced as suppression of individual development
Individualistic= experienced as alienation
Influence of Culture on Language Development
Purpose of language: communicate information, build and maintain relationships, and develop self-identity through the use of symbols that represent one’s family origin
Sequence:
Infants perceive speech sounds in different phonemes
Approx. 2 months: cooing
Approx. 4 to 6 months: babbling: referring to objects, expressing moods, or commanding actions
“extra talk” and repetition leading to language growth
extra talk def: talk that goes beyond simple directives and engages a child by highlighting and expanding on experiences
Communicative competence: refers to the knowledge needed to use language appropriately within a given culture
Language Development in Bilingual Children
“bilingualism deficit hypothesis” à exposure to two languages at such an early age “might have a delaying effect on the precursors to speech”
“bilingual advantage hypothesis” à bilingual speakers have been reported to outscore their peers on measures of cognitive flexibility
Influence of Ethnicity and Class on Cognitive Development
Studies involving “poor” and “non poor” of three ethnicities: African American, European American, and Latino
“For children to be interested, curriculum materials may well need to match the child’s prior experiences and environment. When a child from a different culture or language enters a classroom and finds that these components are removed from them, a conflict of culture, language, and values may occur.” (Saracho & Dayton, 1991, p.41)
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The Influence of Culture of Early Child Development Notes
The shift in perspective:
Thinking about families when designing service plans, educational programs, and policy decisions
“families matter” and “culture matters”
Rethinking “Culture”
Early calls for “cultural competency” sometimes put forward a list of observed parenting traits of “minority” cultures with little explanation of how these aspects of culture may be part of a whole and with little understanding of the cultural participants’ intention behind these actions. This type of, thinking though well meant, can solidify stereotypes instead of helping penetrate them.
“ironically, teachers may conscientiously try to create culturally sensitive environments for their students (e.g. through multicultural displays and activities) while simultaneously structuring classroom interaction patterns that violate invisible cultural norms of various nondominant groups. Teachers may also inadvertently criticize parents for adhering to a different set of ideals about children, families, and parenting.” (Greenfield, Raeff, &Quiroz, 1996, p.40)
ZERO TO THREE Definition:
Culture is a shared system of meaning, which includes values, beliefs, and assumptions expressed in daily interactions of individuals within a group through a definite pattern of language, behavior, customs, attitudes, and practices.
Expanding our understanding in the following ways:
- Cultures are dynamic webs of meaning, not lists of traits or customs
- The idea of cultural scripts as a tool with which to understand cultures
- Cultural scripts may be outside of awareness but are still powerful motivators for behavior
- We experience our own cultural scripts as undeniable reality
- Cultures are not static and unchanging
- Ethnicity is not the same as culture
- The key to better understanding other cultures may be the ability to elicit these cultural scripts from families and to be more aware of how our own scripts affect our work
Using Research Studies to Enhance Understanding
“system of shared meaning” “scientific outsider”
exploring how parents actually think culture reduced to a combo
about their children or their child-rearing of ethnicity and class, then
practices correlated with social,
cognitive, or language outcomes
Emic approach: attempt learning from the “cultural insiders”, in depth observations, conversations with families, or a combo.
*though relatively rare, is gaining more favor in child development studies
;finding of differences between groups are not necessarily a result of “cultural” differences but may be a result of other
differences in life experiences shaped by the families’ immersion in these ecological niches
ex. Research on African American families acts as a reminder that differences in parent-child interaction styles between ethnic
groups may be a function of the group’s place in wider society rather than a cultural difference per se.
ex. Study in psychological distress and parental stress
greater stress=mother control of child
ex. Study of African-American parents living in impoverished neighborhoods coping with racism
denied experiences of racism=more behavior problems
confronting racism=less rates of anxiety and depression
*behaviors based on cultural differences vs behaviors elicited because of environmental stress
Individualistic vs Interdependent Cultures
“Individualistic”: individual fulfillment, and to aid in reaching the goal, children are encouraged to make choices and to strive assertively to achieve them
“Interdependent” (sociocentric): well-being of the group, and personal assertiveness can be frowned on to the degree that it upsets group harmony
Ex. Difference b/w standing out and fitting in
USA = highest scores in individualistic culture
Asian and Latin American = highest scores in interdependent culture
The psychological costs:
Interdependence = experienced as suppression of individual development
Individualistic= experienced as alienation
Influence of Culture on Language Development
Purpose of language: communicate information, build and maintain relationships, and develop self-identity through the use of symbols that represent one’s family origin
Sequence:
Infants perceive speech sounds in different phonemes
Approx. 2 months: cooing
Approx. 4 to 6 months: babbling: referring to objects, expressing moods, or commanding actions
“extra talk” and repetition leading to language growth
extra talk def: talk that goes beyond simple directives and engages a child by highlighting and expanding on experiences
Communicative competence: refers to the knowledge needed to use language appropriately within a given culture
- who is thought to be the child’s main communication partner
- which interaction styles are encouraged/discouraged
- which topics of conversation are allowed or are forbidden
- how highly participants value talk
- what caretakers’ beliefs are about teaching language
- how consciously structured language teaching is in that culture
Language Development in Bilingual Children
“bilingualism deficit hypothesis” à exposure to two languages at such an early age “might have a delaying effect on the precursors to speech”
“bilingual advantage hypothesis” à bilingual speakers have been reported to outscore their peers on measures of cognitive flexibility
Influence of Ethnicity and Class on Cognitive Development
Studies involving “poor” and “non poor” of three ethnicities: African American, European American, and Latino
- Higher percentage of African American and Latino owned no children’s books
- Poverty status had more effect than ethnicity
- Of all three groups “non poor” families were far more likely to own three or more books
- 64% of European American mothers reported reading to their infants three or more times a week
- 38% of African Americans and 34% of Latinos reported the same
- Poor families of each group reported reading substantially less than the non poor families
“For children to be interested, curriculum materials may well need to match the child’s prior experiences and environment. When a child from a different culture or language enters a classroom and finds that these components are removed from them, a conflict of culture, language, and values may occur.” (Saracho & Dayton, 1991, p.41)
Reflection
With a broad understanding of the word "culture," list the groups that you view as part of your cultural identity:
In terms of ethnicity, I am German, French, Austrian, Czech, Solvak, Irish, Scottish, English, and Russian. Other types of cultures I consider myself a part of the college student, art student, and "weird nerd" cultures. I also consider myself part of a subculture that follows the clothing, hair, and music styles of the 80s. It's great, I love the big hair, jeans and boots, and rock n' roll of course. I suppose culture can really be defined as anything related to our identities.
What is your racial, ethnic, and cultural identity? What other aspects of identity are important to you?
Revisit question one for answer.
I think food is very important to identity. Actually most people identify with culture by the foods they cook and eat and the traditions they practice. Though people tend to criticize the concept of looks with identity, I think part of one's identity is connected to the way they look. Because everyone looks a different way, that's how they are identified. Every part of a person is connected to their identity, really.
What are some major forces, biological or environmental, that shaped your experiences?
Obviously my parents and family influenced the majority of my experiences. I suppose my home environment did too. I lived most of my life in a very rural, woodsy area. I never realized how much I appreciated that until I moved to the city.
What was your first experience with discrimination?
From what I remember, my first experience was in school. I was a bigger, chubbier girl, and I got teased for it. I used to go to an after school daycare where kids would take my snacks because I was "fat" and would "survive without a snack."
How have your experiences shaped your views of others (students, colleagues, parents, and others)?
I grew up having a hard time with trusting and believe that what people said about the way I looked was true. From my past experiences, I had very low self esteem. I never believed people who told me I was pretty and I wasn't fat. I had a hard time trusting people in general. Those experiences led me to believe that people were inherently judgmental and it led me to become very paranoid about how I looked, what I said, etc.
How have your personal experiences with culture differences shaped you professionally?
I always work on opposite ends of the spectrum. I either had no motivation as a result of the low self-esteem, or I was over determined to prove something to someone and would work until I lost it. Sometimes it resulted in marvelous work, but other time, it just resulted in a very defeated self.
How did your cultural experiences shape your career path?
I think it was more of the discrimination I faced that lead me into art and teaching. I had a difficult time expressing myself which led to art being my voice. I had always loved children because for some reason I related better with their innocence than I did with the personalities of people my own age, and I always imagined that I could become that teacher that I never had. One that students could trust and talk to if they had no one else to talk to. That's what shaped it.
In terms of ethnicity, I am German, French, Austrian, Czech, Solvak, Irish, Scottish, English, and Russian. Other types of cultures I consider myself a part of the college student, art student, and "weird nerd" cultures. I also consider myself part of a subculture that follows the clothing, hair, and music styles of the 80s. It's great, I love the big hair, jeans and boots, and rock n' roll of course. I suppose culture can really be defined as anything related to our identities.
What is your racial, ethnic, and cultural identity? What other aspects of identity are important to you?
Revisit question one for answer.
I think food is very important to identity. Actually most people identify with culture by the foods they cook and eat and the traditions they practice. Though people tend to criticize the concept of looks with identity, I think part of one's identity is connected to the way they look. Because everyone looks a different way, that's how they are identified. Every part of a person is connected to their identity, really.
What are some major forces, biological or environmental, that shaped your experiences?
Obviously my parents and family influenced the majority of my experiences. I suppose my home environment did too. I lived most of my life in a very rural, woodsy area. I never realized how much I appreciated that until I moved to the city.
What was your first experience with discrimination?
From what I remember, my first experience was in school. I was a bigger, chubbier girl, and I got teased for it. I used to go to an after school daycare where kids would take my snacks because I was "fat" and would "survive without a snack."
How have your experiences shaped your views of others (students, colleagues, parents, and others)?
I grew up having a hard time with trusting and believe that what people said about the way I looked was true. From my past experiences, I had very low self esteem. I never believed people who told me I was pretty and I wasn't fat. I had a hard time trusting people in general. Those experiences led me to believe that people were inherently judgmental and it led me to become very paranoid about how I looked, what I said, etc.
How have your personal experiences with culture differences shaped you professionally?
I always work on opposite ends of the spectrum. I either had no motivation as a result of the low self-esteem, or I was over determined to prove something to someone and would work until I lost it. Sometimes it resulted in marvelous work, but other time, it just resulted in a very defeated self.
How did your cultural experiences shape your career path?
I think it was more of the discrimination I faced that lead me into art and teaching. I had a difficult time expressing myself which led to art being my voice. I had always loved children because for some reason I related better with their innocence than I did with the personalities of people my own age, and I always imagined that I could become that teacher that I never had. One that students could trust and talk to if they had no one else to talk to. That's what shaped it.
Reflection of The Red Ballon film
I was very surprised by The Red Ballon. It was very beautiful and educational, and I never thought I would enjoy such an old film. Normally they are very slow moving and boring. But I found this one flowed very well.
The big message that I interpreted from the film was that the balloon was a representation of the young boy’s innocence and imagination or “childhood” as a whole. I came to this solution when I noticed that the only people who had balloons throughout the entire film were only children. However, while our main character and the little girl had balloons, the other “troublemaking” boys didn’t because they no longer had that essence of innocence and imagination like the main boy did. They had become subject to something, whether a situation in life, a turning point, or something else, they’ve already lost that part of them. And I think that, with the ay the story went, it was meant to illustrate how things in our lives (the troublemaking boys) will always try to take that part of innocence and childhood away (popping of the red balloon), but if someone is strong and surrounded by love (the swarm of balloons from other children), he or she can rise above the negative influences and keep that innocence and imagination. I believe this to be the message also because of the time period that this film was made: a few years after WWII ended. War itself is a large influence in taking innocence, childhood, and imagination away through tragedy, pain, and suffering. I think this film was meant to be an insight on how the war influenced people but through a child’s point of view.
The big message that I interpreted from the film was that the balloon was a representation of the young boy’s innocence and imagination or “childhood” as a whole. I came to this solution when I noticed that the only people who had balloons throughout the entire film were only children. However, while our main character and the little girl had balloons, the other “troublemaking” boys didn’t because they no longer had that essence of innocence and imagination like the main boy did. They had become subject to something, whether a situation in life, a turning point, or something else, they’ve already lost that part of them. And I think that, with the ay the story went, it was meant to illustrate how things in our lives (the troublemaking boys) will always try to take that part of innocence and childhood away (popping of the red balloon), but if someone is strong and surrounded by love (the swarm of balloons from other children), he or she can rise above the negative influences and keep that innocence and imagination. I believe this to be the message also because of the time period that this film was made: a few years after WWII ended. War itself is a large influence in taking innocence, childhood, and imagination away through tragedy, pain, and suffering. I think this film was meant to be an insight on how the war influenced people but through a child’s point of view.
How Arts Training Influences Cognition
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Hypothesis:
1) there are specific brain networks for different art forms
2) there is a general factor of interest or openness to the arts
3) children with high interest in the arts, and with training in those arts, develop high motivation
4) motivation sustains attention
5) high sustained motivation, while engaging in conflict-related tasks, improves cognition.
Element 1: Appreciation of Art Relates to Pleasure in Producing that Art
We tested the hypothesis that an appreciation of a specific type of art was related to pleasure in producing that type of art. We correlated responses to questionnaire items that assessed interest in perceiving and producing specific art forms.
Element 2: Appreciation of an Art Form Relates to General Aesthetic Interest
We tested the hypothesis that appreciation of specific types of art is related to general aesthetic interest. We computed a score for “general aesthetic interest” by calculating the average (“mean”) of non-specific artistic items (“I am creative,” “I am artistic,” “I show a lot of imagination”). We looked for correlations between this average score and each item that assessed interest in a specific art form.
Element 3: High Interest is Linked to High Motivation
This element links training in appropriate arts with motivation. The link between arts training and motivation, though plausible, remains speculative, and needs to be tested through experimental research. We postulate that children who have a high level of orienting sensitivity (openness) and at least normal interest in a particular art will have high motivation to receive training in that art.
Element 4: Motivation Sustains Attention
Our research has provided evidence that motivation sustains attention. We found, in children aged four-and-one-half and seven years old, that high levels of motivation, as induced by reward and feedback, led to strong improvements in sustained attention (Kieras, 2006). When feedback and reward were used to heighten motivation, children showed improved levels of alerting during a task. We found that children performing the task under motivating conditions sustained their attention over longer periods of time compared to children who performed the task in the absence of such motivating conditions.
We propose, based on these findings, that arts training for those with a high level of interest would allow for sustained attention, thereby increasing the opportunity for training to be effective.
Element 5: High Sustained Attention on Conflict Tasks Improves Cognition
We have published evidence that one form of attention training does, in fact, improve the underlying network that is involved in executive attention for effortful control of cognition and emotion (Rueda, et al, 2005). To examine the role of experience on the executive attentional network, we developed and tested a five-day training intervention that uses computerized exercises. The exercises were designed to be interesting and motivating to young children in just the way that we assume arts training to be for children with the appropriate interests.
Personal Response:
I find this study confusing to understand so far; yet I do understand some of it. My question is, what about the overlapping interests? For example, a person who enjoys all art forms from dancing, to painting, to music; if someone is interested in all of these arts, are they more motivated than say someone who is only interested in music?
I believe that, while scientific studies on these element can assist in understanding the relationship between arts training and cognition, many other factors are ignored because there are so many.
It is easy to say that appreciation leads to interests, which leads to motivation, which leads to higher sustained attention and improvement in cognition. However, what leads to the appreciation? One is not just born to appreciate art. And science cannot entirely answer the question because it is primarily cultural and social. Without that backstory, the hypothesis that "there is a general factor of interest or openness to the arts" is not fully resolved.
Hypothesis:
1) there are specific brain networks for different art forms
2) there is a general factor of interest or openness to the arts
3) children with high interest in the arts, and with training in those arts, develop high motivation
4) motivation sustains attention
5) high sustained motivation, while engaging in conflict-related tasks, improves cognition.
Element 1: Appreciation of Art Relates to Pleasure in Producing that Art
We tested the hypothesis that an appreciation of a specific type of art was related to pleasure in producing that type of art. We correlated responses to questionnaire items that assessed interest in perceiving and producing specific art forms.
Element 2: Appreciation of an Art Form Relates to General Aesthetic Interest
We tested the hypothesis that appreciation of specific types of art is related to general aesthetic interest. We computed a score for “general aesthetic interest” by calculating the average (“mean”) of non-specific artistic items (“I am creative,” “I am artistic,” “I show a lot of imagination”). We looked for correlations between this average score and each item that assessed interest in a specific art form.
Element 3: High Interest is Linked to High Motivation
This element links training in appropriate arts with motivation. The link between arts training and motivation, though plausible, remains speculative, and needs to be tested through experimental research. We postulate that children who have a high level of orienting sensitivity (openness) and at least normal interest in a particular art will have high motivation to receive training in that art.
Element 4: Motivation Sustains Attention
Our research has provided evidence that motivation sustains attention. We found, in children aged four-and-one-half and seven years old, that high levels of motivation, as induced by reward and feedback, led to strong improvements in sustained attention (Kieras, 2006). When feedback and reward were used to heighten motivation, children showed improved levels of alerting during a task. We found that children performing the task under motivating conditions sustained their attention over longer periods of time compared to children who performed the task in the absence of such motivating conditions.
We propose, based on these findings, that arts training for those with a high level of interest would allow for sustained attention, thereby increasing the opportunity for training to be effective.
Element 5: High Sustained Attention on Conflict Tasks Improves Cognition
We have published evidence that one form of attention training does, in fact, improve the underlying network that is involved in executive attention for effortful control of cognition and emotion (Rueda, et al, 2005). To examine the role of experience on the executive attentional network, we developed and tested a five-day training intervention that uses computerized exercises. The exercises were designed to be interesting and motivating to young children in just the way that we assume arts training to be for children with the appropriate interests.
Personal Response:
I find this study confusing to understand so far; yet I do understand some of it. My question is, what about the overlapping interests? For example, a person who enjoys all art forms from dancing, to painting, to music; if someone is interested in all of these arts, are they more motivated than say someone who is only interested in music?
I believe that, while scientific studies on these element can assist in understanding the relationship between arts training and cognition, many other factors are ignored because there are so many.
It is easy to say that appreciation leads to interests, which leads to motivation, which leads to higher sustained attention and improvement in cognition. However, what leads to the appreciation? One is not just born to appreciate art. And science cannot entirely answer the question because it is primarily cultural and social. Without that backstory, the hypothesis that "there is a general factor of interest or openness to the arts" is not fully resolved.
From the Manipulative Stage
The Preschool Years: Chapman
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From the Symbol Making Stage
No One's The Boss of My Painting: Louis
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“No One’s the Boss of My Painting:” A Model of the Early Development of Artistic Graphic Representation
Goal: to articulate a contemporary account of artistic growth and to illuminate how young children’s changing understanding and execution of the graphic representational task lead them to use paint in ways that might be termed “artistic.” ; understand developmental origins of graphic symbolization in paint
The multidimensional model of “painting development” presented in this report describes changes along three parallel but functionally independent dimensions: symbolic intentions, pictorial concepts, and expressive use of material.
Questioning the “epistemological appropriateness” of conceptualizing artistic development as a distinct phenomenon, Anna Kindler (2004a) calls for “a significantly revised approach to the developmental question” (p. 228). à What does this mean exactly?
Kindler: Louis:
-“artistic development;” the - young children’s changing
phenomenon is too abstract understanding of symbolic
and complex to examine empirically graphic representation leads
them to use paint in ways that
might be termed “artistic.”
When children are given the opportunity to paint:
Youngest: exploratory, and they often react with surprise at the visual effects of their actions
Older: increased sophistication in their pictorial strategies, and as they become more familiar with the expressive properties of
paint, they use it in service of their representational goals.
Ages Four through Seven:
-children’s graphic activity becomes increasingly organized by their symbolic intentions, and children make use of their
growing depiction skills and knowledge of the material to realize their graphic representational goals.
“Representation” refers to something that is not present literally, a “re-presentation” or re-telling of an idea, experience or object
Mental representation is distinguished from the process of “symbolic representation,” which uses external “vehicles” pictures, gestures, words to establish relationships with “referents” people, places, things
Development
Piaget Louis
-culturally independent -now understood to be powerfully
affected by external mediating
influences, including culture
Alternative contemporary perspectives on artistic growth suggest that artistic development is better understood as a journey along one of many possible pathways rather than as a relentless march towards the single endpoint of visual realism (Freedman, 1997).
Good Questions to Ponder:
What, then, is the point of talking about growth and change¾artistic or otherwise¾in terms of “development” if children’s behavior varies so dramatically under different conditions and in different domains?
Why not simply describe the myriad domain-specific “learning” processes involved in the acquisition of knowledge or the mediating influence of social and cultural resources and leave it at that?
Werner:
-characterized development not in terms of a succession of supra-individual cognitive structures, but as a process by which the
individual recognizes a wider range of possibilities while making choices that are increasingly dictated by longer-term goals and
priorities
-observed that developmental change is characterized by increased differentiation—recognition of a wider range of possibilities
—and increased integration actions that become more organized and goal-directed
Siegler
-noted that children, after initial success, employed a variety of strategies to solve a similar problem, precisely when a
conventional theory of learning might predict they would stick with successful strategies
-As children recognize a wider range of options and as conscious intentions increasingly dictate their choices, their approach to
cognitive tasks becomes, in Wernerian terms, more “differentiated” and “integrated.”
What’s Art Got to Do with It?
-How does one define art? Is art definable?
Artistic Graphic Representation in Early Childhood
As children explore the physical properties (capacity to leave a trace, viscosity), visual features (linearity, color), and the expressive qualities of various media, they discover similarities between their sensory and affective experiences with the materials and their world experience
Components of Models
-identifies three levels of nested components that characterize early painting development: “dimensions,” “indicators,” and “options”
-One of the three dimensions, pictorial concepts, concerns picture-making and depiction strategies. The remaining two dimensions
of painting development, which have not previously been considered as independent factors, are symbolic intentions and the
expressive use of paint.
CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE
“No One’s the Boss of My Painting:” A Model of the Early Development of Artistic Graphic Representation
Goal: to articulate a contemporary account of artistic growth and to illuminate how young children’s changing understanding and execution of the graphic representational task lead them to use paint in ways that might be termed “artistic.” ; understand developmental origins of graphic symbolization in paint
The multidimensional model of “painting development” presented in this report describes changes along three parallel but functionally independent dimensions: symbolic intentions, pictorial concepts, and expressive use of material.
Questioning the “epistemological appropriateness” of conceptualizing artistic development as a distinct phenomenon, Anna Kindler (2004a) calls for “a significantly revised approach to the developmental question” (p. 228). à What does this mean exactly?
Kindler: Louis:
-“artistic development;” the - young children’s changing
phenomenon is too abstract understanding of symbolic
and complex to examine empirically graphic representation leads
them to use paint in ways that
might be termed “artistic.”
When children are given the opportunity to paint:
Youngest: exploratory, and they often react with surprise at the visual effects of their actions
Older: increased sophistication in their pictorial strategies, and as they become more familiar with the expressive properties of
paint, they use it in service of their representational goals.
Ages Four through Seven:
-children’s graphic activity becomes increasingly organized by their symbolic intentions, and children make use of their
growing depiction skills and knowledge of the material to realize their graphic representational goals.
“Representation” refers to something that is not present literally, a “re-presentation” or re-telling of an idea, experience or object
Mental representation is distinguished from the process of “symbolic representation,” which uses external “vehicles” pictures, gestures, words to establish relationships with “referents” people, places, things
Development
Piaget Louis
-culturally independent -now understood to be powerfully
affected by external mediating
influences, including culture
Alternative contemporary perspectives on artistic growth suggest that artistic development is better understood as a journey along one of many possible pathways rather than as a relentless march towards the single endpoint of visual realism (Freedman, 1997).
Good Questions to Ponder:
What, then, is the point of talking about growth and change¾artistic or otherwise¾in terms of “development” if children’s behavior varies so dramatically under different conditions and in different domains?
Why not simply describe the myriad domain-specific “learning” processes involved in the acquisition of knowledge or the mediating influence of social and cultural resources and leave it at that?
Werner:
-characterized development not in terms of a succession of supra-individual cognitive structures, but as a process by which the
individual recognizes a wider range of possibilities while making choices that are increasingly dictated by longer-term goals and
priorities
-observed that developmental change is characterized by increased differentiation—recognition of a wider range of possibilities
—and increased integration actions that become more organized and goal-directed
Siegler
-noted that children, after initial success, employed a variety of strategies to solve a similar problem, precisely when a
conventional theory of learning might predict they would stick with successful strategies
-As children recognize a wider range of options and as conscious intentions increasingly dictate their choices, their approach to
cognitive tasks becomes, in Wernerian terms, more “differentiated” and “integrated.”
What’s Art Got to Do with It?
-How does one define art? Is art definable?
Artistic Graphic Representation in Early Childhood
As children explore the physical properties (capacity to leave a trace, viscosity), visual features (linearity, color), and the expressive qualities of various media, they discover similarities between their sensory and affective experiences with the materials and their world experience
Components of Models
-identifies three levels of nested components that characterize early painting development: “dimensions,” “indicators,” and “options”
-One of the three dimensions, pictorial concepts, concerns picture-making and depiction strategies. The remaining two dimensions
of painting development, which have not previously been considered as independent factors, are symbolic intentions and the
expressive use of paint.
From Adolescence Studies
ERIK ERIKSON
1902 - 1994
Dr. C. George Boeree
“Like native Americans, other Americans have also lost many of the rituals that once guided us through life. At what point are you an adult? When you go through puberty? Have your confirmation or bar mitzvah? Your first sexual experience? Sweet sixteen party? Your learner's permit? Your driver's license? High school graduation? Voting in your first election? First job? Legal drinking age? College graduation? When exactly is it that everyone treats you like an adult?
Consider some of the contradictions: You may be old enough to be entrusted with a two-ton hunk of speeding metal, yet not be allowed to vote; You may be old enough to die for your country in war, yet not be permitted to order a beer; As a college student, you may be trusted with thousands of dollars of student loans, yet not be permitted to choose your own classes.
In traditional societies (even our own only 50 or 100 years ago), a young man or woman looked up to his or her parents, relations, neighbors, and teachers. They were decent, hard-working people (most of them) and we wanted to be just like them.
Unfortunately, most children today look to the mass media, especially T.V., for role models. It is easy to understand why: The people on T.V. are prettier, richer, smarter, wittier, healthier, and happier than anybody in our own neighborhoods! Unfortunately, they aren't real. I'm always astounded at how many new college students are quickly disappointed to discover that their chosen field actually requires a lot of work and study. It doesn't on T.V. Later, many people are equally surprised that the jobs they worked so hard to get aren't as creative and glorious and fulfilling as they expected. Again, that isn't how it is on T.V. It shouldn't surprise us that so many young people look to the short-cuts that crime seems to offer, or the fantasy life that drugs promise.
Some of you may see this as an exaggeration or a stereotype of modern adolescence. I certainly hope that your passage from childhood to adulthood was a smooth one. But a lot of people -- myself and Erikson included -- could have used a dream quest.”
Personal Response:
This is true even today in the twenty-first century, and from what I observe, it only goes deeper and deeper. More and more generations hope for an easy way out as the media and celebrities seem to promise. Hard work and dedication is something they wish to avoid. Why is that? Is it because the older generations who worked hard and struggled resent the younger generations? They criticize and call younger people lazy and have the stereotypical view about them, and so the younger people just say, “Hey, if they think that, why should I work so hard to disprove them?” Is it because there has been this shift from admiring the hard work of the older generations to the fantasy of mass media and television where life is easy? So how exactly can that be fixed?
Epigenetic principle:
This principle says that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Our progress through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics, has determined. If we interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower.
Each stage involves certain developmental tasks that are psychosocial in nature. Although he follows Freudian tradition by calling them crises, they are more drawn out and less specific than that term implies. The child in grammar school, for example, has to learn to be industrious during that period of his or her life, and that industriousness is learned through the complex social interactions of school and family.
The various tasks are referred to by two terms. The infant's task, for example, is called "trust-mistrust." At first, it might seem obvious that the infant must learn trust and not mistrust. But Erikson made it clear that there it is a balance we must learn: Certainly, we need to learn mostly trust; but we also need to learn a little mistrust, so as not to grow up to become gullible fools!
Each stage has a certain optimal time as well. It is no use trying to rush children into adulthood, as is so common among people who are obsessed with success. Neither is it possible to slow the pace or to try to protect our children from the demands of life. There is a time for each task.
If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength which will help us through the rest of the stages of our lives. On the other hand, if we don't do so well, we may develop maladaptations and malignancies, as well as endanger all our future development. A malignancy is the worse of the two, and involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect of the task, such as a person who can't trust others. A maladaptation is not quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative, such as a person who trusts too much.
1902 - 1994
Dr. C. George Boeree
“Like native Americans, other Americans have also lost many of the rituals that once guided us through life. At what point are you an adult? When you go through puberty? Have your confirmation or bar mitzvah? Your first sexual experience? Sweet sixteen party? Your learner's permit? Your driver's license? High school graduation? Voting in your first election? First job? Legal drinking age? College graduation? When exactly is it that everyone treats you like an adult?
Consider some of the contradictions: You may be old enough to be entrusted with a two-ton hunk of speeding metal, yet not be allowed to vote; You may be old enough to die for your country in war, yet not be permitted to order a beer; As a college student, you may be trusted with thousands of dollars of student loans, yet not be permitted to choose your own classes.
In traditional societies (even our own only 50 or 100 years ago), a young man or woman looked up to his or her parents, relations, neighbors, and teachers. They were decent, hard-working people (most of them) and we wanted to be just like them.
Unfortunately, most children today look to the mass media, especially T.V., for role models. It is easy to understand why: The people on T.V. are prettier, richer, smarter, wittier, healthier, and happier than anybody in our own neighborhoods! Unfortunately, they aren't real. I'm always astounded at how many new college students are quickly disappointed to discover that their chosen field actually requires a lot of work and study. It doesn't on T.V. Later, many people are equally surprised that the jobs they worked so hard to get aren't as creative and glorious and fulfilling as they expected. Again, that isn't how it is on T.V. It shouldn't surprise us that so many young people look to the short-cuts that crime seems to offer, or the fantasy life that drugs promise.
Some of you may see this as an exaggeration or a stereotype of modern adolescence. I certainly hope that your passage from childhood to adulthood was a smooth one. But a lot of people -- myself and Erikson included -- could have used a dream quest.”
Personal Response:
This is true even today in the twenty-first century, and from what I observe, it only goes deeper and deeper. More and more generations hope for an easy way out as the media and celebrities seem to promise. Hard work and dedication is something they wish to avoid. Why is that? Is it because the older generations who worked hard and struggled resent the younger generations? They criticize and call younger people lazy and have the stereotypical view about them, and so the younger people just say, “Hey, if they think that, why should I work so hard to disprove them?” Is it because there has been this shift from admiring the hard work of the older generations to the fantasy of mass media and television where life is easy? So how exactly can that be fixed?
Epigenetic principle:
This principle says that we develop through a predetermined unfolding of our personalities in eight stages. Our progress through each stage is in part determined by our success, or lack of success, in all the previous stages. A little like the unfolding of a rose bud, each petal opens up at a certain time, in a certain order, which nature, through its genetics, has determined. If we interfere in the natural order of development by pulling a petal forward prematurely or out of order, we ruin the development of the entire flower.
Each stage involves certain developmental tasks that are psychosocial in nature. Although he follows Freudian tradition by calling them crises, they are more drawn out and less specific than that term implies. The child in grammar school, for example, has to learn to be industrious during that period of his or her life, and that industriousness is learned through the complex social interactions of school and family.
The various tasks are referred to by two terms. The infant's task, for example, is called "trust-mistrust." At first, it might seem obvious that the infant must learn trust and not mistrust. But Erikson made it clear that there it is a balance we must learn: Certainly, we need to learn mostly trust; but we also need to learn a little mistrust, so as not to grow up to become gullible fools!
Each stage has a certain optimal time as well. It is no use trying to rush children into adulthood, as is so common among people who are obsessed with success. Neither is it possible to slow the pace or to try to protect our children from the demands of life. There is a time for each task.
If a stage is managed well, we carry away a certain virtue or psychosocial strength which will help us through the rest of the stages of our lives. On the other hand, if we don't do so well, we may develop maladaptations and malignancies, as well as endanger all our future development. A malignancy is the worse of the two, and involves too little of the positive and too much of the negative aspect of the task, such as a person who can't trust others. A maladaptation is not quite as bad and involves too much of the positive and too little of the negative, such as a person who trusts too much.
Chart adapted from Erikson's 1959 Identity and the Life Cycle (Psychological Issues vol 1, #1)