Jerome Bruner is one of the architects of the revolution that suffered cognitive psychology behind classical computer paradigms. In his opinion, psychology had also fallen into a computational and mechanistic paradigm. On the contrary, Bruner advocated a discipline based on cultural psychology, since no mental activity was independent of the social context. Thus, for him, it was impossible to understand what was going through our minds regardless of the cultural context.
This author highlights his great contributions to the psychology of education, from cognitive psychology to learning theories. Jerome Bruner analyzed the important implications of cultural psychology for education, which sought to bring about changes in an educational system based on reductionist paradigms, accompanied by routine learning, betting on a constructivist and person-centered education.
- To achieve this.
- Jerome Bruner presented 9 assumptions that the psychology of education must adopt to improve the education system.
- Of which we will talk in detail below.
First, we present one of the main ideas of Bruner’s thinking: every creation of knowledge is linked to the perspective in which it is built, the meanings are not absolute and objective, they depend to a large extent on the point of view. Does that mean? It means understanding it with your other possibilities, and it will be right or wrong, depending on the perspective of the context.
Interpretations of meaning will show us standardized ways to build reality in a culture through each individual’s cognitive filter, so that each of us ends up generating similar and, at the same time, unique constructs.
The following premise refers to the limits that exist in the creation of meaning, Jerome Bruner pointed out two great limitations that worked in the construction of reality, the first is inherent in the very nature of human functioning: our evolutionary process has specialized us in knowing, thinking, feeling and perceiving in a certain way.
And the second limit refers to the restrictions imposed by our very symbolic system with which we perform mental operations, this limitation is based on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which states that thought takes its form from the language in which it is formulated or expressed.
When we talk about building knowledge and creating meaning, we have to start from a constructivist paradigm, which states that the reality in which we live is being built. In Nelson Goodman’s words, “reality is made, not found. “
Education should be based on helping children obtain cultural tools to create meaning in a critical and adaptive way, in this sense we can approach the metaphor that the education system aims to create good architects and knowledge builders, not transmit knowledge itself. .
The exchange of knowledge, like any human exchange, implies the existence of a community that interacts, for example, children, mainly through this interaction with others, discover what culture is and how the world is conceived, it is often said that this interdependent community was born through the gift of language, but it is actually due to the strong intersubjectivity between individuals. Intersubjectivity based on human ability to understand the minds of others (theory of the mind)
This assumption is based on the idea that the mission of any collective cultural activity is to create external works or products. The benefits of the culture of outsourcing contribute to creating a social identity, which facilitates collective functioning and solidarity.
These outsourced works create a set of shared and negotiable ways of thinking that will facilitate cooperative operation towards the same goal, the education system relies heavily on the use of this outsourcing (as books) to convey a way of acting in line with the cultures in which this education is taught.
Education, however, whatever its form and in any culture, always has consequences on the later life of the recipient. We also know that these consequences are fundamental to the individual, and we even know that, in a less personal sense, they are instruments of culture and its various institutions.
This assumption is to emphasize that education is never neutral, because it will always have social and economic consequences, which will be instrumental for some powers or for others, so education would be a political issue in its broadest conception.
Jerome Bruner’s seventh postulate says that as education institutionalizes in the developed world, it behaves as such and institutions tend to do the same. What sets it apart from other institutions is the role it plays: preparing children to participate more actively in other culture-related institutions. .
The institutionalization of education has many implications for education itself, so its nature will determine the role of each of the actors in education, status and respect granted to it.
Perhaps the most universal element of human experience is the phenomenon of?Or the concept of himself, do we know him? I, through our own inner experience and recognize the existence of others, in the minds of others. Even some movements that arise from social psychology suggest that the concept of me only makes sense from the existence of one identity in others.
Education plays a central role in the formation of self-concept and self-esteem, so it is essential to offer an education that takes into account the consequences of formal education on the formation of personal identity.
Jerome Bruner’s latest postulate alludes to the way individuals think and feel that they rely on creating the individual world in which they live, for this author a fundamental part of this process is the narrative ability to create stories. one of Bruner’s great works; influence of storytelling on cultural psychology.
It has always been tactically assumed that narrative ability is given in a “natural” way, which does not need to be taught, but a more complete look shows that this idea is not true. Education will significantly change people’s skills and narrative quality. It is advisable to monitor the influence of the education system on the narrative.