The cultural origins of human cognition / Michael Tomasello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tomasello, Michael, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognition and culture.

Cognition in children.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Bridging the gap between evolutionary theory and cultural psychology, Michael Tomasello argues that the roots of the human capacity for symbol-based culture are based in a cluster of uniquely human cognitive capacities. These include capacities for understanding that others have intentions of their own, and for imitating, not just what someone else does, but what someone else has intended to do. Tomasello further describes with authority and ingenuity how these capacities work over evolutionary and historical time to create the kind of cultural artifacts and settings within which each new generation of children develops.

Contents:

Contents; 1. A Puzzle and a Hypothesis; 2. Biological and Cultural Inheritance; 3. Joint Attention and Cultural Learning; 4. Linguistic Communication and Symbolic Representation; 5. Linguistic Constructions and Event Cognition; 6. Discourse and Representational Redescription; 7. Cultural Cognition; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674660328

0674660323

9780674044371

0674044371