Desarrollo de un repertorio representacional: el proceso del distanciamiento

Resumen

La hipótesis del distanciamiento se ha propuesto como una explicación de cómo se adquiere un importante aspecto del desarrollo psicológico: la competencia representational. La hipótesis es que el desarrollo cognitivo se ve favorecido por la competencia en el manejo de la capacidad cognitiva que permite separar al sujeto del entorno inmediato. La hipótesis se basa en dos tipos significativos de interacciones que los niñ experimentan: las interaccionescon objetosy situaciones, y las que implican relaciones interpersonales. Las estrategias de distanciamiento tienen que ver con la forma en que los padres se sirven de esos objetos y situaciones, así como de esas relaciones interpersonales, en sus actividades conjuntas con los niñ. Las investigacionesa que se alude en este artículo toman en consideración los problemas relacionados con la coherencia y los cambios en las creencias de los padres, así como su papel en el desarrollo de sistemas representacionales en el niño.

Abstract

The distancing hypothesis has been proposed as an explanatory system of how one aspect of psychological development—representational competence—is achieved. The hypothesis is that competence in cognitive acts that separate the individual from the immediate, perceptual environment will promote mental growth. The hypothesis relies on two significant types of interactions that children experience: Those with objects and situations; and those that are interpersonal interactions. The ways in which parents use these object—and interpersonal—interactions as focal teaching scenarios with their children comprise the distancing interactions. Research reported in this paper considers issues of parental consistency and changes in parental beliefs, and the ways in which consistency and change are related to children's developing representational systems.

Extended Summary

Mental representation is a major psychological growth dimension in early childhood. Mental representation moves the person from the constraints of perceptual experience into the realm of mental thought about situations and events. Psychological distancing is the hypothesis Sigel proposed to account for the child's movement toward this form of mental growth. Competence in the cognitive acts of mental representation is a product of child socialization experiences within the context of a culture. The discussion in this paper is on current cognitive research and influences of distancing experiences upon the acquisition and functioning of complex symbolic behaviors of distancing. Two categories of research studies analyzing the impact of parental distancing behaviors are discussed: Those that achieve socialization objectives through consistency of parents' responses. The second category of studies considers the impact on socialization when parental beliefs change. The primary data for both types of research studies are parents' verbal interactions with their children. The paper discusses how parental speech provides a specific structure for the child to attend and to respond, and thus constrains children's interactions and their experiences by placing specific cognitive demands on the child. These verbal constraints account, in part, for cultural diversity in the expression of a universal in mental growth: the cognitive tool of mental representation. The paper presents several cross-cultural examples of parental teaching strategies and relates these adult-child interactions to the objectives of the distancing hypothesis. In all of the models, the cognitive outcome is the child's representation of experience. These diverse examples illustrate adults' roles in promoting representation as a cognitive tool in children. These examples also illustrate that experience is represented in many dimensions, including the affective aspects of experience.

Palabras clave:

• Procesos cognitivos
• competencia representacional
• distanciamiento

Keywords:

• Cognitive processes
• representational competence
• distancing