Sociocultural Theory Of Behaviour Essay

Children’s behaviour is constantly changing and evolving as they learn about themselves and construct their own identities within different environments. The sociocultural theory acknowledges that social interactions are central to these continuous changes in thoughts and behaviour, varying significantly from one culture to the next. The key focus of this essay is to determine what behaviour is, with the consideration that behaviour is a socio-cultural construct and whether "Children’s capacity to choose appropriate behaviour is influenced by their developmental ability, temperament, interactions, life experiences and environmental factors” (Government of South Australia, 2004).
The sociocultural theory is fundamentally based around social

constructivism and was founded by Lev Vygotsky (1934). The theory suggests that interactions with others within a culture provide children with the ability to form their own view of the world (Krause, Bochner and Duchesne, 2007). Therefore children will develop and acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up their culture by interacting with a more knowledgeable other. Hence, these social interactions leading to continual changes in the way a child thinks and behaves as their learning is scaffolded through their individual zone of proximal development (ZPD) by adults and peers (Kearns, 2010). For instance if a child is experiencing difficulty completing a task and showing signs of anger or frustration a more knowledgeable other whether it be a parent, teacher or peer can intervene to share their own knowledge for an alternate way to complete the task or a more appropriate way to behave (Kearns, 2010). Consequently, if the scaffolding process is a success the child’s mastery level has increased at that particular task and he/she will be able to exhibit desirable behaviour when challenged by a similar predicament in the future (John-Steiner and Mahn, 1996).
Behaviour is presented in many forms and what is deemed acceptable or unacceptable depends largely on one’s developmental ability, culture, life experiences and environmental factors.

According to Bergner (2010) behaviour is commonly defined as an observable verbal or physical activity. To elaborate, all behaviour is describable and regarded as intentional if the person has a desire for a specific outcome or belief that the action will lead to an outcome (Bergner, 2010). For example comportment of everyday life and one’s actions towards another are all various forms behaviour; raising one’s hand before talking, deportment and manners, listening to loud music, taking turns when playing a game etc. Furthermore, based on Powell and Tod’s (2004) adapted Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model it is evident that children’s behaviour can be directly influenced by a range of situations and interactions. These include family, culture, school, religion and the broader community. Subsequently, as children’s behaviour is influenced by these interactions and situations, what becomes acceptable behaviour in one area may be deemed unacceptable in another area; clearly identifying that behaviour is a socio-cultural construct. Bronfenbrenner (1994) illustrates this when comparing individuals carrying out an array of activities; one child may simply walk out of the classroom when they need to go to the bathroom as this is acceptable and a cultural norm, whilst another will raise their hand

and ask for permission first, as this is believed to be basic classroom protocol. However, if either family witnessed the other they could consider the behaviour to be unacceptable and vice versa. Another example is how children interact with each other in the playground environment; the social influence of family and peers can affect a child’s behaviour and interactions with others, especially if one child is outgoing and another timid because the way the two children perceive the same scenario can differ immensely on their personality and upbringing (Doherty and Hughes, 2009).
When analysing sociocultural theory alongside the Bronfenbrenner’s conceptual framework in conjunction with children’s behaviour it is clear that "Children’s capacity to choose appropriate behaviour is influenced by their developmental ability, temperament, interactions, life experiences and environmental factors” (Government of South Australia, 2004). For that reason, no two children will respond identically to a situation as all children involved have been subject to different life experiences and environmental factors. Likewise, each child’s capacity to choose an appropriate behaviour will depend greatly on their developmental ability as all children’s learning is ongoing and each child will move towards the desired outcome at a different pace, constructing on their own prior knowledge or experience (Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009).