ROLE THEORY

The social role is a sociological concept that refers to the behavioral patterns that society
imposes and expects from an individual (social actor) in a given situation. The role has the
function of separating what we are (identity) from what we represent (role).

According to the first meaning of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language , the word role means
"function that someone or something fulfills", and comes from the English role.

DEFINITION

Role theory, also called social function, has been developed mainly in the United States. Some
of the first concepts about it are stated by William James , although the thinkers Charles Cooley
and George Herbert Mead are its direct authors. This theory establishes that every person who
participates in a certain social situation faces specific expectations that demand specific
responses from them. Each situation has important pressure mechanisms to ensure that these
responses are appropriate, just as each area of life in society presents different expectations.

Roles, therefore, are social creations, the way in which individuals and institutions relate, which
are also another social creation. The main institutions are the family, education, religion, politics
(the state) and the economy. These social institutions have implicit norms (behavioral
guidelines) that individuals accept and assimilate, since if they do not follow these guidelines,
they may be rejected or even expelled from the group.

It is, therefore, necessary to explain the relationship between norms and roles: norms regulate
the behavior of individuals and refer to both prescriptions and proscriptions. These standards of
behavior emanate from institutions and it is individuals who legitimize their moral value and who
respect and comply with them to avoid group rejection and/or exclusion. Three types of behavior
derive from norms:

 Required behavior
 Allowed behavior
 Prohibited behavior

Roles translate the so-called institutions to an active level, that is, they allow us to enter and exit
the various social realities that are presented to us on a daily basis and in life in general. To do
this, each individual accepts the regulations and applies them in each of these social situations.
That is, we assume the role voluntarily to achieve group acceptance.

On the one hand, the existence of roles is restrictive due to the need to follow a script
established and/or assumed by the group, but at the same time it is also liberating since it
provides social tools to navigate the various social realities with ease.

The role played may or may not coincide with the behavior expected from the individual. When it
matches, it is called the expected role.
ROLE AND IDENTITY

The assumption of a certain role allows us to distance ourselves from our identity and also
enables us to face certain situations in daily life.

It should be noted that, if we define the role as behavioral patterns imposed externally on the
individual and related to the expectations of others, the concept of role would have no
relationship with the individual himself; However, both role and personality interact and the way
a role is performed depends directly on personality. For Rodríguez Caamaño (2001), "the role is
always being defined in terms of the expectations of others, never in terms of the characteristics
of the subject."

Peter L. Berger says that every role has its inner discipline. The role forms, determines and
models both the action and the actor. We normally become the role we play. We not only act
like the role but we feel like it. According to George H. Mead , since most roles have been
assigned to us socially, this assumes that the origin of the discovery of one's self is the same as
that of the discovery of society. In other words, identity is not something determined, but is
conferred in acts of social recognition. This does not mean the denial of the genetic load with
which we are born.

ROLE AND STATUS

Talcott Parsons defines society as "a process of interaction between individuals" and analyzes
this interaction from the perspective of status and role. Social status refers to the position of the
individual with respect to others in the social structure, which is usually determined based on the
cultural or economic capacity of the individual and corresponds to a static vision of the subject;
while the role, which is dynamic, refers to the behavioral expectations of the individual in their
relationships with others. We could, therefore, say that status is structural in nature while role is
normative in nature.

Role and status make up the social position of individuals and, therefore, are inseparable
concepts.

PRINCIPLES MODELS OF ROLE THEORY

According to sociologist Bruce Biddle (1986), the five main models of role theory are the
following:

 The approach to role theory in functionalism comes mainly from anthropology. It defines
role as a series of expectations that society has on an individual. A series of consensuses
are established that determine which behaviors are appropriate and which are not. Each
social status is required to have a specific behavioral role.

 Role theory in symbolic interactionism . For symbolic interactionism, through permanent

interaction, the logic of everyday situations is built that establish what others expect from us
and what we expect from others. Compared to behaviorism, interactionism considers that
 the patterns of behavior of a subject are not an automatic response to stimuli of external
origin, but rather a subjective construction about the subject, about others and about the
social demands that take place during the daily life.

 Role theory in structuralism . Emphasizes the role of society in defining roles, rather than
the individual. It pays little attention to given norms and focuses on social structures
conceived as stable organizations of groups of people who share the same patterns of
behavior.

 Organizational role theory. Examines how roles develop in social organizations. It focuses
on pre-established social systems, oriented by the type of tasks performed or by the
hierarchy system. In this type of organizations, roles are identified with social position and
generate expectations of a normative nature.

 Cognitive role theory. It is one that establishes the relationship between expectations and
behaviors. Peter L. Berger considers that "a role can be defined as a typical response to a
symbolic expectation" and that "society has defined the fundamental symbolism in
advance."

"Role theory, when carried to its logical conclusions, does much more than provide us with a
convenient shorthand for the description of different social activities. It provides us with a
sociological anthropology, that is, a vision of man based on his existence in society. This vision
tells us that man plays tragic roles in the great drama of society. The person is seen and judged
as a repertoire of roles, each appropriately provided with a given identity. Which calls into
question one of the favorite assumptions about the self: its continuity. Therefore, still speaking in
sociological terms, if we want to find out who an individual "really" is in this kaleidoscope of roles
and identities, we can answer only by enumerating the situations in which said individual is one
thing and those in which he is another."

LEARNING THE ROLE

Learning roles is carried out through interaction with other human beings, it is progressive and
occurs within the socialization process . We first assume the roles of "significant others," those
who treat us intimately and whose attitudes are decisive for the formation of our self-concept.
Subsequently, we discover the expectations that the entire society directs towards us and, by
acquiring this awareness, we learn to play the roles corresponding to the different areas in
which our lives develop. The acquisition of this social identity is managed in a more subjective,
which allows the individual to adapt to the different roles with which he will have to live.

ATTACHED ROLE AND ACQUIRED ROLE

A person can embody two types of roles depending on whether they exercise it voluntarily or
forcefully.
The assigned role does not depend on the will of the person and is assumed (ethnicity,
nationality, sex) while the acquired role requires activity or effort on the part of the person who
executes it and depends on his or her own decision, although it is worth keeping in mind that in
certain cases In this way, group pressure forces people to behave as determined by each role.

In any case, at some points the boundaries between ascribed and acquired roles are not clear.

CONFLICTS AND AMBIGUITY BETWEEN ROLES

When external expectations about the fulfillment of the behavior associated with a certain role
agree with one's own expectations, the role is adequately developed and accepted by everyone;
However, when this does not occur, what we call role conflict appears.

This conflict can be internal when it arises from the individual himself, external or a combination
of both factors. Moreland and Levine (1982) differentiate between:

 Inter-role conflict: originates when playing a role is incompatible with the performance of
other roles.

 Intra-role conflict: reflects the collision between expectations with different origins but
applied to the same role. They may be your own expectations or those of other subjects
involved.

On the other hand, we speak of role ambiguity when the external and own expectations
regarding the behavioral patterns associated with the role are not defined.

Both role conflict and role ambiguity can cause what Hackman and Secord (1966) define as role
strain: “discomfort experienced by individuals when trying to meet the behavioral expectations
assigned to a role.”

To avoid this psychological discomfort, individuals try to play roles that match their beliefs and
values, although this is not always possible.

Rizzo, House and Lirtzman (1970) developed a scale to evaluate role conflict and role
ambiguity. This evaluation is carried out from two perspectives, that of congruence-
incongruence and that of compatibility-incompatibility of the requirements of a role.

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF THE ROLE

With social transformations, there have been revaluations and devaluations of certain functions
and role criteria. From close ties of affection, recognition and admiration, we have moved on to
the exchange of products: money in exchange for a service or knowledge. We observed that in
the past authority was more linked to the role played than to personal merit. This evolution has
not been the same in the different areas of society; it has affected large cities and rural centers
differently or at different rates. Regarding professions, some have been enhanced and others
degraded.
The perception of figures such as the priest, the teacher, the doctor, the policeman, and the
politician, whose social roles had to do with social construction, has changed. Since modernity,
a transformation of their functions has occurred; economic value is added to social value, which
changes the perception we have of them. Some of these socioeconomic changes affect
institutions as deep-rooted as education, where in recent years the change in the role of teacher
has undergone enormous variation. He has gone from being a revered figure as a guarantor of
cultural continuity and transmission, to managing himself in a field that confronts him with
multicultural social diversity, and a very stressful technological reality. Parents used to hold the
teacher in high esteem and today we very frequently see teachers complaining about a lack of
respect and support from students and parents. It has gone from being a respected role to a
questioned role.

GENDER ROLE

Gender roles, according to Philip Rice “are external expressions of masculinity or femininity in
social settings; that is, the way we behave depending on whether we are a man or a woman.”

These roles depend on three types of influences:

 Biological: differentiation between man or woman by genitals.

 Cognitive: sexual differentiation takes place gradually as children learn to be men or women
depending on their culture and their interpretation of it.
 Environmental: children learn sexually typified behavior in the same way they learn any
other behavior, that is, through rewards or punishments, imitation, indoctrination,
identification with the parent of the same sex, etc.

Despite the existence of biological differences between men and women, gender roles refer to
those differences developed in a sociocultural way. Understanding one's own gender is
achieved approximately at 7 years of age.

There are stereotypes related to gender roles and they refer to what men or women should be
or do based on their sex and the culture to which they belong. Stereotypes present problems
since they do not fit reality, they define what it means to be a man or woman within very marked
limits, they tend to perpetuate characteristics that are not always desirable and limit the roles
that men and women can play. These stereotypes can be related to the physical characteristics
of men and women, the games associated with each sex, the type of work, the expected
behavior and can also be cognitive.

Paul Bohannan describes the distribution of gender roles as follows: In all societies, gender is a
primary criterion for the assignment of social roles. There are two things that are unequivocal:
first, the procreative and reproductive roles of the two sexes are different (this may or may not
be altered in the future); Second, most economic, political, and religious role assignments have
a gender component that can change with cultural needs and demands.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Theory

Behaviorism, with its emphasis on experimental methods, focuses on

variables that can be observed, measured and manipulated and rejects
everything that is subjective, internal and unavailable (mental). In the
experimental method, the standard procedure is to manipulate one variable
and then measure its effects on another. All of this leads to a theory of
personality that says that one's environment causes our behavior.

Bandura considered this to be a little too simple for the phenomenon he

observed (aggression in adolescents) and therefore decided to add a little more
to the formula: he suggested that the environment causes the behavior; true,
but that behavior causes the environment as well. He defined this concept with
the name of reciprocal determinism : the world and a person's behavior
accuse each other.

Later, he went a step further. He began to consider personality as an

interaction between three “things”: the environment, behavior, and the
person's psychological processes. These processes consist of our ability to
harbor images in our minds and in language. From the moment he introduces
imagination in particular, he stops being a strict behaviorist and begins to
approach the cognitivists. In fact, he is usually considered the father of the
cognitive movement.

Adding imagination and language to the mix allows Bandura to theorize much
more effectively than, say, B.F. Skinner regarding two things that many
people consider “the strong core” of the human species: learning by
observation (modeling) and self-regulation.

Learning by observation or modeling

Of Bandura's hundreds of studies, one group stands above the rest, the Bobo
Doll Studies . He did it from a film by one of his students, where a young
student was just hitting a silly doll. In case you don't know, a booby doll is an
inflatable egg-shaped creature with a certain weight on its base that makes it
wobble when hit. Currently they have Darth Vader painted, but at that time it
had the clown “Bobo” as the protagonist.

The young woman hit the doll, shouting “stupid!” He hit him, sat on him, hit
him with a hammer and did other things, shouting various aggressive phrases.
Bandura showed the film to a group of kindergarten children who, as you can
imagine, jumped for joy when they saw it. Afterwards they were allowed to
play. In the game room, of course, there were several observers with pens and
folders, a new silly doll, and some small hammers.

And you will be able to predict what the observers noted: a large chorus of
children shamelessly beating the silly doll. They hit him shouting “stupid!”,
they sat on him, they hit him with hammers and so on. In other words, they
imitated the young woman in the movie, and quite accurately.

This might seem like an experiment with little input at first, but consider for a
moment: these children changed their behavior without initially having
reinforcement aimed at exploiting said behavior! And while this may not seem
extraordinary to any parent, teacher, or casual observer of children, it didn't fit
very well with standard behavioral learning theories. Bandura called the
phenomenon observational learning or modeling, and his theory is usually
known as the social theory of learning.
Bandura carried out a large number of variations on the study in question: the
model was rewarded or punished in various ways in different ways; children
were rewarded for their imitations; The model was changed for another less
attractive or less prestigious one and so on. In response to criticism that the
clown was made to be “hit,” Bandura even made a movie where a girl hit a
real clown. When the children were led to the other playroom, they found
what they were looking for…a real clown! They proceeded to kick him, hit
him, hit him with a hammer, etc.

All of these variants allowed Bandura to establish that there are certain steps
involved in the modeling process:

1. Attention . If you're going to learn something, you need to be paying

attention. In the same way, anything that hinders attention will result in a
detriment to learning, including observational learning. If, for example, you
are sleepy, drugged, sick, nervous or even “hyper”, you will learn less well.
The same thing happens if you are distracted by a competitive stimulus.

Some of the things that influence attention have to do with the properties of
the model. If the model is colorful and dramatic, for example, we pay more
attention. If the model is attractive or prestigious or appears to be particularly
competent, we will pay more attention. And if the model is more like us, we
will pay more attention. These types of variables directed Bandura towards the
examination of television and its effects on children.

2. Retention . Second, we must be able to retain (remember) what we have

paid attention to. This is where imagination and language come into play: we
store what we have seen the model do in the form of mental images or verbal
descriptions. Once “archived,” we can resurface the image or description so
that we can reproduce it with our own behavior.

3. Reproduction . At this point, we're just there daydreaming. We must

translate the images or descriptions to the current behavior. Therefore, the first
thing we must be able to do is reproduce the behavior. I can spend a whole
day watching an Olympic skater doing his job and not be able to reproduce his
jumps, since I don't know how to skate at all! On the other hand, if I could
skate, my performance would actually improve if I watched better skaters. that
I.
Another important issue regarding reproduction is that our ability to imitate
improves with practice of the behaviors involved in the task. And another
thing: our skills improve even just by imagining ourselves doing the behavior!
Many athletes, for example, imagine the act they are going to do before
carrying it out.
4. Motivation . Even with all this, we still won't do anything unless we are
motivated to imitate; that is, unless we have good reasons to do so. Bandura
mentions a number of reasons:

0. Past reinforcement , such as traditional or classical behaviorism.

a. Promised reinforcements (incentives) that we can imagine.

b. Vicarious reinforcement , the possibility of perceiving and recovering
the model as a reinforcer.

Note that these reasons have traditionally been considered those things that
“cause” learning. Bandura tells us that these are not so much causative as
samples of what we have learned. That is, he considers them more as motives.

Of course, negative motivations also exist, giving us reasons not to imitate:

0. Past punishment .
a. Promised punishment (threats)
b. Vicarious punishment .

Like most classical behaviorists, Bandura says that punishment in its various
forms does not work as well as reinforcement and, in fact, has a tendency to
backfire.

Self-regulation

Self-regulation (controlling our own behavior) is the other cornerstone of

human personality. In this case, Bandura suggests three steps:

1. Self-observation . We see ourselves, our behavior and take clues from it.

2. Judgment . We compare what we see with a standard. For example, we can

compare our actions with other traditionally established ones, such as “rules of
etiquette.” Or we can create new ones, like “I will read a book a week.” Or we
can compete with others, or with ourselves.

3. Auto-response . If we have done well in the comparison with our standard,

we give reward responses to ourselves. If we don't come out well, we will
give ourselves punitive self-responses. These self-responses can range from
the most obvious extreme (saying something bad to ourselves or working late)
to the more covert one (feelings of pride or shame).

A very important concept in psychology that could be well understood with

self-regulation is self-concept (better known as self-esteem). If over the years,
we see that we have acted more or less according to our standards and have
had a life full of personal rewards and praise, we will have a pleasant self-
concept (high self-esteem). If, on the contrary, we have always seen ourselves
as incapable of reaching our standards and punishing ourselves for it, we will
have a poor self-concept (low self-esteem).

Note that behaviorists generally consider reinforcement as effective and

punishment as fraught with problems. The same goes for self-punishment.
Bandura sees three possible results of excessive self-punishment:

Compensation . For example, a superiority complex and delusions of

grandeur.
Inactivity . Apathy, boredom, depression.
Exhaust . Drugs and alcohol, television fantasies or even the most radical
escape, suicide.
The above has some resemblance to the unhealthy personalities that Adler and
Horney talked about; the aggressive type, the submissive type and the
avoidant type respectively.

Bandura's recommendations for people suffering from poor self-concepts arise

directly from the three steps of self-regulation:

Concerning self-observation . know yourself!. Make sure you have an

accurate picture of your behavior.
Concerning standards . Make sure your standards are not set too high. Do
not we embark in a road to failure. However, standards that are too low are
meaningless.
Concerning self-response . Use personal rewards, not self-punishments.
Celebrate your victories, don't deal with your failures.

Therapy

Self-control therapy

The ideas on which self-regulation is based have been incorporated into a

therapeutic technique called self-control therapy. It has been quite successful
with relatively simple habit problems such as smoking, overeating, and study
habits.

1. Tables (records) of behavior. Self-observation requires us to note types of

behavior, both before we start and after. This act includes things as simple as
counting how many cigarettes we smoke in a day to more complex
behavioral diaries . By using journals, we take note of details; the when and
where of the habit. This will allow us to have a more concrete vision of those
situations associated with our habit: do I smoke more after meals, with coffee,
with certain friends, in certain places...?

2. Environmental planning. Having a log and journals will make it easier for
us to take the next step: alter our environment. For example, we can remove or
avoid those situations that lead us to bad behavior: removing the ashtrays,
drinking tea instead of coffee, divorcing our smoking partner... We can look
for the time and place that are best to acquire better alternative behaviors:
where And when do we realize that we study better? And so on.

3. Self-contracts. Finally, we commit to compensating ourselves when we

stick to our plan and punishing ourselves if we don't. These contracts must be
written in front of witnesses (by our therapist, for example) and the details
must be very well specified: “I will go to dinner on Saturday night if I smoke
fewer cigarettes this week than last. If I don't do it, I'll stay home working.”

We might also invite other people to monitor our rewards and punishments if
we know we won't be too strict on ourselves. But be careful: this can lead to
the end of our relationships as we try to brainwash them in an attempt to get
them to do things the way we would like!

Modeling Therapy

However, the therapy for which Bandura is best known is modeling. This
theory suggests that if you choose someone with a psychological disorder and
have them observe another person who is trying to deal with similar problems
in a more productive way, the former will learn by imitating the latter.

Bandura's original research on the subject involves work with herpephobes

(people with neurotic fears of snakes). The client is led to observe through a
glass window that overlooks a laboratory. In this space, there is nothing but a
chair, a table, a box on top of the table with a lock and a snake clearly visible
inside. Then, the person in question sees another person (an actor)
approaching, slowly and fearfully heading towards the box. At first he acts
very frightening; He shakes himself several times, tells himself to relax and
breathe easily, and takes one step at a time toward the snake. You may stop
along the way a couple of times; retreat in panic, and start again. Finally, he
reaches the point of opening the box, picks up the snake, sits on the chair and
grabs it by the neck; everything stops while relaxing and giving calm
instructions.

After the client has seen all this (no doubt with his mouth open throughout the
entire observation), he is invited to try it himself. Imagine, he knows that the
other person is an actor (no deception here; just modeling!) And yet, many
people, chronic phobics, embark on the entire routine from the first try, even
when they have seen the scene alone once. This, of course, is a powerful
therapy.

One drawback of the therapy was that it is not so easy to get the rooms, the
snakes, the actors, etc., all together. So Bandura and his students tried
different versions of the therapy using recordings of actors and even appealed
to the imagination of the scene under the tutelage of therapists. These methods
worked almost as well as the original.

1.- CHARACTERIZATION

1.- What it consists of.

Various studies on childhood have been carried out in recent times.

Philosophers, psychologists and other specialists have put forward different theories about the
nature of development and the influence of such theories on how children develop and learn.

The divergences between these theories have given rise to difficulties in finding the most
appropriate educational program model for early ages.

Some of them focus on physical, intellectual or cognitive development, others are mostly
related to social or emotional development and, although there are some related to
personality development, none of them offer a complete explanation of the different aspects
of child development and Therefore, they cannot fully guide parents and teachers on ways to
achieve better development in children.

Vygotsky's psychological thought arises as a response to the prevailing division between two
projects: the idealist and the naturalist, which is why he proposes a scientific psychology that
seeks reconciliation between both positions or projects. His contributions today take on
greater relevance due to the differences between existing approaches within cognitive
psychology. Vygotsky rejects the reduction of psychology to a mere accumulation or
association of stimuli and responses.

Vygotsky's psychology considers the activity of the subject, and he does not limit himself to
responding to stimuli, but rather uses his activity to transform them. To modify the stimuli, the
subject uses mediating instruments. It is culture that provides the necessary tools to be able to
modify the environment; Furthermore, since culture is fundamentally constituted by signs or
symbols, these act as mediators of actions.

“For Vygotsky, the social context influences learning more than attitudes and beliefs; It has a
profound influence on how you think and what you think. The context is part of the
development process and, as such, shapes cognitive processes. …the social context must be
considered at various levels: 1.- The immediate interactive level, constituted by the
individual(s) with whom the child interacts at those moments. The structural level, constituted
by the social structures that influence the child, such as the family and school. 3.- The general
cultural or social level, constituted by society in general, such as language, the numerical
system and technology” [1] .

The influence of the context is decisive in the development of the child; For example: a child
who grows up in a rural environment, where his relationships are only limited to family ties,
will have a different development than one who is surrounded by more favorable cultural
environments. The rural child will develop his or her physical control and knowledge of the
countryside more quickly; that of the urban environment will have a greater approach to
cultural and technological aspects.

1.2.- General features.

Relationship between learning and development.

For Vygotsky, the child's thinking is gradually structured; maturation influences whether the
child can do certain things or not, so he considered that there are maturation requirements to
be able to determine certain cognitive achievements, but not necessarily maturation. totally
determine the development. Not only can development affect learning, but learning can affect
development. Everything depends on the existing relationships between the child and his
environment, which is why the child's level of progress must be considered, but also present
information that continues to promote progress in his development. In some areas, it is
necessary to accumulate a greater amount of learning before any can be developed or a
qualitative change can be manifested.

Considering the above, the conception of development presented by Vygotsky on the higher
psychic functions, these appear twice in the cultural development of the child: Once on the
social level, as a function shared between two people (the child and the other), as a function
interpsychological and as a function of a single individual, as an intrapsychological function, in
a second moment. This transition is achieved through the positive characteristics of the
context and the action of “others”, as well as what the subject has already formed as a
consequence of education and previous experiences.

This complex relationship refers to the category “Zone of Proximal Development”, defined by
this psychologist as “the distance between the actual level of development, determined by the
ability to independently solve a problem, and the level of potential development, determined
through of solving a problem under the guidance of an adult or in collaboration with another
more capable peer. In this analysis we can appreciate the mediating and essential role of
teachers in the teaching-learning process and child development.
Vygotsky's conception of the development of man's higher psychic functions was the first
systematic attempt to restructure psychology on the basis of a cultural-historical approach to
the human psyche. It emerged as a contrast to two fundamental ideas; on the one hand to the
positions about development and on the other to the biologicalist positions about the
development of culture as a process independent of the real history of society.

Vygotsky, breaking with the conceptions of child development predominant at the time, tried
to emphasize the peculiarities of the higher psychic functions and the ways to achieve the
study of their true nature.

In this sense, he clearly differentiates the process of biological evolution of animal species that
led to the emergence of man and the process of historical development through which that
primitive man became a cultured man.

According to this general perspective, the concept of ZPD (potential development zone) allows
us to understand the following:

1. That children can participate in activities that they do not fully understand and that they are
incapable of doing individually.

2. That in real problem-solving situations, there are no predetermined steps for the solution or
fixed roles of the participants, that is, that the solution is distributed among the participants
and that it is the change in the distribution of the activity with respect to It is the task that
constitutes learning.

3. That in real ZPDs, the adult does not act only according to his own definition of the situation ,
but based on the interpretation of the child's gestures and speech as indicators of the child's
definition of the situation.

4. That situations that are “new” for the child are not new in the same way for others present
and that the missing knowledge for the child comes from a socially organized environment.

5. That development is closely related to the range of contexts that can be negotiated by an
individual or social group.

Due to the above, a change in the ways of working of first grade primary school educators and
teachers is decisive; They are responsible for providing the necessary support so that, not only
in the transition from one level to another, but consistently, children can continue developing
all their potential.

1.3. Role of the subject.

Man is a bio-psycho-social being and therefore, it would be absurd to ignore his biological
particularities, but they do not constitute determinants of what a subject may become or not.
All of this has already been scientifically proven by multiple investigations. If the child develops
in the process of appropriating the material and spiritual culture that previous generations
have bequeathed, those conditions of life and education in which this process takes place and
which are historically, socially and culturally conditioned are therefore fundamental.

The child is born in a specific historical stage and, therefore, in a world of culturally determined
material and spiritual objects; That is to say, its most specific environment is conditioned by
the culture of its closest environment, by the conditions of life and education in which it lives
and develops; it is not an abstract and metaphysical environment. The social environment is
not simply an external condition in human development, but a true source for the
development of the child since it contains all the material and spiritual values and capacities of
the society where the child is living, which the child himself has to make their own in the
process of their own development.

Since this child is a being that is constantly active, it is the adults who are responsible for acting
responsibly on him, providing him with all those potentialities so that he can achieve his own
development through his own learning.

1.4. Learning object.

Generally, there is great resistance and even rejection to the acceptance of a category such as
appropriation, linked to a transmission process, understanding this as the way in which the
child approaches his or her reality. Perhaps at the basis of this is its conception as , or its
association with , a passive reflection, a copy of reality, which is not really the case;
Appropriating culture, making it your own, presupposes an active process, a constructive
process that has its particularities and its result, unique and unrepeatable for each subject,
which is thus constituted as a personality.

The process of appropriation of this culture as an essential factor in its development must be
conceived not as a process in which the child is a simple recipient but as an active process in
which the active participation of the subject is indispensable; In this process the child not only
interacts with material and cultural objects but is immersed in a process of permanent and
active interrelation with the subjects around him, adults, his classmates, or playing in the park
or on the street. . That is why the activities that the child carries out are so important, as well
as the interrelations, the communication that he establishes with others, in this process of
appropriation, of active assimilation, as an essential means for his formation.

With this perspective, it is conceived that adults and more advanced peers constitute the
“others”, fundamental mediators who, being bearers of the contents of culture, promote,
through the interpersonal process, that the subject appropriates those contents. “Ausubel's
theory deals specifically with the learning/teaching processes of scientific concepts based on
concepts previously formed by the child in their daily life” [2]

The others constitute the first mediators of psychological development and allow the subject
to appropriate the essential psychological instruments so that these, in turn, guarantee and
are the mediators of psychological self-development in general.
Ausubel proposes in his learning theory about what he calls internalization or assimilation,
which occurs through instruction, which leads to true concepts, which are built based on the
concepts previously acquired by children in their relationship with the surrounding
environment.

It is then, as Ausubel states, that every learning situation, whether through school or not, is
meaningful to the child. Although it also recognizes that although learning and teaching
interact, they occur with relative independence; In some ways, teaching processes do not
always lead to significant learning. The child will have this type of learning “when it can be
incorporated into the knowledge structures that the subject possesses, that is, when the new
material acquires meaning for the subject from their previous knowledge.” [3]

2. PROCESS.

2.1.- Cognitive process

In a general way, Vygotsky formulates the genetic law of cultural development in the following
way: “Any function in the cultural development of the child appears on the scene twice, on
two levels: first as something social, then as something psychological; first among people as an
interpsychic category, then within the child as an intrapsychic category.

A simple example can make this essential approach that Vygotsky's psychology gives us more
understandable.

A small child, upon seeing his mother, cries and extends his little hand to where a group of
objects are far from his reach, these could be a set of stuffed animals, his bottle or milk bottle,
and a ball. The mother approaches him to find out why he cries, constituting herself as the
adult mediator of the culture, "understands" or "interprets" the child's casual gesture as
wanting the milk, accommodating, interacting in a social relationship with her son and giving
him reaches for the milk bottle. In some way, the message of this social interaction between
him and his mother reaches the child, which can be repeated so that this relationship between
the two becomes internal, it is incorporated into his repertoire of internal actions and at some
later time, when She really wants her milk bottle to be handed to her, she stretches out her
finger as an indicator gesture to which the mother responds. This shows the formation of a
simple action, a tender and already psychic character, the child has learned to express his
desire with an indicative gesture. The intrapsychic becomes interpsychic. In later moments,
through development, the gesture will be replaced by the word milk that his mother repeats
when she hands him the “requested” bottle.

2.2.- Origin and elements.

In the conceptual scaffolding between the cultural and the psychic, the notion of psychological
instrument has a central place, referring to artificial devices (such as language, algebraic signs,
works of art, writing, maps, drawings, etc.), whose central function would be to dominate
psychic processes. For Vygotsky, “Psychological instruments are artificial creations; structurally
they are social devices and not organic or individual; They are directed to the mastery of one's
own or other people's processes, just as technology is directed to the mastery of the processes
of nature. [4] .

Unlike the technical instrument, intended to modify the object, the psychological instrument is
aimed at exerting influence on oneself, one's own psyche and/or behavior; Having its origin in
the social relationship with the object, the psychological instrument operates in the psyche
itself. By using the psychological instrument, what has been developed throughout history is
made available to everyone.

Thus, for the method proposed by Vygotsky, natural development and education are
fundamental for the development of the child.

Cognitive psychology is concerned with the study of processes such as language, perception,
memory, reasoning and problem solving. She conceives the subject as an active processor of
stimuli. It is this processing, and not the stimuli directly, that determines our behavior.

3.- PURPOSE

3.1.- Why learn?

As the theory of the cultural-historical development of the human psyche constitutes in its
essence a conception about the development and formation of personality and starting from
the inseparable link of this process with education, it is unavoidable to raise, even briefly, the
indisputable contributions of Vygotskian theory. to the conception of the educational process.

Firstly, it stands out that for Vygotsky the development and formation of personality occurs in
the teaching and learning process itself, whose conception must take into account the
following considerations:

Teaching should not be based on the development already achieved by the subject, but, taking
this into account, it is projected towards what the subject must achieve in the future, as a
product of this own process; that is, making the possibilities expressed in the so-called
proximal development zone a reality.

The social situations in which people live and develop constitute an essential element in the
organization and direction of the teaching and education process.

The very activity that the subject carries out in social interaction with a group of people is a
fundamental element to take into consideration in the teaching and education process.

When we talk about the education process we refer to the different areas in which it takes
place.

No attempt to promote the education and development of children should diminish the
supreme importance of the family, the school and the entire society in the stimulation,
education and development of children. The child is the only living being that is born and,
without the help of the adult for a prolonged period of time, does not achieve the
development of its existence, but paradoxically due to this apparent adaptive insufficiency, it
has the capacity for educability, so that through help and collaboration with others, becomes
an independent, autonomous person who contributes not only to his or her education, but
also to the education of others, and, with his or her creativity and work, to the enrichment of
human culture.

In this complex process, a contradiction is created that has become an essential scientific
problem in the educational process and child development. This refers to the contradiction
that the role of the “other” supposes, of the adult, who participates, directs, promotes ,
facilitates, does and teaches, versus the role of the subject in development, who participates,
creates, projects and freely and spontaneously performs the tasks. This approach has been one
of the points of contradiction between the so-called traditional tendencies of pedagogy,
didactics and school and the trends of the new, constructivist school in recent times.

The supposed dead end of this dilemma is due to the fact that, on the one hand, the child
needs help, guidance and, on the other, he needs to do, to actively participate, to acquire the
ability to create and do useful things in the future; but it requires being taught to learn by
doing. Without a doubt, the solution to this contradiction depends a lot on the topic at hand,
that is, on the knowledge we have of how the development and training of minors occurs, on
the general conception that explains this process and the role that is assigned to it. attribute to
your family members, teachers, adults and colleagues in general, in this training.

In the process of interaction and activity in collaboration with others, the process of
appropriation of the values of material and spiritual culture occurs.

If culture represents a specific historical moment for each subject, specific personal training
responds to historical and socially conditioned characteristics.

On the basis of these general assumptions, the particularities of an educational process that
promotes the development and formation of personality can be considered.

The word communication comes from the Latin "comunis" which means
"common." Hence, communicating means transmitting ideas and thoughts with
the aim of putting them "in common" with another. This involves the use of a
shared communication code.

A code is a set of symbols and signs which must be shared by the protagonists
of the process. Can someone who does not know how to speak Tibetan
understand what a Tibetan expresses in his or her mother tongue? Naturally
there will have been no communication in such a case. Thanks to the sharing of
a code, messages are transmitted from person to person.

Generally we tend to think about language when we talk about codes, but this
involves a much broader concept. In addition to verbal codes (oral and written),
there are others such as gestures, facial and body movements, those given by
shape and color (for example traffic signs) or music (where there are rules). that
mark a structure). Naturally, non-verbal codes, like language, vary according to
different cultures.

Thus we can affirm that language is just another medium. The tendency to
identify it with communication in its entirety is a consequence of this being the
most suitable medium for the transmission of ideas.

If we consider the concept of communication from a broad sense, we will refer

to living beings that relate to their environment, but from scientific language we
will refer to beings related to each other and capable of expressing internal
processes and situations, of making known circumstances or encourage other
creatures to a specific behavior.

The media and the transformation of

society
We call a society without media that where the air is the only means of carrying
messages. But since man is naturally inclined to use symbolic systems, other
means of expression, such as painting, arise spontaneously.

As history progresses, man develops the alphabet, in this way he can preserve
knowledge through shared symbols and meanings. This is important for the
development of written language. This fact is fundamental for the development
of written language.

The first media that emerged were stone, wood and papyrus (in Egypt); even the
Mayans manufactured a similar material. The appearance of these media allows
the preservation of culture although only an elite could interpret the meanings.
Only those that belonged to the administrative, political and/or religious sphere.
In this type of society, most people did not have access to the media.

Later, in the 15th century, Gutenberg, favored by the appearance of paper

(paper had been discovered in China by Ts'ai Lun, in the 1st century. The
invention, kept secret for more than 700 years, was introduced to the West by
the Arabs after the conquest of Samarkand in 704 AD. In the 9th century the
Moors brought this technique to Spain) as a substitute for the expensive
papyrus, and he is remembered as the "inventor of the printing press." What
Gutenberg actually devised was a system of mobile characters that allowed
them to be worked separately, grouped to form words and used again many
times. These characters were first made in wood and then, around 1450, in
metal. Thus in 1456 he printed the 42-line Bible, the first printing with movable
metal type. This fact represents a historic milestone in the history of Social
Communication Media. Thus, although Gutenberg was not actually the inventor
of the printing press, since the idea of reproducing texts through a printing
system is attributed to the Chinese (Approximately 1000 years BC, the Chinese
began to produce using a printing system that consisted of carving relief on a
block of soft pear, cherry or boxwood, with writings or illustrations that, after
being inked, were pressed on parchment paper or fabric), he was the first to
disseminate the procedure, which is why he is credited with the historical fact.

But even after the advent of the printing press, it would take many years for
printed messages to be accessible to large numbers of people.

The appearance of MCS is occurring gradually. Firstly, the books appear, whose
contribution is considered revolutionary if we compare it with the manuscripts,
since it allowed the reproduction of a large number of editions. Later the first
antecedents of newspapers, news letters and other informative pamphlets
emerged. But it was finally in the 16th century that the newspaper made its
formal appearance. It is striking to note that, since the spread of the printing
press, 200 years had already passed.

At the beginning of the century cinema emerged and later radio. Television is a
very recent medium, although its diffusion occurs at a dizzying pace. Its
development began in the US in the 1940s and 5 years later it had already
become a mass medium, having reached its saturation point in the 1960s.

Nowadays there are new media, among which, the Internet deserves special
mention since it involves the total integration of information through a single
channel. Enabling simultaneity and overabundance of data. This phenomenon
represents a totally mediated society.

Social Communication as a science

The study of communication gains scientific value when the Mass Media appear.
The emergence of the Mass Media or Social Communication Media (SCM)
began a new problem that encouraged the configuration of the study of SCM as
an independent science.

The scientific position regarding the phenomenon of MCS suggests that its
study cannot be approached from a single science, for which it is necessary to
resort to the contribution of certain auxiliary sciences such as, among others,
anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, sociology, history and psychology.
However, given the functional dynamics, communication sciences are framed
within social psychology.