The child's contribution to culture: A commentary on Toomela

Toomela (1996) has emphasized the psychological dimensions of the process by which human children become participants in cultures. I support his arguments with observations of chimpanzees, which are similar to humans in some ways but still do not live culturally, and of human infants both before and after they have the capacity to participate fully in cultural activities. Toomela also proposes a new account of the process of internalization in which language plays the central role. I disagree somewhat with this account, arguing that whereas language is the most powerful human artifact potentiating internalization, other artifacts - both material and symbolic - may serve the same function if children are introduced to them in social interactions in which others have intentions toward their intentional states - and they know this. The central theoretical point of Toomela's paper is that a comprehensive account of the human species as a cultural species must focus not only on the cultural collective, but also on individuals and their psychological capacities.

Duke Scholars

Author Michael Tomasello Psychology & Neuroscience