What do we mean by the social mind?

Throughout the time of mankind, one aspect of human behavior has not changed; that is, we are social beings. We work and live in groups and thrive in this type of environment. Consequently, once we mature to a level of critical thinking we’re able to determine if our social interactions with certain individuals or groups are favorable for us or not. This clip on YouTube has a clear illustration of how the social mind works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0XmZW6xYSg

In what ways is thinking 'inside your head' also social thinking? How do community and culture shape learning?

We have feelings. Our surroundings influence our feelings, whether it be positively or negatively. When we reflect on how our surroundings affect our feelings, we’re essentially thinking “inside our head” and processing these feelings. Our thoughts and feelings coincide with each other, and together they form what’s coined as a “voice inside our head.”

In our Additional Resource readings in Week 2 of our course, we learn about Wenger’s outlook on Learning in Communities. According to Wenger, “Knowing is a matter of participating in the pursuit of such enterprises, that is, of active engagement in the world.” That’s to say in our experiences in engagement with one another we’re able to obtain knowledge. The importance of social participation is key to learning, and through learning we’re able to become more knowledgeable. We are in different communities (i.e. family, school, workplace, etc.) and they largely influences who we are as we imitate and learn from the members of these communities.

According to Wikipedia: “The vast majority of cultural anthropological research has been done on non-human primates, due to their being closest evolutionarily to humans. In non-primate animals, research tends to be limited, and therefore evidence for culture strongly lacking.” However, in a research done on chimpanzees, there’s evidence of learning through culture. Chimpanzees have been spotted using sticks to get honey or chew leaves to form a sponge to collect the same thing. This observation was conducted amongst chimpanzees from different parts of the world. This is a learned behavior in that there must have been one individual chimpanzee that first used one of these techniques and other members followed through social learning.

Provide an example of a learning experience that exercises 'the social mind.' How does this expand on learning beyond the individual mind?

The social mind is the influence of society on an individual. It refers to a set of shared beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and knowledge that are common to a group of people. People learn through observation, in particular, observing others. This starts as early as toddlers when they see the different physical movements their parents make and try to imitate them. As they become older and attend school, they’ll learn through social interactions with their peers and teachers. Without these types of social groups, an individual on his/her own learns at a much slower pace.

References:

https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-6/wenger-on-learning-in-communities-of-practice

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_culture

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/cultural-transmission-in-chimpanzees/

https://www.thoughtco.com/collective-consciousness-definition-3026118