MARY GAUVAIN 

Professor
Ph.D., University of Utah , 1982
mary.gauvain@ucr.edu

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The development of thinking is a complex process affected both by internal maturational factors and by external experiences.  My research focuses on the integration of these factors with particular attention to the role of sociocultural experiences in the acquisition, organization, and use of cognitive skill.  In studying these processes I have concentrated on the ways in which children and adults solve problems in several domains, including spatial thinking and planning skills.

Of particular interest in my research is the influence of experience with others, peers and adults, in the development of cognitive skill.  Much of this work is guided by theoretical views, such as those by Vygotsky and Piaget, that suggest that collaboration may facilitate the development of thinking as children become exposed to and participate in problem solving that would be inaccessible to them if they were working alone.  I have conducted research that supports this point by showing that children who previously planned in collaboration with another planned more on later individual trials than children who did not previously collaborate.  Recently I have been investigating how child characteristics, such as temperament or compliance, may regulate collaboration in parent-child dyads.  My hypothesis is that certain child characteristics may function as a coercive way of getting adults to adjust the guidance and support for children they provide during joint problem solving.