The Constitution of Group Cognition

Cognition is no longer confined to the solitary musings of an armchair philosopher, but takes place, for instance, in problem-solving efforts of teams of people distributed around the world and involving various artifacts. The study of such cognition can unfold at multiple units of analysis. Here, three cases of problem solving by virtual math teams demonstrate the mix of individual, group and social levels of cognition. They show how a resource like a mathematical topic can bridge the different levels. Focusing on the under-researched phenomena of group cognition, the presentation highlights three pre-conditions for the constitution of group cognition: longer sequences of responses, persistent co-attention and shared understanding. Together, these structure a virtual analog of physical embodiment: being-there-together, where what is there is understood as co-experienced. COGNITION AT MULTIPLE LEVELS There is a venerable tradition in philosophy that cognition is a mysterious faculty of individual human beings. Increasingly since the late nineteenth century, it has become clear that even when thoughts appear to be expressed by an individual they are the product of more complex factors. Cognitive abilities and perspectives develop over time through one’s embeddedness in a physical, social, cultural and historical world. Thinking is closely related to speaking, a form of communication with others. Particularly in our technological world, thinking is mediated by a broad variety of artifacts and by other features of the context in which we are situated. Rather than thinking about thinking, I try to explore cognition by generating data in which one can observe cognitive processes at work (Stahl, 2006; 2009; 2013). I do this by having small groups of students collaborate on mathematical problems in a setting where their whole interaction can be captured. The motivation for this approach is the theory of Vygotsky, the sociocultural psychologist who proposed that higher-level human mental abilities are acquired first in small-group interactions. In exploring such group cognition, I have found that there is a rich interplay of processes at individual, small-group and community levels of cognitive processing. In the following, I will summarize three case studies in order to illustrate how cognitive processes at multiple levels can work together. In the first case, two students solve a high-school math problem that has stumped them for some time. The problem-solving steps the dyad go through as a team are typical for how proficient students solve problems individually. In the discourse captured in this case, one can see how the group integrates contributions from the two