IntroductionWhenever we entertained guests or visited relatives, my mother always told me to "remember that my behavior is a reflection of the entire family." I never really understood where this reasoning came from, after all, I always assumed that I was on my own and made decisions without their influence. However, I couldn't be more wrong, especially if my actions are based on sociocultural theory. This theory emphasizes how the interaction between people and the culture they live in affects their thought processes. This article will describe and explain the theoretical aspect of the theory, as well as its main contributors, guidance and explanation of how individuals behave, think and express emotions within the framework of sociocultural theory. It will then conclude with an attempt to determine whether my personal experiences can be used to demonstrate the theoretical basis of the theory. Key Contributors to Sociocultural Theory Sociocultural theory grew out of the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his colleagues Alexei Leontiev and Alexander Luria. Vygotsky believed that parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture as a whole were responsible for the development of higher order functions (Zembylas, 2007, p. ). He believed that humans and animals shared basic psychological processes such as attentional and perceptual processes, but that what differentiated the two was the social and cultural basis of human thought (Siegler & Alibali, 2005, p. 108). In summary, he put forward the idea that development always results from internal mental processes, which are the result of external mental processes (Siegler & Alibali, 2005, p.108). He suggests that for children's minds to develop, they need to be placed in the middle of a sheet of paper...... November 24, 2011, from http://vygotsky.afraid.org/Salkind, NJ ( 2004). The vision of cognitive development. An introduction to theories of human development (pp. 277-282). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Siegler, RS and Alibali, MW (2005). Sociocultural theories of development. Children's thoughts (4 ed., pp. 109-128). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Scherba de Valenzuela, J. (nd). Definitions of sociocultural theory. The University of New Mexico | The University of New Mexico. Retrieved November 21, 2011 from http://www.unm.edu/~devalenz/handouts/sociocult.htmlVygotsky, L.S. (1978). The mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Zembylas, M. (2007). Theory and methodology of research on emotions in education. International Journal of Educational Research and Methods, 30(1), 57-72. Taken from EBSCOhost.