Human Development KA 702

Overview Presentation Lala Mamedov 05/10/2008

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Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

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Why Vygotsky?

 Personal connection      Russian Language Moscow University Sign system – interest in semiotics Language acquisition concepts Common cultural heritage 3

Academic connection

 My current academic interest in knowledge formation  Vygotsky: children learn about a concept only by talking about it    As the child discusses a problem or task with an adult, the adult supplies language to assist the child in solving the problem; the child gradually internalizes the language until the task can be completed independently (McGee & Richgels, 1996).

Similarly, knowledge is formed in the process of communication – there is no knowledge until it is described Intemental to intramental: elements of culture => tacit to explicit knowledge. Mental tools that the child acquired become the way the world is being explored to acquire the next set of mental tools 4

Main Works in English

      Vygotskii, L. S. (1971).

The psychology of art

. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press Vygotskii, L. S., & Cole, M. (1978).

Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes

. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Vygotskii, L. S., Davidov, V., & Silverman, R. J. (1997).

Educational psychology

. Boca Raton, Fla.: St. Lucie Press.

Vygotskii, L. S., Luriia, A. R., & Rossiter, E. (1992).

Ape, primitive man, and child : essays in the history of behavior

. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf Vygotskii, L. S., & Rieber, R. W. (1997).

The history of the development of higher mental functions

. New York; London: Plenum.

Vygotskii, L. S., Rieber, R. W., & Carton, A. S. (1987).

The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky

(Vol. 1). New York: Plenum Press 5

Social and Historical

Context

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Biography

 Vygotsky was called "The Mozart of Psychology“ (Toulmin, 1978)  Born in 1896 – same year as Piaget, near provincial Minsk      Middle-class Jewish family.

Well read, interested in Western philosophy, art, history Literature, literary analysis: essay on Hamlet in 1915 (when he was 19) In 1913 entered Moscow University through lottery Medicine, then law - graduated in 1917  No formal training in psychology, self-taught 7

Russia before 1917

  Tsarist Russia: Aging Empire on the edge of collapse   Traditionally agrarian society trying to cope with industrial age Social injustice, extreme conditions Jews discriminated: educated but disenfranchised group    Pale of Settlement, pogroms, quotas Idealism, commitment to social justice Earnest, true Marxism 8

The Pale of Settlement

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After 1917

  Revolution: 1917. New era. Excitement, intellectual fervor     Commitment to build the new world, passion and idealism Stalin came to power in the 1920s “Old Guard” pushed out Dictatorship, government control, no independent thought tolerated  Purges, famine (5 mil dead), repressions (4 mil dead)  WWII ( Death of Stalin in 1956, re-opening (limited) of society 10

Vygotsky post-1917

  Vygotsky embraced the Bolshevik revolution, believed - like so many idealistic Jews - it would bring equality and social justice Supported Marx’s philosophy, which stressed the importance of society and the value of labor in helping humans rise to something better.

  True believer that Marxism is the key to understanding not only society and development of man through use of tools, but can be applied to human development The psychological theorist of the revolution     Dissertation on the psychology of art (1925) Teaching in Gomel Psychology lab in Gomel Working with special needs children 11

Prolific decade

   

1924: delivered a paper in Leningrad at 2nd Psycho-neurological Conference

Invited to join Psychology Institute in Moscow Last decade: frantic work, loyal followers (Luria and Leontev). Prolific writing. Died at 38 after long battle with TB 12

True Marxist

 "Vygotsky clearly viewed Marxist thought as a valuable scientific resource from early on in his career" (Vygotsky, Cole, 1978).

 Engels' concept of mediation by tools – labor as basic form of human activity and happens though use of tools. Control of tools – means of production - equals power.

  An animal uses nature, while the man masters it, makes it serve his purpose Vygotsky applied this principle to the use of signs. 13

Marxist Dialectics

 Dialectic view of change: thesis, antithesis, synthesis, (new level of understanding) and repeat of the cycle at higher level (class struggle as the highest representation) •For Vygotsky: dialectic of individual and others - syntheses leads to the development •Each subsequent iteration as the basis for further development 14

Forbidden works

  Vygotsky’s works banned in Russia under Stalin  Ultimate bitter irony   Some authors wonder why (Watson, 2002): maybe because he was Jewish, or Western influence? Goldhaber: because of his concept of development, that people can better themselves through their efforts. Contrary to Stalinist concept that proletariat was already at the same level of competence as any educated person or a Westerner. To suggest that there is any need for growth and development was treason. Published again after 1956 15

Main Themes

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Development as co-constructed phenomenon

   Higher and lower mental functions Cognitive-Mediation Theory Zone of Proximal Development 17

Higher and lower mental functions

 Lower:  Genetically inherited, natural abilities, pre-wired. Subordinate to situation. Reactive and responsive.   Higher:  Developed through societal interaction. Proactive and pre-emptive. From impulsive response to instrumental action.

Psychology is mediated by cultural means 18

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Cognitive-Mediation Theory

Social interaction plays the primary role in the development of cognition.

   Child is not passively influenced by society; he actively integrates the experience into the knowledge and cognitive process.

"Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (intermental) and then inside the child (intramental). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (Vygotsky, 1978) states:).

Elements of culture that a child is acquiring are incorporated into the cognitive processes and become the mental tool (from inter to intra) – (connection to tacit knowledge ) 19

Mental tools

 In Marxist social theory, tools mediate evolutionary progress. For Vygotsky, the main difference between people and animals is in mental tools we acquire: symbols, language    People are able to use tools to change their environment; we use language and other mental tools are used the same way Mental tools are acquired through society's culture, aggregation of prior generation's learning Tools: language, play, art, writing. 20

Language

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Language – the most important moral tool

  Apes are limited to what they can do within their perceptual field. In contrast, language has arbitrary structure and therefore has no limits on use: gives ways to act on nature. Culture and family provide the child with language system     Egocentric speech - child begins to master language, communicate with others and talk to herself Inner speech - talks to herself but internally Mediating speech - mediating tool for the child. Speech is used to talk, plan, think. Becomes part of child's cognitive system. Other symbolic tools are being internalized - mathematical, visual thinking  No universal signs because the signs are developed cooperatively within a given culture 21

Zone of proximal development

  For Freud, Erikson, Piaget: a child is at a specific stage of development at any given moment Vygotsky: concept of zone instead of stage. 

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The distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers "(Vygotsky, 1978).

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ZPD

  Continuum: from lowest level of a skill to the mastery of a skill       Lowest level is the actual level of development, below that level the skill has been mastered. Upper level is potential level of development, everything above is beyond the limits and unachievable.

Everything in between can be achieved - zone of proximal development : skills in proximity to the last mastered level. The zone is dynamic - with mastery of one level, the entire zone moves up. (another example of dialectic principle) Each knowledge domain has its own zone Development is happening in social interaction: either through adult guidance or peer collaboration It is a zone and not a point because it covers a continuum from lover level of mastery to higher, but the actual skill will vary depending on instruction, circumstances, etc.

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Scaffolding

 Adult models the task and then gradually shifts responsibility to the child - scaffolding.

 Social pretend play provides scaffolding   Trying out tasks for a level above the current zone (cooking, research) - stretching zone Teaches discipline and control (rules of the play) 24

Vygotsky and Piaget

 Piaget: child as an experimentator. Learns through action and experimentation. Children are born with schemas for how to act and respond to the world. Development comes from within and comes before learning. Vygotsky: Child as an apprentice. Acquires new concepts in the process of social interaction.. The focus is on cooperative learning and scaffolding .  Piaget: literacy is based on the child's stages of development and reflects concepts of reading and writing as the child has constructed them. Mastery of of reading and writing is defined by each developmental stage. Vygotsky: emphasizes social interaction over stages of development. Mastery or reading and writing is acquired by imitating adults. Language and cognition are interrelated - children learn about new concepts only in the process of talking about them.

 Piaget: symbol system is constructed from within, for Vygotsky the symbol system is acquired through interaction with others.

 Piaget: no influence of society, Vygotsky: society is the main transforming force.

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Influence today

  How he was rediscovered  Opening of the Soviet society in the 70s. More scientific interaction rediscovered Vygotsky. What makes him relevant today    Language acquisition concepts Semiotics – deconstruction. Sign system. Education theory     Scaffolding in teaching Teachers adjust instruction to students' zone of proximal development Focus on individual student's level rather than on the class level  Start with known but stretch to upper levels Defectology (Tracy’s subject) 26

Vygotsky and social learning

 Learning theory (Bandura, Pavlov, Skinner): stimulus cases response. Conditioning. Vygotsky: Culture as a facilitator of cognition - which is a deeper level of interaction between elements than conditioning in learning theory. Mental tools mediate between simuli and response and allows for created intentionality and planning.

 Learning theorists: learning is the same as development. The focus is on the environment influencing the child. For Vygotsky, learning happens in the process of mastery of skills, within interaction with others and mediated through mental tools.

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Selected Bibliography

            Cazden, C. (1981). Performance before competence: Assistance to child discourse in the zone of proximal development.

Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, 3

, 5-8.

Daniels, H. (1996).

An introduction to Vygotsky

. London; New York: Routledge.

Goldhaber, D. E. (2000).

Theories of Human Development: Integrative Perspectives

Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub.

John-Steiner, V., & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework.

Educational Psychologist, 31

(3 & 4), 191 - 206.

Leont'ev, A. N. Studies on the cultural development of the child.

Journal of genetic psychology, 40

, 52-83.

Luria, A. R. (1928). The problem of the cultural development of the child.

Journal of genetic psychology, 35

, 493-506.

Luriia, A. R., Cole, M., & Cole, S. (1979).

The making of mind : a personal account of Soviet psychology

. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press Mascolo, M. F., & Fischer, K. W. (2002). Theories of Human Development: Integrative Perspectives by Dale E. Goldhaber.

Contemporary Psychology, 47

, 563-566.

Piaget, J., & Gabain, M. (1932).

The moral judgment of the child

. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. ltd.

Ratner, C. (1991). Vygotsky's sociohistorical psychology and its contemporary applications. New York: Plenum Press Watson, M. W. (2002). Theories of human development. Chantilly, VA: Teaching Co.

Wertsch, J. V. (1984). Culture communication, and cognition : Vygotskian perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press 28