Ch 10 - Vygotsky's
Social-Historical Theory of Cognitive Development
Biographical Introduction
1896-1934
theorist who combined environmental
and developmental effects on behavior
Vygotsky, 1931: union of personal
and social-historical forces
influenced by writings of
Karl Marx, 1884
started on in law degree from
Moscow University ... moved into psychology
suffered from tuberculosis from
1924 until his death in 1934
very influential writer whose
work was banned from 1936-1956
Marx's Views on
Human Nature
Marx primarily interested in the
system of production as related to humans:
everything comes back down to systems
of production ... economics
tool use leads to increased intelligence
production systems constantly affected
by conflicts and subsequent resolutions of those conflicts
... therefore feudal system superceded
(defeated) by capitalist system -> free enterprise
belief that free enterprise (i.e.
orientation toward money) was the basis for blocks to technological change
solution: overthrow the free enterprise
system and replace it with a communal system (i.e. Communism)
Note: economics and production
are far more important predictors of human behavior than personal factors
like consciousness
e.g. personal ideas arise from
economic bases - not the other way around
e.g. people's cognitive capacities
are also determined by the tools they use (i.e. the tool defines the man)
Engels on Tool-Use and Human Evolution
Engels, 1925: use of tools crucial
to human development
life on flat ground allowed for
use of hands
tool-use led to change in society
from an individual to a communal basis
cooperative work led to a need
for communication -> development of language
ultimately, humans came to gaining
a level of control over their environment
e.g. development of cultivated
land and growing of crops
e.g. long-term planning
Vygotsky's Theory of Psychological
Tools
if tools define humans, their
intellectual capacities cannot be discussed apart from a discussion of the
tools they
use
it is likely that intellectual
capacities will change together with increased use of new technological tools
Danielson's comment: e.g. videogames?
Vygotsky, 1930: psychological tools
and other memory aids affect how people think
e.g. use of devices like maps to
keep track of where we are/have been
signs concept:
speech - allows us to get outside
of our own experience
Luria, 1976: can record/reflect
about the past and plan for the future
speech mediated between environmental
events and our behavior
e.g. deer example: family decides
on plan of action as a result of the environmental stimuli ... the plan guides
future action as opposed to individual environmental stimuli
children use speech to talk to
themselves about issues (later internalized to silent speech)
writing - abstraction of speech
in order to further expand our cognitive abilities
difficult to do initially ... therefore,
needs assistance from a teacher
number systems - further abstraction
from writing
emphasis on quantification capacity
and logic development
social-historical development versus
internal development:
Vygotsky, 1934: internal ("natural")
development most important up to age 2
superceded by social-historical
forces thereafter
if low level of technological development
in society, low level of abstract thinking ability
Luria, 1976: abstract logic questionnaire
used on developing areas in Soviet Union
low level of technological development
in rural areas allowed for comparison of logical abilities of people
varying in literary levels
logic sentence followed by hypothetical
question:
literate persons - logically correct
answer
illiterate persons - personal experience
answer ... no ability to provide an answer compatible with the initial logic
statement
Key point: people's ability to
think seems to be related to their experiences with use of technology and
tool use
this is an inherently powerful
union of intrinsic and cultural determinants of behavior
Memory Aids
important type of psychological
tools - memory tools
Vygotsky, 1931: age and use of
memory aids
4-8 years-old: poor use of memory
aids/strategies; over-estimation of abilities
adults: internalized set of procedures
for memorizing
key concept under investigation
= metacognition (knowledge of our own thinking abilities) or metamemory (knowledge
of our own memory abilities)
Speech
important point about speech is
that it allows us to expand our sense of perception
e.g. Kohler, 1925: apes cannot
consider elements which are outside their immediate field of vision
Vygotsky, 1934: steps in the development
of an internal dialogue:
social interactions remind us of
objects which are not in our field of vision (e.g. mother)
self-vocalization of similar reminders
(e.g. asking ourselves out loud about where certain things might be)
internalization of similar reminders
(inner speech)
key point: all learning begins
with social interaction and then proceeds to an internalized representation
Marxian philosophy = social behavior
-> personal behavior
Egocentric Speech
e.g. Piaget, 1923: two 5-year-olds,
each talking to himself/herself, with no concern about whether the other
has heard
Piagetian explanation:
assumption that others hold the
same thoughts (egocentrism), therefore there is no need to explain
not useful - only transitional
type of communication
gradual cessation as egocentrism
disappears (so also must the speech)
Vygotsky explanation:
useful in planning daily activities
disappearance of vocalized speech
-> continuation of internalized speech
example of the process by which
social speech is gradually seperated from inner speech
Studies Bearing on the Vygotsky-Piaget
Issue
Task Difficulty
research concerned with question
as to whether egocentric speech is useful (i.e. Vygotsky) or whether it
is useless (Piaget)
Luria, 1961: remove
items necessary for doing a task (e.g. drawing)
dramatic increase in egocentric
speech ... likely explanation - self-talk necessary to solve the problem
of missing resources
Age Trends
important question is whether
egocentric speech is inherent, and increasingly irrelevant (Piaget), or
learned and incorporated into inner speech (Vygotsky)
Piagetial position: should be
very prevalent from age 3 to 5 and then drop off as the child becomes less
egocentric
Vygotsky position: should increase
from age 3, peak at about age 5 and drop off thereafter as the child learns
to internalize self-talk
Kohlberg et al, 1968: Vygotsky
position supported best
Verbal Self-Regulation and Personality
Development
key concept associated with self-speech,
is that of personal control as evidenced by a sense of conscience and willpower
Conscience
conscience = internalized regulation
of behavior
Freud, 1933: Freudian explanation
- superego, created through internalization of parental controls
key point: transfer of learning
from society to the individual (Vygotsky's position)
Willpower
if behavior is controlled by
reinforcements (i.e. Skinnerian position), there is no willpower
Vygotsky, 1932: willpower is
the use of self-talk to reward ourselves for desired behavior
social signals given earlier,
are re-stated with inner speech (e.g. jumping into the lake on the count
of three)
Luria's Research on the Verbal
Regulation of Behavior
primarily interested in how adult
commands are internalized into self-regulated behavior on the part of the
child
Luria, 1960, 1961: developmental
changes associated with attention to adult commands
e.g. 14-month-old: will only
moderately respond to a command (i.e. an attractive stimulus will override
the fine
points in the command)
e.g. 2-year-old: will continue
doing something when commanded to stop (perseveration)
it is easier to start a child
to do something than to stop it once it has begun
e.g. 3-3.5-year-old: obey
adult commands, but cannot differentiate their own commands
verbalized word "start" has the
same effect as verbalized word "stop" ... words have an excitatory effect,
but not meaning beyond that
e.g. 5-6-year-olds: able
to silently regulate their own behavior, but will regress to spoken
verbal commands when tasks are made
more difficult
Self-Regulation and Neurological
Functioning
in addition to social control,
self-regulation is related to the development of the nervous system
work with brain-injured:
left hemisphere of the frontal
lobes involved with self-control of behavior
Luria, 1982: also related to
inability to stop a behavior once it has begun
key point: link between verbalization
and behavior is broken
Inner Speech
Vygotsky 1934: unique characteristics
of egocentric speech (possibly also characteristic of inner speech):
abbreviated (no concern with
the subject ... all concern with the predicate)
concerned with the feeling of
the word, as opposed to its dictionary meaning
