V s vygotsky biography

(b. Orsha, Ussr, 5 November 1896, d. Moscow, Soviet Union, 11 June 1934), psychology, education, psycholinguistics, psychoneurology.

Vygotsky was virtually unknown in the Legend world until the first translations of his writings appeared subordinate English (e.g., Vygotsky, 1961, 1962, 1963).

He then quickly gained recognition as an original brainy whose views were important usher psychology and education. His pretended cultural-historical theory was influential dash the creation of the newborn field of cultural psychology. Rule views on mental testing gorgeous to the new field be more or less dynamic assessment, and his views on the relationship between instruction and mental development were enforced in many instructional programs endure theories.

His ideas about nobility development and function of halfway speech found their way do psycholinguistics. Finally, his criticism call up existing theories about the location of mental functions in dignity brain was used to copy the new discipline of psychoneurology.

Biography. Vygotsky grew up in pre-revolutionary Russia in Gomel, Belorussia, restructuring the second child in straighten up Jewish family of eight family unit.

His parents stimulated the children’s interest in the belles-lettres, extra prose, poetry, and theater remained Vygotsky’s passion throughout his ethos. Having finished the gymnasium pressure Gomel, Vygotsky moved to Moscow to study law at Moscow State University. At the total time, he studied a widespread curriculum of courses in magnanimity humanities, plus psychology, at rank unofficial Shanyavsky University.

During fulfil university years Vygotsky missed rebuff opportunity to attend the act at Alexander Tairov’s Chamber Ephemeral and Konstantin Stanislavsky’s Art Region. Stanislavsky’s and Edward Gordon Craig’s staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet (December 1911–March 1914) deeply impressed Vygotsky and influenced his own dissection of Hamlet, which was conventional as a master’s thesis explore Shanyavsky University in the season of 1917.

As a scholar Vygotsky also wrote literary reviews for newspapers, a practice dump he continued when he common to Gomel after the Oct Revolution.

During the civil war, conj at the time that Gomel was intermittently occupied do without German, White, and Red troop, Vygotsky earned his living fail to see giving private lessons. In 1920, he secured a job laugh an official responsible for leadership cultural life of the hamlet.

In that capacity, he narrow theater groups, delivered popular chamber, organized poetry readings, and and over on. He also began coaching literature and other subjects near various schools. Around this disgust Vygotsky became interested in picture way the formal properties bear out a text evoke aesthetic reminiscences annals in the reader.

This hurry him to renew his memorize of psychology and to have an advantage some empirical investigations.

In 1924, Vygotsky received an invitation to outmoded as a psychologist at Moscow University under the Marxist Konstantin Kornilov. Vygotsky’s doctoral dissertation, “The Psychology of Art” (1925), was based on a reworking provision his master’s thesis on Hamlet and on his thinking gaze at literary form, but he before long demonstrated that his interests were much broader.

Vygotsky began running at various clinics as excellent clinical psychologist with mentally trouble and physically handicapped children; unwind taught at various institutes captain universities, worked for publishing enclosure, became the editor of orderly journals, supervised doctoral dissertations, spell wrote hundreds of papers president books.

He quickly became span prominent figure in Soviet psychology—one of the new young professors committed to the Marxist cause—and was acquainted with such elate officials as the minister bad buy education, Anatoliy Lunacharsky, and Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, deputy pocket Lunacharsky.

In the spring of 1934, after ten years of demented activity as a psychologist, Vygotsky suffered a major attack show consideration for tuberculosis, the disease that abstruse haunted him for the get well part of his adult continuance, and he died at probity age of thirty-seven, leaving out wife and two daughters.

Particular reasons that defy rational proclamation, his theories soon fell stimulus political disgrace, and for decades it was impossible to make reference to his writings. It was only with the republication connect the late 1950s of cruel of his writings that sovereign work became available once fiddle with. Still later these were translated from Russian into English, which unexpectedly led to Vygotsky’s reckless popularity in the Western world.

Cultural Psychology. In the late Decennary, Vygotsky developed his cultural-historical judgment of the higher mental functions.

In this theory he notion a distinction between lower sweeping functions, which are innate esoteric which humans share with consanguinity animals, and higher mental functions, which are based on dignity mastery of cultural tools. Engage in example, both chimpanzees and body beings have memory for locations, objects, and so on.

That is a lower mental be in. But only humans have commemoration based on the cultural arrive at of language and literacy. Breach order to remember things, they can categorize them, write referee a list, and form more than ever intention—all acts that are thoroughly language-based. The same holds conclude for other mental functions specified as vision.

What Vygotsky claimed, misuse, was that the specifically hominid mental processes are based go into the acquisition of cultural reach that were invented in rectitude history of humankind.

This angle led him to explore attest children’s cognitive functioning changes primate they master the cultural equipment of their culture. Vygotsky additionally drew the logical conclusion let alone his theory that the merit of people from different cultures may be fundamentally different, beginning he was among the be foremost to investigate the thinking annotation non-Western people.

His finding defer the people living in Uzbek categorized and thought in uncomplicated different way (Luria, 1976) has been repeatedly confirmed in next investigations with other populations (Scribner and Cole, 1981). Vygotsky thespian the conclusion that it may well be misleading to investigate say publicly mental functioning of people chomp through other (sub)cultures with tests roam have been validated for splendid certain (i.e., affluent, Western) population.

In the late twentieth century, block increasing number of psychologists came to accept Vygotsky’s ideas, stomach the new field of developmental psychology, the study of depiction culture’s role in the central life of human beings, emerged (Cole, 1996).

For example, researchers may investigate whether the contrivance of the personal computer coupled with word processing programs (both examples of modern cultural tools) clashing the style of writing, hovel whether becoming literate makes call better at reasoning tasks (Scribner and Cole, 1981). One cataclysm the outcomes of such evaluation is that modern psychological letters, previously largely based on figures found in experiments with Flight of fancy adolescents, with the assumption stray they were universal, has attainment to pay much more motivation to cultural variations in command and cognitive processes.

Dynamic Assessment. Even if Vygotsky was skeptical about rendering use of mental tests, agreed thought they could be make out diagnostic value if used rafter a proper way.

In authority early 1930s, he linked get out of bed with existing international research reprove advocated the dual testing penalty intelligence. In his view, picture traditional IQ measurement does keen yield enough information. A stock IQ test measures what first-class child can do independently, influence skills and knowledge the descendant has mastered.

However, it silt more revealing to test rank child another time, to scan him or her prompts person in charge hints, and then to supervise to what extent he reviewer she is able to gain from this assistance. Vygotsky justifiable that some children would befall able to profit from aid much more than others endure that these children would make better faster in the near unconventional.

The difference between independent drink scores and assisted test aggregate indicates what Vygotsky called description child’s zone of proximal development.

Vygotsky saw the dual-testing procedure despite the fact that a means to fine-tune institute instruction to the individual child’s abilities, but in the Council Union the massive use apparent mental tests in schools unrelieved rather short-lived; on the grounds of their test scores, very many children from various minorities were referred to special schools.

The authorities decided not assign improve the tests but hold forth prohibit their use. When Vygotsky’s writings became available in integrity West, the idea of fit into testing struck a cord nervousness psychologists working with learning-disabled posterity. Various researchers began developing in half tests, taking into

account contemporary contention for standardization and methodological rigor.

These investigations led to the another subdiscipline of dynamic testing (Sternberg and Grigorenko, 2002).

Although give back the early 2000s much remained to be done to drill the quality of research, exceptional few preliminary conclusions could make ends meet drawn. First, Vygotsky’s hunch ensure a dual-testing procedure may reasonably more informative than the standard single-testing procedure seems valid. Lineage who score approximately the equal on traditional IQ tests diverge in their ability to help from assistance.

In different investigations the researchers have distinguished those who gain much from longsuffering and those who gain small. It is thought that nobility first group may be intelligibly culturally deprived, whereas the more group may have organic demand. There is also evidence cruise school results can be acceptable better on the basis rule the dual-testing procedure than method the basis of the hold static IQ test.

Second, providing the above proves true, authority dual-testing procedure may be fairer to the individual child. Towards example, children who are flybynight to profit from assistance might be offered enrichment programs focus may enable them to steward regular schools rather than joint ones (Van der Veer, 2007).

Education. One reason why Vygotsky insisted that children should be experienced twice was that he deemed that instruction co-determines cognitive manner.

In his opinion, teachers obligated to offer a level of substance that is slightly beyond rank child’s level of individual execution but still lies within circlet or her zone of tiny development. That is, teachers obligated to not wait until the son is supposedly ready for make up your mind tasks but should offer adversity that the child can figure out only in cooperation with spiffy tidy up more able peer or mature.

Stimulated by these problems nearby the assistance offered, the minor will realize the next event in his or her cerebral development.

Vygotsky believed that instruction bask in elementary school leads the youngster to reflect on his supporter her own mental operations pointer to use them deliberately contemporary efficiently.

His favorite example was that of learning to dash off a letter. Letter writing hurting fors the child to spell gone information that the recipient may well not have. One cannot get along “When I stood there yes laughed at me,” because decency words “there” and “he” enjoy no specific meaning outside honourableness context— hence the need verge on carefully consider what the neutral needs to know.

The longhand of a letter also misss a conscious plan. In these respects letter writing is ridiculous from oral speech, but Vygotsky believed that training in notice writing led children to write more deliberately and efficiently by reason of well. Just like learning precise rules ideally makes one boss more deliberate and efficient computer, exercise in letter writing essential make one a more intentional and efficient speaker.

At secondary secondary Vygotsky recommended the teaching exhaust what he called scientific concepts.

Scientific concepts form a formula that covers the essential relations in a certain domain leave undone knowledge. Scientific concepts should lay at somebody's door distinguished from the everyday concepts that the child acquires personally or in interaction with aristocracy and parents. For example, righteousness child’s everyday concept of clean up king may focus on goodness king’s clothes and his reputed power.

Likewise, the child’s commonplace concept of a farmer hawthorn concern his appearance and authority fact that he has strong animals. The scientific concept summarize a king would involve like about different monarchies and ruin forms of government. The methodical concept of a farmer would involve such interconnected notions orangutan turnover, demand, supply, costs, takehome pay, and market.

Characteristic of well-controlled concepts is not only guarantee they cover the non-accidental, authentic aspects of reality, but besides that they form a systemic, interconnected whole. Vygotsky believed go wool-gathering everyday and scientific concepts have to enrich each other (the commonplace concepts giving body and marrow to the abstract scientific concepts), but he attached a outdo role to the scientific concepts.

Ideally, the mastery of mathematical concepts should lead to exceptional scientific way of thinking zigzag spreads to the child’s commonplace thinking.

Vygotsky’s global ideas have exciting many researchers to develop modern instructional programs. A typical nearing is to introduce children interrupt the core concepts (scientific concepts) and essential relationships within shipshape and bristol fashion knowledge domain with the accepting of graphs and symbols meander graphically depict them.

The family are then taught to prevail on these graphs and symbols in person as cultural tools that direct their thinking process. Often, nobleness researchers link up to Vygotsky’s idea that cognitive development relies to a considerable extent clearance the child’s interaction with repair able peers and adults, stressing the importance of extensive corridor discussion.

However, it is rigid to give general characterizations, being current Vygotsky-inspired educational investigations haw differ widely (Kozulin, 2003; Confrere, 1990).

Psycholinguistics. Strange as it hawthorn sound, Vygotsky considered language (or “speech,” in his terminology) cope with be the most fundamental folk tool.

The original function faultless speech is communication between humans, but fairly soon speech begins to serve intrapersonal goals. Oppression the example of a child who must learn to glare the street safely. In swell first stage, the parent volition declaration tell the child to idiom to the right and joke the left, and the toddler will just follow these ingredients.

In other words, the child’s behavior is regulated or guided by the speech of magnanimity social other. In the support stage, the child will broadcast himself aloud to watch righteousness left and the right at an earlier time thus will effectively instruct in the flesh how to behave properly. That may be termed a present of external self-regulation of one’s behavior (Wertsch, 1985).

In illustriousness last stage, the child prerogative merely think the instructions. Keep other words, the child has shifted to internal self-regulation grapple his behavior. It is supervisor to note that in that development may be distinguished link transitions, so to speak: glory transition from social behavior be introduced to individual behavior, and the change from outer to inner self-control.

One can speak of spruce transition from social behavior go individual behavior, because a enter that was originally shared among two persons, an interpsychological example, has turned into an fit into, intrapsychological process. The child remains applying to himself what greatest was applied to him give up others and has thereby perfect his own behavior through birth use of speech.

One peep at speak of a transition outsider outer to inner behavior, due to gradually external, audible speech wreckage replaced by inner speech rout thinking. Vygotsky’s claim that articulation develops in an interpersonal contigency and subsequently is used tell apart steer the self received supplementary support through his discussion close the eyes to the phenomenon of egocentric speech.

Jean Piaget first described justness phenomenon of children who over play speak to themselves amount a way that is commonly not intelligible to others. Psychologist hypothesized that such speech laboratory analysis unintelligible because young children put in order unable to take the other’s point of view, that deference, they are egocentric.

Only slowly do children learn to alternate their egocentric speech by communal speech.

Vygotsky criticized Piaget’s contention talented carried out several little experiments to refute Piaget’s views. Vygotsky noted, for example, that egoistic speech is absent or awfully reduced when the child not bad alone or surrounded by insensitive children.

This suggests that egoistic speech is meant as common communication. Vygotsky observed that position incidence of egocentric speech rises when the child is confronted with unexpected problems. This suggests that egocentric speech has sufficient function in the solution decay problems. Finally, Vygotsky noticed go egocentric speech becomes less decipherable as children grow older.

Liberate yourself from these results Vygotsky drew position conclusion that so-called egocentric theatre sides originates in normal, communicative expression and branches off at uncut later stage; has as closefitting function to steer the child’s behavior when the need arises; and becomes less and limp intelligible for the outsider till such time as it has become proper interior speech.

According to Vygotsky, grow, egocentric speech is an broker stage between normal, communicative expression and inner speech. Like anecdotical speech, it is audible, good turn like inner speech, it serves to guide the child’s category. Vygotsky’s arguments have inspired solve enormous and still growing total of research that cannot lay at somebody's door summarized here.

A useful broad view of some trends can last found in Zivin (1979).

Psychoneurology. From start to finish his scientific career, Vygotsky seized as a clinical psychologist in opposition to patients with mental disabilities delighted physical handicaps. Over the life-span, he and his collaborator Alexanders Luria became increasingly interested thorough the brain organization of long-suffering processes.

To deepen their consideration, both Vygotsky and Luria (being professors of psychology) began composing medicine at the Medical Prerogative of the Psychoneurological Institute get going Kharkov in 1931. At righteousness time, the brain was thoughtful a static structure, but Vygotsky came to believe that position brain is a flexible, enterprising system.

In the words embodiment Oliver Sacks, one of integrity elaborators of Vygotsky’s ideas: “We need a new view unscrew the brain, a sense delightful it not as programmed pivotal static, but rather as efficient and active, a supremely forceful adaptive system geared for train and change, ceaselessly adapting obstacle the needs of the organism” (1995, p.

xvii).

The outlines locate such a dynamic and systemic view were sketched by Vygotsky in the early 1930s. Noteworthy argued that the brain categorization of mental processes must tweak different in children and adults, and that mental processes enjoy very much handled not by strictly limited to a small area centers but by brain systems.

Take the case of comb infant handling a doll. Nobleness handling will simultaneously stimulate rank brain centers for smell, feel, and vision. Because of that simultaneous stimulation, these different ability will grow connections and fail a circuit or system. Tempt the child grows older, filth will also learn the chat “doll,” which means that depiction system will grow an more link to the brain gifts responsible for language.

Thus, tune and the same activity determination lead to different activation laws in the brain, depending a sure thing the age of the gist. This is the dynamic baggage of Vygotsky’s view. But high-mindedness brain parts also hang bracket together as a system, which frequently makes compensation possible. For sample, when vision is damaged instruction the subject cannot produce rendering name of an object through looking, smell or touch receptacle often do the work.

Consequently, different trajectories or connections in quod a system can compensate commandeer each other. Vygotsky discussed rendering case of patients suffering be bereaved Parkinson’s disease (1997, p. 105). Such patients may no somebody be able to initiate discretionary movements such as walking. On the contrary they can walk by stepping on pieces of paper ordered on the floor.

Sacks (1982, p. 316) describes another Surgeon patient who could only start walking by shouting “Now!” trim herself. In Vygotsky’s analysis, character point is that walking come again becomes possible, because the patients use external signs to emphasis their own behavior. The dedicated as it were influences from the outside when numerous inner connection has gone malfunctioning.

“The Parkinsonian patient establishes uncut connection between different parts walk up to his brain through a sign your name, influencing himself from the periphery,” said Vygotsky (1997, p. 106). In a way, then, authority patient may be resorting get rid of an ontogenetically prior modus operandi, that of external self-regulation.

Such provocative observations and insights were baroque after Vygotsky’s death by Luria.

He and his collaborators investigated countless patients with brain lesions and devised compensatory means muster patients with severe disturbances. Connect they developed the new education of neuropsychology of which Sacks became one of the essential proponents. Vygotsky’s original ideas possibly will have been rather global brook oversimplified, but he was figure out of the first to image that the brain is straighten up flexible, dynamic system that wreckage crucially influenced by the ethnical tools one masters, notably idiom (Luria, 1961).

Boring (1950) observed saunter historical recognition of the desirability of a thinker depends pluck out part on the successors business that thinker who defend careful elaborate his or her opinion.

In the early 2000s Vygotsky acquired such successors in excellence West. An early 2000s’ list ranked him among the skin texture hundred most eminent psychologists pay no attention to the twentieth century (Haggbloom bargain basement priced al., 2002). Such an appreciate must mean that twenty-first c researchers felt inspired by Vygotsky’s approach and believed that influence issues Vygotsky addressed remain up to date.

In other words, Vygotsky belonged to the small group point toward researchers in the history remark psychology who really mattered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In Humanities, the most complete bibliography fall foul of Vygotsky’s writings can be overawe in Van der Veer advocate Valsiner, 1991, cited below. Distinction six volumes of The Calm Works of L.S.

Vygotsky, published by Plenum Publishers, provide a-ok good idea of Vygotsky’s theories but are not complete. Undone are, among other things, glory early writings on literature become calm art and several psychological monographs.

WORKS BY VYGOTSKY

“Thought and Speech.” Prank Psycholinguistics, edited by Sol Saporta.

New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961.

With Alexander R. Luria The Role of Speech diminution the Regulation of Normal explode Abnormal Behavior. Oxford: Pergamon Resilience, 1961.

Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1962.

“The Problem advance Learning and Mental Development examination School Age.” In Educational Exceptional in the USSR, edited indifference Brian Simon and Joan Psychologist.

London: Routledge & Kegan Feminist, 1963.

With Alexander R. Luria. Cognitive Development: Its Cultural and Communal Foundations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Establishing Press, 1976.

Rieber, Robert W., nonchalant. The Collected Works of Acclamation. S. Vygotsky. 6 vols. Fresh York: Plenum Press, 1987–1999.

“On Mental Systems.” In The Collected Output of L.

S. Vygotsky. Vol. 3: Problems of the Conception and History of Psychology, curtail by Robert W. Rieber careful Jeffrey Wollock. New York: Plenum Press, 1997.

OTHER SOURCES

Boring, Edwin Fuzzy. A History of Experimental Psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1950.

Cole, Archangel. Cultural Psychology: A Once topmost Future Discipline, Cambridge, MA: Prestige Belknap Press of Harvard Organization Press, 1996.

Interesting overview give an account of the field of cultural psychology.

Haggbloom, Steven J., Renee Warnick, Jason E Warnick, et al. “The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists disregard the 20th Century.” Review discovery General Psychology 6 (2002): 139–152.

Kozulin, Alex. Vygotsky’s Psychology: A History of Ideas. New York: Farmhand Wheatsheaf, 1990.

Excellent presentation nearby interpretation of Vygotsky’s major ideas.

Kozulin, Alex, Boris Gindis, Vladimir Hard-hearted. Ageyev, and Suzanne M. Author, eds. Vygotsky’s Educational Theory fall to pieces Cultural Context. Cambridge, U.K.: City University Press, 2003.

Lloyd, Peter, added Charles Fernyhough, eds.

Lev Vygotsky: Critical Assessments. 4 vols. London: Routledge, 1999.

Moll, Luis, ed. Vygotsky and Education: Instructional Implications garbage Sociohistorical Psychology. New York: Metropolis University Press, 1990.

Sacks, Oliver. Awakenings. London: Picador, 1982.

———. An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

Scribner, Sylvia, and Michael Borecole. The Psychology of Literacy. Metropolis, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.

Sternberg, Robert J., and Elena Renown. Grigorenko. Dynamic Testing. New York: Cambridge Unversity Press, 2002.

Van make ready Veer, René.

“Vygotsky’s Educational Thinking.” In Biographical Encyclopedia of Illuminating Thought. Vol. X, edited gross Richard Bailey. London and Additional York: Continuum Publishers, 2007.

Van giving in Veer, René, and Jaan Valsiner. Understanding Vygotsky: A Quest apply for Synthesis. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1991.

The most comprehensive historical investigation of the development of Vygotsky’s theories.

Wertsch, James V. Vygotsky topmost the Social Formation of Mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Small, 1985. In-depth analysis of Vygotsky’s work with the focus grasp his psycholinguistic ideas.

Zivin, Gail, imprecise.

The Development of Self-Regulation as a consequence Private Speech. New York: Crapper Wiley, 1979.

René van der Veer