Among the various approaches to the problem of the origin and development of human consciousness, two dominated: "biological" and "ideal". From the standpoint of an ideal approach, a person has divine origin. According to this point of view, the goal of each person's life is "to realize God's plan" (Christian approach), to express a part of the "objective spirit" (Hegel), etc. The soul of man, his psyche is divine, immeasurable and unknowable. From a biological point of view, a person has natural origin and is a part of living nature, therefore its mental life can be described by the same concepts as the mental life of animals. To the number the brightest representatives this position can be attributed to I.P. Pavlov, who discovered that the laws of the highest nervous activity are the same for both animals and humans.
Vygotsky's theories emphasize the fundamental role social interaction in the development of cognition, since he strongly believed that the community played a central role in the process of "meaning creation". Vygotsky, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of development of a culturally organized, in particular, psychological function of a person." In other words, social learning tends to precede development. Vygotsky developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development.
He developed his theories around the same time he began to develop his ideas, but he died at the age of 38 and therefore his theories are incomplete, although some of his writings are still being translated from Russian. Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and cultural context in which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in a person come from social processes.
L.S. Vygotsky solved this problem in a different way. He showed that man has special kind mental functions that are completely absent in animals. These functions, named by L.S. Vygotsky, higher mental functions constitute the highest level of the human psyche, generally called consciousness. They are formed in the course of social interaction. In other words, Vygotsky argued that the higher mental functions of a person, or consciousness, are of a social nature. At the same time, the higher mental functions are understood as: voluntary memory, voluntary attention, logical thinking and etc.
Vygotsky's theory differs from Piaget's in several important ways.
1: Vygotsky pays more attention to culture influencing cognitive development. This contradicts Piaget's view of the universal stages and content of development. Therefore, Vygotsky suggests that cognitive development varies in different cultures, while Piaget argues that cognitive development is basically universal across cultures.
2: Vygotsky pays much more attention to social factors that contribute to cognitive development. Vygotsky argues that cognitive development is driven by social interactions from guided learning to the zone of proximal development, like children and their shared knowledge. On the contrary, Piaget argues that cognitive development is associated mainly with independent research, in which children create their own knowledge.
Vygotsky's conception can be divided into three components. The first part can be called "Man and Nature". Its main content can be formulated in the form of two theses. The first is the thesis that during the transition from animals to humans, drastic change relationship of the subject with the environment. Throughout the existence of the animal world, the environment acted on the animal, modifying it and forcing it to adapt to itself. With the advent of man, the opposite process is observed: man acts on nature and modifies it. The second thesis explains the existence of mechanisms for changing nature on the part of man. This mechanism consists in the creation of tools of labor, in the development of material production.
For Vygotsky environment in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think. 3: Vygotsky pays more attention to the role of language in cognitive development. According to Piaget, language depends on the thought of its development. For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the very beginning of life, merging at the age of about three years, producing verbal thinking.
For Vygotsky, cognitive development is the result of the internalization of language. 4: According to Vygotsky, adults are an important source of cognitive development. Adults pass on their cultural tools of intellectual adaptation, which children learn. On the contrary, Piaget stresses the importance of peers as a mutual interaction that promotes social perspective.
The second part of Vygotsky's conception can be called "Man and his own psyche". It also contains two provisions. The first position is that the mastery of nature did not pass without a trace for a person, he learned to master his own psyche, he developed higher mental functions, expressed in the forms of voluntary activity. Under the higher mental functions of L.S. Vygotsky understood the ability of a person to force himself to memorize some material, to pay attention to some object, to organize his mental activity.
Cultural Influence: - Intelligent Adaptation Tools
Lev Vygotsky refers to "elementary mental functions" -. For example, the memory of young children is limited biological factors. However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop. For example, in our culture we study writing to aid memory, but in devotional societies, other strategies need to be devised, such as tying knots in a chain to remember or carry pebbles, or repeat the names of ancestors until big numbers can be repeated.
The second proposition is that man mastered his behavior, as well as nature, with the help of tools, but special tools - psychological ones. These psychological tools he called signs.
Vygotsky called signs the artificial means by which primitive was able to master his behavior, memory and other mental processes. The signs were objective, - a "knot for memory" or a notch on a tree also act as a sign, as a means by which they seize memory. For example, a person saw a notch and remembered what to do. By itself, this sign is not associated with a specific type of activity. A “knot for memory” or a notch on a tree can be meaningfully related to various types of labor operations. But, faced with a similar sign-symbol, a person connected it with the need to perform some specific operation. Consequently, such signs acted as additional symbols meaningfully related to labor operations. However, in order to perform this labor operation, a person needed to remember exactly what he had to do. Therefore, signs-symbols were the triggers of higher mental processes, i.e. acted as psychological tools.
Therefore, Vygotsky sees cognitive functions, even those that are performed alone, depending on the beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops and is therefore socio-culturally determined. Therefore, the tools of intellectual adaptation vary from culture to culture - as in the memory example.
Social impact on cognitive development
However, Vygotsky paid more attention to the social contribution to the development process, while Piaget emphasized self-discovery. Vygotsky, very important learning for a child occurs through social interaction with a skilled mentor. Vygotsky calls this the dialogue of cooperation or cooperation. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the teacher, then assimilates the information, using it to guide or regulate their work. Shaffer gives the example of a young girl who is given the first puzzle.
The third part of Vygotsky's concept can be called "Genetic Aspects". This part of the concept answers the question "Where do the sign funds come from?" Vygotsky proceeded from the fact that labor created man. In the process of joint work, communication took place between its participants with the help of special signs that determine what each of the participants should do. labor process. It is likely that the first words were command words addressed to the participants in the labor process. For example, “do this”, “take this”, “take it there”, etc. These first command words were essentially verbal signs. A person, having heard a certain combination of sounds, performed one or another labor operation. But later, in the process of activity, a person began to direct commands not to anyone, but to himself. As a result, its organizing function was born from the external command function of the word. So a person learned to control his behavior. Consequently, the ability to command oneself was born in the process cultural development person.
Alone, she doesn't perform well trying to solve the puzzle. As the child becomes more competent, the father allows the child to work more independently. Vygotsky, this type of social interaction involving cooperative or collective dialogue contributes to cognitive development. Vygotsky: “The more knowledgeable other and the zone of proximal development.” The more knowledgeable other is somewhat self-evident; it refers to a person who has a better understanding or more high level abilities than a student in relation to specific task, process or concept.
It can be assumed that at first the functions of the person ordering and the person fulfilling these orders were separated and the whole process; according to L.S. Vygotsky was interpsychological, i.e. interpersonal. Then these relationships turned into relationships with oneself, i.e. in iptrapsychological. Vygotsky called the process of transformation of interpsychological relations into intrapsychological ones internalization. In the course of internalization, external means-signs (notches, knots, etc.) are transformed into internal ones (images, elements of inner speech, etc.).
Many times, a child's peers or adult children may be people with more knowledge or experience. Some companies are now using electronic systems performance support. E-tutors have also been used in educational institutions to facilitate and guide learners through the learning process.
The notion of a more knowledgeable other is inextricably linked to the second important principle of Vygotsky's work, the Zone of Proximal Development. This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve on their own and what a child can achieve with the guidance and support of an experienced partner.
In ontogeny, according to Vygotsky, the same thing is observed in principle. First, the adult acts with a word on the child, prompting him to do something. Then the child adopts a way of communication and begins to influence the adult with a word. And, finally, the child begins to influence himself with the word.
Thus, two fundamental provisions can be distinguished in Vygotsky's concept. First, higher mental functions have an indirect structure. Secondly, the process of development of the human psyche is characterized by the internalization of relations of control and means-signs. main conclusion This concept is as follows: man is fundamentally different from the animal in that he mastered nature with the help of tools. This left an imprint on his psyche - he learned to master his own higher mental functions. To do this, he also uses tools, but psychological tools. Signs or symbolic means act as such tools. They have a cultural origin, with speech being the universal and most typical system of signs.
Consequently, the higher mental functions of a person differ from the mental functions of animals in their properties, structure and origin: they are arbitrary, mediated, social.
Vygotsky's concept has a number of shortcomings and can be criticized, but it played a huge role in the development of scientific psychological thought. Its main provisions were used in the development of such a practical problem as defectology. Vygotsky's concept also influenced the formation of modern scientific views on the problem of the origin of the psyche and the development of human consciousness.
Today, in Russian psychology, the fundamental thesis is the assertion that the origin of human consciousness is associated with its social nature. Consciousness is impossible outside of society. The specifically human path of ontogenesis consists in the assimilation of socio-historical experience in the process of education and upbringing - socially developed ways of transferring human experience. These methods ensure the full development of the child's psyche.
The historical concept was called because it is impossible to understand the mental processes and consciousness that have “become”, now available, but one should consider the history of their development and formation, but at the same time it is development, that is, qualitative changes, the emergence of neoplasms, and not simple evolution. Vygotsky tried to consider mental development in terms of all types of genesis. However, his focus was on ontogenetic studies of the formation and development of HMF in a child.
This concept is called cultural because Vygotsky believed that the consciousness of the child, the specific features of his HMF are formed in the child as a result of communication with adults, in which the child masters the systems of cultural signs. These signs mediate his "lower" (involuntary) PF and thus lead to the creation of completely new formations in the child's mind.
Learning activity is the leading activity of primary school age, within the framework of which there is a controlled appropriation of the foundations of social experience, primarily in the form of intellectual basic operations and theoretical concepts. Thanks to the works of A. N. Leontiev, leading activity is considered as a criterion for the periodization of mental development as an indicator of the psychological age of the child. Leading activity is characterized by the fact that other types of activity arise and differentiate in it, the main mental processes are rebuilt, and changes occur. psychological features personality at this stage of its development. The content of the form of leading activity depends on the specific historical conditions in which the development of the child takes place. In modern socio-historical conditions, when in many countries children are covered unified system public education, leading in the development of the child are the following types activities: emotional and direct communication of the infant with adults, tool-objective activity of the child early age, role-playing game for preschoolers, educational activity in junior school age, intimate and personal communication of adolescents, professional and educational activities in early youth. A change in the leading types of activity is prepared for a long time and is associated with the emergence of new motives that are formed within the leading activity that precedes a given stage of development and which induce the child to change the position he occupies in the system of relations with other people. The development of the problem of the leading activity in the development of the child is a fundamental contribution of Soviet scientists to child psychology.
In numerous studies by A. V. Zaporozhets, A. N. Leontsva, D. B. Elkonin and their colleagues, the dependence of mental processes on the nature and structure of external, objective activity was shown. The study of the processes of formation and change of motives, the formation and loss of personal meaning by activity was begun under the leadership of A. N. Leontiev and continued in the studies of L. I. Bozhoiich and her colleagues. The question of the subject, operational content of activity was developed in the studies of L. Ya. Galperin and his collaborators. They especially considered the role of the organization of orienting activity for the formation of physical, perceptual and mental actions. The most productive direction in Soviet child psychology was the study specific features the transition of external activity into internal activity, the patterns of the process of internalization in ontogenesis. The next step in the development of the ideas of L. S. Vygotsky was prepared by the works of L. Ya. Galperin and A. V. Zaporozhets, devoted to the analysis of the structure and the formation of an objective action, the allocation of indicative and executive parts in it. Thus began an extremely productive study of the functional development of the child's psyche, predicted by L. S. Vygotsky. Galperin Petr Yakovlevich (1902-1988) Russian psychologist, member of the Kharkov activity school, author of the concept of systematically phased formation of mental actions and interpretation of psychology as a science of orienting activity of the subject. The theory of the phased formation of mental activity was developed in the 50s, but its origins date back early views L. S. Vygotsky on the development of higher mental functions. Speaking against subjective-idealistic views on the nature of the psyche, Vygotsky was convinced of the connection between the psyche and behavior. According to the principle of internalization, mental - internal - action is formed as a transformation of the original practical action, its gradual transition from existence to material form to existence in the form of external speech, then “external speech to oneself” (internal pronunciation) and, finally, a folded, internal action. According to Galperin, any new mental action, for example, imagination, understanding, thinking, comes after the corresponding external activity. This process goes through several stages, causing the transition from external activity to psychological. Effective learning these steps must be taken into account. According to Galperin, training can be conditionally called any activity, since the one who performs it receives new information and skills, and at the same time the information received by him receives a new quality. The theory of the gradual formation of mental actions by P.Ya. Galperina is well known in Russian psychology and has received wide recognition. international recognition.The process of formation of mental actions according to P.Ya. Galperin is done in stages:
1. Identification of the orienting basis of action. At this stage, orientation in the task occurs, initially what is striking itself is highlighted.
2. Action is being formed in material form. At this stage, the student of mental actions receives complete system instructions and system external signs which he needs to focus on. The action is automated, made expedient, it is possible to transfer it to similar tasks.
3. The stage of external speech. Here the action is further generalized due to its complete verbalization in oral or written speech. Thus, the action is assimilated in a form divorced from specifics, i.e. generalized. It is important not only to know the conditions, but also to understand them.
4. The stage of formation of actions in external speech to oneself. Stage of internal activity. As in the previous stage, the action is manifested in a generalized form, but its verbal assimilation occurs without the participation of external speech. After receiving a mental form, the action begins to quickly reduce, acquiring a form identical to the model, and undergoing automation.
5. Formation of actions in inner speech. The stage of internalization of action. The action here becomes an internal process, maximally automated, it becomes an act of thought, the course of which is closed, and only the final “product” of this process is known.
The transition from the first of these stages to all subsequent ones is a consistent internalization of actions. This is a transition from outside to inside. All activity is not an end in itself, but is caused by a certain motive for this activity, of which it is a part. When the purpose of the task coincides with the motive, the action becomes an activity. activity is the process of solving problems, caused by the desire to achieve the goal, which can be achieved through this process. Galperin evaluates the role of motivation so highly that, along with 5 main stages in the process of mastering new actions, in his last works he recommends taking into account one more stage - the formation of appropriate motivation in students. The psychological law of mastering knowledge is that they are formed in the mind not before , but in the process of applying them to practice. A person best of all remembers the knowledge that he used in some of his own actions, applied to solving some real problems. Knowledge not found practical application are usually gradually forgotten. The assimilation of knowledge is not the goal of learning, but a means. Knowledge is assimilated in order to learn how to do something with its help, and not to be stored in memory. Any well-mastered action (motor, perceptual, speech) is an action fully represented in the mind. A person who knows how to act correctly is able to mentally perform this action from beginning to end. The question of the relationship between the functional and age-related genesis of mental processes has become topical. Zaporozhets Alexander Vladimirovich (1905-1981) - owl. psychologist, student of L. S. Vygotsky. In the 1930s, as a member of the Kharkov School of Psychologists, he stood at the origins of the activity approach in psychology, together with A. N. Leontiev, developing the problem of the emergence of the psyche in phylogenesis (see Sensitivity). However, Z. made his main contribution to the theory of activity through his ontogenetic studies. They were shown that at the origins of any cognitive process the child lies in practical actions: for example, perception is a folded (internalized) “perceptual action”, which is likened to the main properties of the perceived object; thinking initially arises as a practical (“effective”) generalization, etc. Subsequently, he began to develop the idea of developing emotions as mastering actions to assess the meaning of the situation for the subject. Z. understood the process of internalization as the transformation of initially external forms of orienting activity into internal ones. These views influenced the formation of the concept of the subject of psychology as an orientation activity in line with the activity approach. Based on the generalization of theoretical and practical (on the restoration of movements in the wounded during Patriotic War) research created the concept of the emergence and development of voluntary movements and actions. Sharing these ideas, D. B. Elkonin made an assumption that was exceptional in its psychological depth and insight. In the concept of D. B. Elkonin, one of the serious shortcomings of foreign psychology is overcome, where the problem of splitting two worlds constantly arises: the world of objects and the world of people. D. B. Elkonin showed that this splitting is false, artificial. In fact, human action is two-faced: it contains human sense and operational side. Strictly speaking, in human world there is no world physical items, the world of social objects reigns supreme there, satisfying socially formed needs in a certain socially developed way. Even objects of nature appear to man as being included in a certain public life as objects of labor, as humanized, social nature. Man is the bearer of these social ways of using objects. Hence, the ability of a person is the level of possession of social ways of using social objects. Thus, every object contains a social object. In human action, one must always see two sides: on the one hand, it is oriented towards society, on the other hand, towards the method of performance. This microstructure of human action, according to the hypothesis of D.B. Elkonin, is also reflected in the macrostructure of periods of mental development. D.B. Elkonin suggests looking at the relationship between the child and society in a different way. It is much more correct, he believes, to say to the system “a child in society”, and not “a child and society”, so as not to oppose it to society. If we consider the formation of the child's personality in the system "child in society", then the nature of the relationship, and the very content of the systems "child - thing" and "child - individual adult", singled out by European psychology as two spheres of children's existence, radically change. D. B. Elkonin shows that the “child-thing” system is essentially the “child-social object” system, since the child’s socially developed actions with him, and not the physical and spatial properties of the object, come to the fore in the object; the latter serve only as guidelines for dealing with it. With the assimilation of socially developed methods of action with objects, the formation of the child as a member of society takes place. According to D. B. Elkonin, the “child-adult” system is turning into a “child-social adult” system. This happens because, for a child, an adult is the bearer of certain types of activity that is social in nature. An adult performs certain tasks in his activity, enters into various relationships with other people, and himself obeys certain norms. These tasks, motives and norms of relations that exist in the activities of adults, learn through reproduction or modeling them in their own activities (for example, in role play in preschoolers), of course, with the help of adults. In the process of assimilation of these norms, the child is faced with the need to master more and more complex, new objective actions. D. B. Elkonin shows that the child's activity in the systems "child - social object" and "child - social adult" is a single process in which the personality of the child is formed. Another thing, he writes, is that “this process of the child’s life in society, which is uniform in nature, in the course of historical development bifurcates, splits into two sides. D. B. Elkonin discovered the law of alternation, periodicity different types activity: activity of one type, orientation in the system of relations is followed by activity of another type, in which orientation occurs in the ways of using objects. Each time there are contradictions between these two types of orientation. They are the reason for development. Each era of child development is built on the same principle. It opens with an orientation in the sphere of human relations. An action cannot proceed further if it is not inserted into new system child's relationship with society. Until the intellect has risen to a certain level, there can be no new motives. Law of alternation, periodicity in child development allows sexual representation of periods (epochs) in the ontogeny stage of the psyche. The main, or leading type of activity of the child during this period. At the same time, it is necessary to consider not only the type of activity, but also the structure of activity at the appropriate age and analyze why this particular type of activity is leading. Basic neoplasms of development. It is important to show how new achievements in development outgrow social situation and lead to its "explosion" - crisis. A crisis. Crises are turning points on the curve of child development, separating one age from another. One can say following L. S. Vygotsky: “If crises were not discovered empirically, they would have to be invented theoretically.” To reveal the psychological essence of the crisis means to understand the internal dynamics of development during this period. The hypothesis of D. B. Elkonin, taking into account the law of periodicity in child development, explains the content of developmental crises in a new way. So, 3 years and 11 years - crises of relations, after them there is an orientation in human relations; 1 year, 7 years - worldview crises that open orientation in the world of things. The hypothesis of D. B. Elkonin creatively develops the teachings of L. S. Vygotsky, it overcomes the intellectualism of his teachings about the systemic and semantic structure of consciousness. It explains the emergence and development of the motivational-need sphere of personality in a child.
VV Davydov proposed to abandon the term "development" (of the psyche) in its application to individual person He considered it possible to use only the concept of "formation" of the individual's psyche. This means the mastery, development, acquisition of his social nature, noted in the special products of the objective activity of previous generations of people; the formation of human activity itself, and in particular its control mechanisms - the psyche All types and methods of human activity, including his individual activity, needs, aspirations, inclinations, are the result of the assignment of socially given and in a certain sense normative patterns of this activity According to VV Davydov, public institutions somehow determine the nature of the formation of the individual “in their own image and likeness.” Therefore, the term “development” can be attributed to society as a whole, and not to the individual. development, but formation In 1966, he published the book “The Correlation of the Concepts of “Formation” and “Development” of the Mind”, where he outlined the basic concepts of his theory. In addition, VV Davydov revealed in it his psychological and pedagogical program to transform everything primary education He believed that it was necessary to change the very principle of constructing educational subjects so that their assimilation was at the same time the development of the ability for genuine thinking. For this, it is necessary to build all academic subjects so that they use the most general concepts from the very beginning. further education the teacher, together with the students, takes general concepts particular characteristics of objects Thus, according to VV Davydov, the movement from the general to the particular gradually forms in the child the ability to fully master abstract thinking. In support of his theory, he cited empirical material obtained in a number of experimental classes elementary school Davydov worked on the development pedagogical program Such a program was created by him jointly with Elkonin. The basis of this theory was three closely related concepts– learning activity, theoretical thinking and reflection The most difficult point in its development was the correct ratio of empirical and theoretical thinking used in the learning process.
L.I. Bozhovich paid much attention to solving the problems of developing self-esteem as the main component of the self-awareness of the individual, determining the level of claims, the formation of ideals, the development of volitional behavior, personal orientation, the moral stability of the individual, the stages of its formation. A special place in this L.I. Bozovic assigned to identifying the features of crises age development, which, in her opinion, are the results of the deprivation of those needs of the child that arise in him by the end of each age period, along with the main, personal neoplasm. Thanks to a happy combination of versatile psychological knowledge And practical experience work with children - difficult children, caught in an aggravated situation, L.I. Bozovic not only was able to reveal the underlying patterns personal development of a growing person, but also to determine the possibilities of purposeful influence on his moral development.
Following the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria developed a cultural and historical concept of the development of the psyche, participated in the creation of the theory of activity. On this basis, he developed the idea of the systemic structure of higher mental functions, their variability, plasticity, emphasizing the life-time nature of their formation, their implementation in various types activities. Investigated the relationship between heredity and upbringing in mental development. Using the twin method traditionally used for this purpose, he introduced significant changes, conducting an experimental genetic study of the development of children in conditions of purposeful formation of mental functions in one of the twins. He showed that somatic signs are largely genetically determined, elementary mental functions (for example, visual memory) - less. And for the formation of higher mental processes (conceptual thinking, meaningful perception, etc.), the conditions of education are of decisive importance. In the field of defectology, he developed objective methods for studying abnormal children. The results of a comprehensive clinical and physiological study of children with various forms mental retardation served as the basis for their classification, which is important for pedagogical and medical practice. Created a new direction - neuropsychology, now separated into a special branch psychological science and received international recognition. The beginning of the development of neuropsychology was laid by studies of brain mechanisms in patients with local brain lesions, in particular as a result of injury. Developed a theory of localization of higher mental functions, formulated the basic principles of dynamic localization of mental processes, created a classification of aphasic disorders and described previously unknown forms of speech disorders, studied the role frontal lobes brain in the regulation of mental processes, brain mechanisms of memory.
