By Nick Thompson
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Born in 1896 in Orsha in Byelorussia
(Belarus)
Grew up in Gomel
Graduated valedictorian from the
gymnasium in 1913
Graduated from Moscow University in
1917
Profoundly affected by the Bolshevik
Revolution
Taught in Gomel from 1917-1923
Taught in Leningrad, Moscow and
Kharkov from 1924-1934
Died in 1934 of tuberculosis
Influenced by Marx and Engels
Founder of the Sociohistorical School of
Psychology
Thesis
Antithesis
Synthesis
History is a dialectical process, a series of conflicts
and resolutions. New forces of production (e.g.,
new ways of manufacturing) come into conflict with
the existing social system and a new social system
is installed. (Crain, Theories of Development)
The history of all hitherto existing society is the
history of class struggles. (The Communist
Manifesto)
According to Engels, our ancestors became capable of tool use when
they came down from the trees and began living on level ground.
This new mode of life enabled them to develop an upright posture,
which freed the hands for the production of stone implements.
Once people began making tools, their minds expanded. (Crain)
Human capacities, as Engels said, have changed as a result of
historical development—especially technological development.
(Crain)
The most important moment in the course of
intellectual development, which gives birth to the purely
human forms of practical and abstract intelligence,
occurs when speech and practical activity, two
previously completely independent lines of
development, converge. Although children’s use of
tools during their preverbal period is comparable to that
of apes, as soon as speech and the use of signs are
incorporated into any action, the action becomes
transformed and organized along entirely new lines.
The specifically human use of tools is thus realized,
going beyond the more limited use of tools possible
among the higher animals. (Vygotsky, Mind in Society)
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Human babies are basically monkeys.
Speech unlocks the child’s ability to develop
in a fashion that we would consider normal
for human beings.
=
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Tool- an implement, esp. one held in the hand, as
a hammer, saw, or file, for performing or
facilitating mechanical operations. (dictionary.com)
Psychological tools, or signs, are tools that exist
inside the mind. Very similar to Piaget’s Schema.
 Examples- Speech, Language, Writing and Mathematics
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The most important for Vygotsky is Speech.
Humans think in dialogue.
Stimulus
Reaction
Auxiliary Stimulus
(Developed by the
human mind)
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Internalization- The progressive transfer from
external social activity mediated by signs to
internal control. (Dixon-Krauss)
Egocentric Speech- children talking to themselves
aloud (Crain). First noted by Piaget, who thought it
reflected a child’s egocentrism.
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Piaget- egocentric speech simply dies out.
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Vygotsky- egocentric speech is a tool that becomes
internalized into human thought.
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Memory Aids are devices used
to help you remember past
events. They are tools
according to Vygotsky.
 Examples- notched sticks,
knots in a rope
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Internalization leads to the
development of psychological
memory aids.
 Example- A waiter
remembers an order without
writing it down
1.
2.
3.
The researchers asked the children a series
of 18 questions, with 7 questions about the
color of an object.
A second round of questions were asked,
this time disallowing the use of two colors or
repeating the same color twice.
This was repeated a third time, but the
children were given colored cards (tools) to
help them remember which colors they used.
Age
Number of
Subjects
Errors (avg)
Task 2
Errors (avg)
Task 3
Difference
5-6
7
3.9
3.6
0.3
8-9
7
3.3
1.5
1.8
10-13
8
3.1
0.3
2.8
22-27
8
1.4
0.6
0.8
1.
2.
3.
4.
Preschool children ignore external memory aids.
As children get older and progress through
school, they begin to use external memory aids
more effectively. They have not begun to
internalize the memory aids.
During adolescence, the children begin to
internalize memory aids.
By adulthood, people have well developed
internal memory aids.
Educational advances have come a long way
in the long way in the last 80 years. Surely
the educational tools used in the classroom
today are much more advanced than they
were way back in the 1920s. If the
sociohistorical theory of the dialectic is true,
then children of this generation should be
internalizing memory aids quicker than they
were in the past.
This study will attempt to prove Vygotsky’s
theory of sociohistorical progress correct.
Children today will be more capable of
remembering using internal psychological
tools than the children in Leontiev’s study.
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7 children (1 boy and 6 girls)
Age range: 10 and 11 years old
Each child was taken out into the hall for approximately 10 minutes to answer a series
of questions.
3 sets of questions were used, each 18 questions long. 7 questions regarding color
were included in each set.
The first set of questions was asked.
Two rules were then added. The child could not say the colors yellow and green and
could not use the same color twice.
The child was asked another set of 18 questions. The child was then asked to evaluate
him/herself at the end and also state the rules of the game.
The child was then presented a set of eight colored cards (white, black, red, blue,
green, yellow, orange and purple) and told various examples of how to use the cards.
The rules were altered slightly. Instead of yellow and green, the two forbidden colors
were blue and red. The child still was not allowed to say the same color twice.
The child was asked the third set of 18 questions. Again, he/she was asked to
evaluate him/herself at the end and also state the rules of the game.
Name
Gender
Age
Errors in
Task 2
Errors in
Task 3
Difference
Soomin
M
11
3
3
0
Myriah
F
11
2
1
1
Tracy
F
11
3
1
2
Katrina
F
10
0
0
0
Natalie
F
11
3
2
1
Melissa
F
10
1
2
-1
Lauren
F
11
3
0
3
Average
2.14
1.29
0.86
Median
3
1
1
The averages apparently show that today’s
kids are getting quicker at internalizing
memory aids. But super smart Katrina was
distorting the results. A look at the median
reveals a different picture. Today’s kids
seem to progress at the same pace as
yesterday’s.
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2.
Children’s abilities to use memory aids
develop at the same average rate naturally
no matter what is taught in the classroom.
The tools developed by educators to develop
children’s abilities to internalize memory
aids have not progressed very far in 80 years
(the dialectic is incorrect?).
Vygotsky was WRONG!
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Sample more children
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Have a better gender distribution
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Familiarize myself with the children
beforehand so they wouldn’t be so nervous
Introduce other tools to see if Task 3 results
would change
Nature
Rousseau
Nurture
Piaget
"Through others we become ourselves."
— Lev S. Vygotsky
Locke
Vygotsky