PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Lecture Four: Vygotsky Recap from Piaget ...
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Lecture Four: Vygotsky Recap from Piaget Didn’t care about ages – per se, because experience matters more (constructivist) • Age inconsistency, inconsistency in stages (“the received/textbook view” of Piaget) • Stages: formalist v. functionalist • Formalist abstract view of children’s thinking (running a particular program in your head), describing the kids themselves input output • Engine for development: Equilibration Development was experience dependent 4 Factors of development: Maturation, Experience (Physical), Experience (Social) and equilibrium Know the major aspects of what characterizes the different stages • Preoperational Stage: Can start using symbols but can’t manipulate them Can represent objects not around Thought dominated by perception rather than logic • Concrete Operational Stage: Systems of logic (begin to pass conservation tasks) Limited to physical objects, not abstract reasoning • Formal Operational Thought: Concrete Operations: Restricted to reasoning about actual objects E.g. Experimenter hides chip in hand - “Either the chip in my hand is green or not green” Reasoning based on form; separate form from content; relations among statements - If…then statements: o If the bears are white in the far North o And Novvolisk is in the far North o Then what colour are the bears of Novvolisk? Can think about logical possibilities Hypothetical Deductive Thought: Generate hypotheses and test - E.g. Pendulum Task: which factor (length of string, weight of objects, height of dropping, or force of push) Is Formal Operations Universal? • Not found in all individuals or perhaps all cultures • Three possible explanations: 1) Different rates of development a. Depends on the quality and frequency of intellectual stimulation 2) Diversification of aptitudes 3) Language capacities
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Vygotsky As opposed to Piaget, he was more focused on social aspects Focus: Social factors of development Sociogenesis: The social origins of mental functions • Contrasts with individualistic approaches (relational) Different from Piaget? Coconstructivist (constructing knowledge through activity with other people) The Genetic Model (The Developmental Method) “Most adequate way to understand human mental functioning is to trace it back through the developmental changes it has undergone” (Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992, p. 550) “We need to concentrate not on the product of development but on the very process by which higher forms are established…” (Vygotsky , 1978, p. 64) Recurring theme in this course: Do all developmental psychologists think this way? No, they don’t. Three Domains: 1) Evolutionary or Phylogenetic The evolution of the human species Necessary, not sufficient 2) SocioCultural History The development of cultural practices, e.g., literacy 3) OntogeneticIndividual Development The point where the two previous domains come together Mental Functions Elementary Mental Functions: • The product of the natural or evolutionary line of development (e.g. animal cognition) High Mental Functions: • The product of the historical or cultural line of development Human forms of though are first social and then individual • E.g. Mediated memory, trying a knot, making a list General Genetic Law of Cultural Development Social interaction does not influence development; it constitutes development of forms of though • Higher mental functions have social origins Each function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first on the social level, and later, on the individual level • First between people then inside the child Development occurs twice: Two Planes 1) Social Plane; between people (interpsychological plane) 2) Individual Plane; within the child (intrapsychological plane)
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Process of internalization: • Transforms the process itself, changes structure and functions • Internalization: “The process of internalization is not a transferal of an external activity to a preexisting, internal plane of consciousness: it is the process in which this internal plane is formed” (Leont’ev). • Different from social learning theory Not just social influence on thinking; thinking as constituted socially Individual level derivative (i.e. “thinking” as “speech”) Zone of Proximal Development “Zone of potential development” (Luria) • Based on Vygotsky’s theory It is the difference between actual and potential development levels • I.e., what a child can do by herself v. under the guidance from an adult or more advanced peer Children at same level of actual (individual) development may differ in their level of potential development Scaffolding (Bruner) Social support Help that is changes as the child improves • I.e. help that is tailored to the child’s needs • More help for under children; and adjusted to child’s ability Psychological Tools E.g. language, counting systems, maps, calendars, date books, memory techniques, diagrams, work of art, filing systems, flow charts… These tools are social because: 1) They are not invented by individuals; they are products of sociocultural evolution 2) They are used for social purpose and only after the fact used for self Thinking and Speech (Very) brief history of the ideas: • Plato Thinking is “speech which the mind itself goes through with itself about whatever it’s considering” and “when the mind is thinking, it’s simply carrying on a discussion…” • Cognitive Science (“Consensus View”) Language as communication; an inputoutput system for cognition Language is only a channel, or conduit, for transferring thoughts into and out of the mind.” Egocentric Speech: Piaget
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Three Types: 1) Repetition 2) Monologue 3) Collective Monologue Developmental Sequence: 1) Sensorimotor intelligence 2) Egocentric speech 3) Socialized speech Egocentric speech as a measure of the child’s immaturity of mind • Kind of function of the particular state the child is in • Social world is in an aspect • Focus more on physical activity (speech and social are more secondary) Egocentrism: Piaget Centration • Inability of children’s to distinguish between their own viewpoints and those of others • Differentiation Children cannot differentiate themselves from others perspectives Private Speech: Vygotsky Egocentric speech serves an important function in the development of though • A form of speech “found in the transition from external to inner speech” (Vygotsky) Developmental Sequence: 1) Social speech 2) Egocentric/Private speech 3) Inner speech/Verbal thought All higher cognitive processes originate in social interaction • Egocentric/private speech has a social origin and is used as a tool for thought; first external, then individual Regulatory function of speech • From regulating others to regulating self through the internalization of speech Inverted U shape: Increase in preschool years then decrease as its internalized and abbreviated Piaget’s (1962) Comments on Vygotsky Piaget wrote that he agreed that Vygotsky’s hypothesis that: • “Egocentric speech is the point of departure for the development of inner speech.” • Piaget has made similar points in earlier books • Ideas regarding the social origins of thought from Janet, Baldwin, G. H. Mead
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 •
But that Vygotsky overlooked the child’s egocentricity as an obstacle to cooperation
Problems for Vygotsky? Thought that we can’t express in words? • Inner speech becomes abbreviated, simplified: “thought without words” • From a social process: in conversation we do not repeat shared information • Language is not the only tool of thought “Thinking in Words” Evaluating Vygotsky’s Hypotheses Private speech has a social origin • Positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech • Increases with receptive social partner Friendly peer or adult Experiment present v. absent Experimenter helpful v. not helpful Decreases with restricted adultchild communication Development Course of Private Speech Decrease in audible, taskrelevant private speech; increase in external manifestations of inner speech Inverted Ushaped function? • I.e. Increasing during preschool; decreasing in middle childhood Less support But, could be due to different tasks AgeRelated Changes in Structure I.e. abbreviation Little evidence; most private speech already abbreviated But, perhaps need indepth longitudinal studies; microgenetic studies Private Speech and Task Difficulty Should increase with task difficulty to overcome obstacles Lots of evidence • E.g. more with puzzles v. free play • More with academic v. nonacademic • E.g. puzzles with 3 levels of difficulty: 2. 3. And 5 year olds: most private speech at intermediate level of difficulty Private Speech and Task Performance Although there may private speech, successes on these tasks are low But, consider: • Content of private speech (i.e., type; taskrelevant) • Later improvement
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 •
Tasks appropriate to the child’s level
Private Speech and Task Performance Puzzle Solving: Successful children used twice as much as taskrelevant private speech at the unsuccessful children But: Also some nonsignificant studies Could be associated with immediate task failure and longterm success Large Variability in Private Speech Is it a universal stage? • Some children in studies show almost no private speech Maternal reports (Winsler et al., 2006) • Most reported private speech 98% • More in fantasy than problemsolving Criticism of Vygotsky Culture: Viewing other cultures as inferior • Ranking cultures: “scientific” v. “situational” v. “everyday” concepts, “abstract” v. “situational” thinking • But nothing intrinsic to the people, in contrast to typical critiques Began to move away from Eurocentricism: • I.e., not viewing forms of mental functioning as characterizing groups of mental functioning as characterizing groups but characteristic of specific settings (heterogeneous set of mental processes and “tool kits”) Didn’t say much about a few things: • Evolution and the natural line of development • How elementary mental functions grow out of the natural line and lead to higher mental functions • He focused instead on how cultural forces transform the natural line of development • Are the natural lien and cultural line separate? • Since social so important, role of active individual Influence of Vygotsky’s Ideas Number: e.g. of differences between approaches Culture and number (Saxe) • 27 body part counting system: Oksapmin, Papua New Guinea Scaffolding “Apprenticeship in thinking” (Rogoff, 1991) • E.g. studies of parents and children doing tasks together • Cultural differences Question: “In a society of peers, would there be development?” How can new forms of thinking develop?
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Piaget and Vygotsky thought experiment Epistemic Triangle (Chapman) Piaget had worked on both dimensions but did not integrate them • Integrated the early and later Piaget and Vygotsky Development of the ET; infant social development Commentary Paper, Due June 6th at 9:30 am
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Vygotsky As opposed to Piaget, he was more focused on social aspects Focus: Social factors of development Sociogenesis: The social origins of mental functions • Contrasts with individualistic approaches (relational) Different from Piaget? Coconstructivist (constructing knowledge through activity with other people) The Genetic Model (The Developmental Method) “Most adequate way to understand human mental functioning is to trace it back through the developmental changes it has undergone” (Wertsch & Tulviste, 1992, p. 550) “We need to concentrate not on the product of development but on the very process by which higher forms are established…” (Vygotsky , 1978, p. 64) Recurring theme in this course: Do all developmental psychologists think this way? No, they don’t. Three Domains: 1) Evolutionary or Phylogenetic The evolution of the human species Necessary, not sufficient 2) SocioCultural History The development of cultural practices, e.g., literacy 3) OntogeneticIndividual Development The point where the two previous domains come together Mental Functions Elementary Mental Functions: • The product of the natural or evolutionary line of development (e.g. animal cognition) High Mental Functions: • The product of the historical or cultural line of development Human forms of though are first social and then individual • E.g. Mediated memory, trying a knot, making a list General Genetic Law of Cultural Development Social interaction does not influence development; it constitutes development of forms of though • Higher mental functions have social origins Each function in the child’s cultural development appears twice: first on the social level, and later, on the individual level • First between people then inside the child Development occurs twice: Two Planes 1) Social Plane; between people (interpsychological plane) 2) Individual Plane; within the child (intrapsychological plane)
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Process of internalization: • Transforms the process itself, changes structure and functions • Internalization: “The process of internalization is not a transferal of an external activity to a preexisting, internal plane of consciousness: it is the process in which this internal plane is formed” (Leont’ev). • Different from social learning theory Not just social influence on thinking; thinking as constituted socially Individual level derivative (i.e. “thinking” as “speech”) Zone of Proximal Development “Zone of potential development” (Luria) • Based on Vygotsky’s theory It is the difference between actual and potential development levels • I.e., what a child can do by herself v. under the guidance from an adult or more advanced peer Children at same level of actual (individual) development may differ in their level of potential development Scaffolding (Bruner) Social support Help that is changes as the child improves • I.e. help that is tailored to the child’s needs • More help for under children; and adjusted to child’s ability Psychological Tools E.g. language, counting systems, maps, calendars, date books, memory techniques, diagrams, work of art, filing systems, flow charts… These tools are social because: 1) They are not invented by individuals; they are products of sociocultural evolution 2) They are used for social purpose and only after the fact used for self Thinking and Speech (Very) brief history of the ideas: • Plato Thinking is “speech which the mind itself goes through with itself about whatever it’s considering” and “when the mind is thinking, it’s simply carrying on a discussion…” • Cognitive Science (“Consensus View”) Language as communication; an inputoutput system for cognition Language is only a channel, or conduit, for transferring thoughts into and out of the mind.” Egocentric Speech: Piaget
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Three Types: 1) Repetition 2) Monologue 3) Collective Monologue Developmental Sequence: 1) Sensorimotor intelligence 2) Egocentric speech 3) Socialized speech Egocentric speech as a measure of the child’s immaturity of mind • Kind of function of the particular state the child is in • Social world is in an aspect • Focus more on physical activity (speech and social are more secondary) Egocentrism: Piaget Centration • Inability of children’s to distinguish between their own viewpoints and those of others • Differentiation Children cannot differentiate themselves from others perspectives Private Speech: Vygotsky Egocentric speech serves an important function in the development of though • A form of speech “found in the transition from external to inner speech” (Vygotsky) Developmental Sequence: 1) Social speech 2) Egocentric/Private speech 3) Inner speech/Verbal thought All higher cognitive processes originate in social interaction • Egocentric/private speech has a social origin and is used as a tool for thought; first external, then individual Regulatory function of speech • From regulating others to regulating self through the internalization of speech Inverted U shape: Increase in preschool years then decrease as its internalized and abbreviated Piaget’s (1962) Comments on Vygotsky Piaget wrote that he agreed that Vygotsky’s hypothesis that: • “Egocentric speech is the point of departure for the development of inner speech.” • Piaget has made similar points in earlier books • Ideas regarding the social origins of thought from Janet, Baldwin, G. H. Mead
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 •
But that Vygotsky overlooked the child’s egocentricity as an obstacle to cooperation
Problems for Vygotsky? Thought that we can’t express in words? • Inner speech becomes abbreviated, simplified: “thought without words” • From a social process: in conversation we do not repeat shared information • Language is not the only tool of thought “Thinking in Words” Evaluating Vygotsky’s Hypotheses Private speech has a social origin • Positive correlations between rates of social interaction and private speech • Increases with receptive social partner Friendly peer or adult Experiment present v. absent Experimenter helpful v. not helpful Decreases with restricted adultchild communication Development Course of Private Speech Decrease in audible, taskrelevant private speech; increase in external manifestations of inner speech Inverted Ushaped function? • I.e. Increasing during preschool; decreasing in middle childhood Less support But, could be due to different tasks AgeRelated Changes in Structure I.e. abbreviation Little evidence; most private speech already abbreviated But, perhaps need indepth longitudinal studies; microgenetic studies Private Speech and Task Difficulty Should increase with task difficulty to overcome obstacles Lots of evidence • E.g. more with puzzles v. free play • More with academic v. nonacademic • E.g. puzzles with 3 levels of difficulty: 2. 3. And 5 year olds: most private speech at intermediate level of difficulty Private Speech and Task Performance Although there may private speech, successes on these tasks are low But, consider: • Content of private speech (i.e., type; taskrelevant) • Later improvement
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 •
Tasks appropriate to the child’s level
Private Speech and Task Performance Puzzle Solving: Successful children used twice as much as taskrelevant private speech at the unsuccessful children But: Also some nonsignificant studies Could be associated with immediate task failure and longterm success Large Variability in Private Speech Is it a universal stage? • Some children in studies show almost no private speech Maternal reports (Winsler et al., 2006) • Most reported private speech 98% • More in fantasy than problemsolving Criticism of Vygotsky Culture: Viewing other cultures as inferior • Ranking cultures: “scientific” v. “situational” v. “everyday” concepts, “abstract” v. “situational” thinking • But nothing intrinsic to the people, in contrast to typical critiques Began to move away from Eurocentricism: • I.e., not viewing forms of mental functioning as characterizing groups of mental functioning as characterizing groups but characteristic of specific settings (heterogeneous set of mental processes and “tool kits”) Didn’t say much about a few things: • Evolution and the natural line of development • How elementary mental functions grow out of the natural line and lead to higher mental functions • He focused instead on how cultural forces transform the natural line of development • Are the natural lien and cultural line separate? • Since social so important, role of active individual Influence of Vygotsky’s Ideas Number: e.g. of differences between approaches Culture and number (Saxe) • 27 body part counting system: Oksapmin, Papua New Guinea Scaffolding “Apprenticeship in thinking” (Rogoff, 1991) • E.g. studies of parents and children doing tasks together • Cultural differences Question: “In a society of peers, would there be development?” How can new forms of thinking develop?
PSYC 354 Summer 2014 Piaget and Vygotsky thought experiment Epistemic Triangle (Chapman) Piaget had worked on both dimensions but did not integrate them • Integrated the early and later Piaget and Vygotsky Development of the ET; infant social development Commentary Paper, Due June 6th at 9:30 am
