PSY 304 Week 2 Assignment: Vygotsky’s Theory

Vygotsky’s Theory

Instructor Yvonne Lozano

There is much speculation around what exactly the deciding factor is when and what causes an individual to change their mind processes from early to late adulthood. There are multiple theories that address this curiosity such as Vygotsky’s and Piagets theories of child and cognitive development. As our human mind/brain changes through stages in our lives such as infancy, childhood & adolescence to adulthood we improve our skills such as memory, attention, and thinking. In this paper, I will describe the stages of cognitive development from Vygotsky’s point of view, how they link to the age(s) of a person and how the historical development of Vygotsky’s theory has remained relevant.

First, Vygotsky is a psychologist who has studied and developed his theory of child development. He believes that from early on at the stage of birth through around seventeen there are universal stages that each individual goes through that significantly influences his/or her development. These stages he refers to areas crisis stages in which a child is transitioning through periods of development. Facts show that in other conditions of rearing, the crisis occurs differently. In children who go from nursery school to kindergarten, the crisis occurs differently than it does for children who go into kindergarten from the family (Blunden. 2011). Vygotsky believes that a child is influenced by social interaction in thus paves the way for his or her development in the understanding of “meaning and reason”. At each stage of development, a child’s personality changes and this constitutes a period of reconstruction which alters the child as a whole through thought and speech. Vygotsky believed that cognitive development did not follow a straight path, but rather a complex process. Attention changes from infancy in that at this stage a baby is able to focus on one thing at a time, toddler stage this attention is able to gradually increase to more thing than once but still not as in-depth as in adolescence. As we continue to grow into middle and late adulthood, we start to lose some of the attention and memory that we once had when we were younger (Shriner. 2014). The three central descriptions of Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development are social interaction, the more knowledgeable other (scaffolding) and the zone of proximal development. Social Development Theory argues that social interaction precedes development; consciousness and cognition are the end product of socialization and social behavior ( Vygotsky. 1980). As a child develops into social communication, he/she will go through processes at different levels between people and then within the child. The more knowledgeable other can be defined as the outsider someone who has more influence on the said learner in the situation, and that can be anyone from a teacher to a coach. The reason for this is because the scaffolding (MKO) plays a vital role in the cognitive development being involved in the environment in which the individual is learning in. The zone proximal development refers to the ability of tasks being able to be performed by a child with and without the assistance of another.

As a child develops into social communication, he/she will go through processes at different levels between people and then within the child. An example of this social communication would be if a child is trying to put on his/her own shoes and suddenly has a difficulty and not wanting to continue to try and complete the task but say the child’s parent would sit down and also begin to put his/her shoes on the the likeliness of the child not only completing the task at the moment successfully but also doing it again the next day are highly likely. This is known as the zone of proximal development when a task seems too much of an obstacle to do alone but with the assistance of an adult or a more skilled influence, this can be accomplished. Another domain that Vygotsky uses in his theory of human development is known as scaffolding or the more knowledgeable other ( MKO). Scaffolding is defined as adjusting the setting offered during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance ( Shriner. 2014). Vygotsky argues that zone of proximal development comes after one has achieved consciousness and control but only after that function is mastered so thus scaffolding has to be put in place so that the learner is able to complete the task with the degree of support required. (Bruner, 1985: Meira & Lerman 2001). This age range would typically be in early childhood such as verbal cues at age three that would later enhance the memory and verbal skills for a child entering kindergarten typically at the age of six.

Vygotsky believed that these same processes, stages, and development could be applied to a child with special needs just as to a child without any mental disorders. Vygotsky believed that defects, which he conceptualized as “primary defects” (organic impairment) and “secondary defects,” (distortions of higher psychological functions due to social factors) could have different psychological effects depending on culture and environment factors (Gindis, 1998). However, Vygotsky does detail how there needed to be a more systematic approach to special education and that didn’t necessarily mean that all students should attend the same classes with disabled peers but the learning needed to be in a setting where the requirements were fully understood to each specific need of the student. Vygotsky passed away at the age of 37 after caring for his sick brother and ultimately contracted tuberculosis himself. His works and legend have long carried on after views of education underwent many changes since the early 20th century. After his death, Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective on human development and on the development of thought and speech has traveled across the world and educational practitioners, especially in the areas of early childhood, special education and adult literacy are finding him particularly relevant. As Newman and Holzmann, (1993, 1995) rightly point out, Vygotsky is now more highly regarded than Piaget, Freud, Skinner et al. Kerr (1997).

Vygotsky has developed a process that has been around or decades that we are still learning about today and applying to modern day parenting and growth in infancy to adulthood. The stages of cognitive development from Vygotsky’s point of view has shaped the way we view and approach education regarding behavior and social interaction. how they link to the age(s) of a person and how the historical development of Vygotsky’s theory has remained relevant. I believe there is a strength in the evidence presented that proves Vygotsky’s theories to be true and effective and are able to be applied to life examples.

Annotated Bibliography

Anonymous. The Mozart of Psychology. Retrieved from http://vygotsky.afraid.org/

This article gave an overview of Vygotsky’s life, pursuit to a higher education, understanding and description of his death. The article significantly depicts scientific evidence of his theories and relates back to this created complex process of behavioral and social cognitive development in children to adulthood. This article is especially vital in referencing for my paper as this covers all aspects needed to properly demonstrate what the theory was about, briefly correlate to a few examples and ultimately describe how historically his theories are still being used and accepted.

Bruner , J. (1985). Vygotsky: An historical and conceptual perspective. Culture, communication, and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives , 21-34. London: Cambridge University Press.

Initially this article was only referenced in the above and thus prompted me to further research. This essentially is an overview of Vgotsky’s perspectives from a psychological, communicative and sociocultural view. This article I didn’t use much of but rather took a quote from it and needed to reference it in my paper to avoid any plagiarism.

References

Anonymous. The Mozart of Psychology. Retrieved from http://vygotsky.afraid.org/

Bruner , J. (1985). Vygotsky: An historical and conceptual perspective. Culture, communication, and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives , 21-34. London: Cambridge University Press.

Gindis, B., & Karpov, Y., Dynamic Assessment: Prevailing Models and Applications 2000 Editors LidZ, C & Elliot, J. JAI http://www.bgcenter.com/dynamicAssessment.htm

Holzman, L., & Newman, F., 1993 Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist (Critical Psychology) Routledge London, New York. Routledge’s Critical Psychology Series http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0415064422/ref=sib_rdr_toc/102-2259659-2509701?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S008#reader-page

Shriner, B. & Shriner, M. (2014). Essentials of Lifespan Development: A Topical Approach [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Stephen, L., & Meira, L. (2002). The Zone of Proximal Development as a Symbolic Space.