Jasmin Reyes 2

Intro to Psychology Project

Through others, we become ourselves.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The genesis of higher mental functions.
Throughout history many psychologist, such as Piaget, have revolutionized
sociocultural and cognitive approaches to psychology, however, none have been as
influential as Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotskys major theories were his
sociocultural theory, the zone of proximal development and language in relation to
cognitive development.
Lev Vygotsky was born on November 17th, 1896 in Orsha, Russia. He was born to
a middle class Jewish family. He was one of few Jewish children that attended his
primary school. He later attended Moscow State University, majoring in medicine and
law, he was not allowed to study philosophy due to his Jewish lineage. In 1917 he
graduated with a degree in law and returned home to Orsha. There and worked with
children who had become homeless orphans due to the civil wars of the time. He began
his work in psychology in 1923 when he founded his own psychological laboratory. In
1924, he became a researcher at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. He worked with
children who suffered from disabilities and was chosen to represent the Soviet Union at
an international conference on education in 1925. When he returned he became very ill
with tuberculosis which left him quarantined and resting at home for almost two years.
During this time was when Vygotsky developed some of his most famous developmental
theories.
Vygotsky was best known for being an educational psychologist with his socio
cultural theory that was built upon the importance of social interactions and how they
played into the development of high order learning, also knwon as cognition. Lev
Vygotsky believed humans were born with set characteristics, he classified these as
Elementary Mental Functions:

Sensation

Attention

Perception

Memory

Through interactions with the environments elementary mental functions (EMF) are
developed into a more advanced mental process known as Higher Mental Functions (HMF).
For example, memory in young children this is limited by biological factors.
However, culture determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g.,
in our culture we learn note-taking to aid memory, but in pre-literate
societies other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in string to
remember, or carrying pebbles, or repetition of the names of ancestors until
large numbers can be repeated.
Vygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation - these allow children to
use the basic mental functions more effectively/adaptively, and these are
culturally determined (e.g. memory mnemonics, mind maps).
Vygotsky therefore sees cognitive functions, even those carried out alone, as
affected by the beliefs, values and tools of intellectual adaptation of the culture
in which a person develops and therefore socio-culturally determined. The tools
of intellectual adaptation therefore vary from culture to culture - as in the
memory example (Mcleod, 2014).
Vygotsky was focused on how children interact with those around them. Much of the
important learning a child goes through occurs under the influence of a skilled tutor, such as a
parent or teacher. This tutor acts like a model to the child, resulting in the child mimicking their
behavior. The term for this tutor that Vygotsky came up with is More Knowledgeable Other.
The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who
has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular

task, process, or concept (Mcleod, 2014). The interaction of the subject with the MKO is what
leads to learning and HMFs.
Many educators follow Vygotskys zone of proximal development. This theory states
that learning occurs when we interact with the environment around us and that are
development is not the cause of our learning, but the outcome. However, in order to learn we
must be exposed to tasks which are just outside our cognitive capabilities. Vygotsky created the
zone of proximal development to explain the region where tasks like these may be found. These
are tasks that we can almost complete independently but still rely on a MKO to guide us. An
example can be learning a new language. If we tried to learn Latin by ourselves we would not
be very successful, but if we have a mentor to teach us then we can learn the subject and take
it out of our zone of proximal development.
"The distance between the actual developmental level as determined by
independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined
through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable
peers. Parents and teachers can foster learning by providing educational opportunities
that lie within a child's zone of proximal development (Cherry, n.d.).
Vygotsky believed language was an accelerator to thinking and understanding as
well as being a very powerful tool of intellectual adaptation. He wrote many articles on
the social benefits of those children who engaged in private speech (internal speech).
He also introduced the idea that thought is the result of language.
When Vygotsky passed away on June 11th, 1934 he had only worked on
psychological research for a decade, leaving many of his theories unfinished. However in
the time he did work, he wrote 7 books on sociocultural development which paved the
way for future psychologists. Lev Vygotsky has contributed a wealth of ideas to early
childhood education. Most important, he has shown us how children's efforts to
understand the world around them, working in concert with teachers' sensitive,
responsive interactions, rouses their young minds to life (Leong, n.d.).

Works Cited
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Lev Vygotsky Biography. Retrieved 09 28, 2014, from abouteducation.com:
http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesmz/p/vygotsky.htm
Leong, D. (n.d.). Pioneers in our field-Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved 09 28, 2014, from scholastic.com:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/pioneers-our-field-lev-vygotsky-playing-learn
Lev Vygotsky. (2013, 02 07). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBbl90kTFdk
Mcleod, S. (2014). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved 10 1, 2014, from Simplepsychology.org:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html