Cultural Development
I found this week's reading to be rather difficult to follow. I'm not sure I entirely understood Vygotsky's main point with this chapter, but this was one passage that I found interesting.
"A sign or an auxiliary means of a cultural method thus forms a structural and functional centre, which determines the whole composition of the operation and the relative importance of each separate process. The inclusion in any process of a sign remodels the whole structure of psychological operations, just as the inclusion of a tool remodels the whole structure of a labour operation"[Vygotsky, 1929, p. 61].
I think Vygotsky is talking about the idea that internalization of cultural signs and symbols causes (and/or is caused by?) a fundamental, qualitative psychological reframing.
This reminded me of a quote that I read last year when first learning about Vygotsky, and upon looking up that quote I found more interesting text that I thought I would share.
"Vygotsky fleshed out this analogy between physical tools and sign systems by contending that child development is to a considerable extent equivalent to mastering these cultural tools. Further, he took an explicitly developmental perspective and argued that the cultural tools become psychological tools for thinking. In his view, 'people do not only possess mental tools, they are also possessed by them. Cultural means -- speech in particular -- are not external to our minds, but grow into them, thereby creating a 'second nature'.... a child who has mastered the cultural tool of language will never be the same child again (van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991, p. 225)" (Cobb, Perelwitz, & Underwood, 1996, p. 12).
I wonder which has a more profound effect on psychological development, physical tools or non-physical cultural tools (e.g., language and writing). I think I mentioned sometime during the first few classes that when I think about moving from one place to another within Columbus, I think about driving down certain roads and about my internalized mental model of Columbus (which is far more developed in certain small regions than most others). On one hand, my thinking about movement through Columbus has been qualitatively affected by my usage of automobiles for transportation; on the other, a GPS is (in a sense) a non-physical cultural tool, and both this and my operation of a vehicle are mediated by my ability to read and understand the English language. So given this example, my hunch tells me language has the most profound qualitative effect on our thinking.
I think Vygotsky is talking about the idea that internalization of cultural signs and symbols causes (and/or is caused by?) a fundamental, qualitative psychological reframing.
This reminded me of a quote that I read last year when first learning about Vygotsky, and upon looking up that quote I found more interesting text that I thought I would share.
"Vygotsky fleshed out this analogy between physical tools and sign systems by contending that child development is to a considerable extent equivalent to mastering these cultural tools. Further, he took an explicitly developmental perspective and argued that the cultural tools become psychological tools for thinking. In his view, 'people do not only possess mental tools, they are also possessed by them. Cultural means -- speech in particular -- are not external to our minds, but grow into them, thereby creating a 'second nature'.... a child who has mastered the cultural tool of language will never be the same child again (van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991, p. 225)" (Cobb, Perelwitz, & Underwood, 1996, p. 12).
I wonder which has a more profound effect on psychological development, physical tools or non-physical cultural tools (e.g., language and writing). I think I mentioned sometime during the first few classes that when I think about moving from one place to another within Columbus, I think about driving down certain roads and about my internalized mental model of Columbus (which is far more developed in certain small regions than most others). On one hand, my thinking about movement through Columbus has been qualitatively affected by my usage of automobiles for transportation; on the other, a GPS is (in a sense) a non-physical cultural tool, and both this and my operation of a vehicle are mediated by my ability to read and understand the English language. So given this example, my hunch tells me language has the most profound qualitative effect on our thinking.
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