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Course: MCAT > Unit 13
Lesson 1: Self-identity- Self identity questions
- Self concept, self identity, and social identity
- Self esteem, self efficacy, and locus of control
- Overview of theories of development
- Freud's psychosexual development
- Erikson's psychosocial development
- Vygotsky sociocultural development
- Kohlberg moral development
- Social influences
- George Herbert Mead- The I and the Me
- Charles Cooley- Looking glass self
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Vygotsky sociocultural development
Vygotsky's Theory of Development, also known as the Sociocultural Theory, focuses on the role of social interaction in cognitive development. Key concepts include More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), and the importance of language. These elements work together to enhance a child's learning and thinking abilities.
Created by Shreena Desai.
Want to join the conversation?
- I'm a bit confused as to how Vygotsky viewed language and thought. According to Shreena, Vygotsky believed that language leads to the development of thought. However in another MCAT Khan video ("Theories of Language and Cognition") it was stated that Vygotsky believed that language and thought are independent but converge through development. Any clarifications please?(29 votes)
- So from what I gathered it seemed the other video is the correct.
Here is an excerpt from a psych website that sums up pretty much three other sources.
According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its development (i.e. thought comes before language). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing verbal thought (inner speech).
Hope this helps!(33 votes)
- Shreena's videos feel like a rollercoaster because her mic volume goes from 0 to 100 and then back to 0(19 votes)
- according to Vygotsky, people that engage in private speech (talking to themselves) are better adapted in life.
meanwhile back on Earth, people that talk to themselves are seen as abnormal or crazy...why didn't Vygotsky's ideas get sent to Earth?(5 votes)- I guess it really depends on why you're talking to yourself...and whether or not you respond. Also, maybe it depends on how frenzied the conversation is. If the talking is fast and breathy and...a bit creepy, then we're more likely to think something's wrong. I'm a writer. I talk to myself all the time and people just know it's me thinking out loud.(5 votes)
- I was one of those kids that did a lot of talking to myself when I was younger. The interesting thing is, I have not really grown out of that. I'm 20 now, and yet I tend to still engage in a lot of audible (albeit softly audible) self-talk when I'm thinking or planning. I also notice that many adults do engage in "thinking out loud" as it helps them clarify their train of thought. So while children may talk more to themselves than adults, don't adults still talk to themselves quite frequently, or are cases like mine not so common?(2 votes)
- I assume the majority of your classmates find this annoying because it is difficult to concentrate when someone else is talking. Imagine if the entire class thought out loud. It would be way too loud then.(4 votes)
- 6:08At what age in our lives are we no longer sensitive to the zone of proximal development or mko's?(3 votes)
- That depends on which skill you are trying to learn - and I don't think it's a case of "no longer sensitive" but "less sensitive". According to the Critical period hypothesis, learning a first language properly seems to have an upper limit of around puberty. Most of the relevant studies are with children, youths and adults with severe hearing disabilities that never had the chance to learn a sign language when young.
My mother taught reading and writing for many years, and I don't think she ever regarded anyone as "too old" for this skill. There might be learning disabilities that prevent high reading skills, but an ordinary adult who simply did not get schooling and is highly motivated can probably learn to read in less time than it takes a child to learn the same. At some point, if people get old enough, the ability to remember the letters may diminish, so people at this stage would be less sensitive. Swimming is a skill where it makes sense to talk about an upper limit. While there are successful classes that teach seniors to swim, even children as young as 1y old are "too old" to benefit from the window where they swim naturally (more or less) and hold their breaths without thinking about it when under water.(2 votes)
- At9:31, thought is a result of language. I thought from an earlier video on Theories of language and cognition, on a spectrum of which comes first, language or thought, Vygotsky's theory is in middle ground, that language and thought are independent but converge through development?(3 votes)
- So, once you learn this new skill with the guide of an MKO, does the ZPD become the new small circle of what you can do unaided, while the ZPD just expands past that? I imagine a small bubble (that represents what you know) that keeps getting bigger.(1 vote)
- Is this theory any way compatible with the other three developmental theories?(1 vote)
- when was this published?(1 vote)
- (~7:20) What is the relationship between more knowledgeable other (MKO) and zone of proximal development (ZPD). What sets limits ZPD?(1 vote)
Video transcript
Voiceover: All right, the next theory
that we're going to take a look at is Vygotsky's Theory of Development, which is also the Sociocultural Theory of
Development. So building upon the importance of social
interaction, Vygotsky studies the role that social interaction plays in
the development of cognition. So he was really focused on the social
interaction between children, which are obviously growing, so
he focused on children and their growth development, the interactions
they had with those around them, in the development of their cognition and
their higher order learning. Now Vygotsky actually, unfortunately,
passed away at a very young age; he was only 38, so much of his theory was
left unfinished. But from what we do know of what he did
discover and what he did theorize, gives us a lot of insight into this theory
of development. So Vygotsky developed this theory and he
said that babies had elementary mental functions, and there are
four of them. So these elementary mental functions, I'm
gonna just right short-hand M F for mental
function. So he said there were four of them. One of them is attention. So we have attention; we have sensation,
as babies remember. We have perception, and we also have
memory. So these are the four elementary mental
functions that babies have. Now eventually through interaction with
their environment, the socio-culture
environment, these elementary mental functions are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental
processes or strategies. And this is what we call our higher mental
functions. So much of our important learning that a
child goes through occurs through the social
interaction with a skillful tutor. So whether it's their teacher, their
parents someone older. So this tutor acts as a model, and they
model their behaviors, or they provide verbal
instruction for the child. So the child often tries to understand the
actions or instructions provided by the tutor, often
the parent or the teacher. And then they internalize it. And they use to that to actually guide and
regulate their own performance. So let's take a little trip down memory
lane, memory lane. Think about when you were a little kid,
and when you were given your first puzzle to
put together. I remember when I had my first puzzle, and
I was trying to solve it all alone; I had a
really hard time. But I also remember my dad sitting right
next to me and describing and demonstrating some basic
techniques and tips and strategies to solve it. So he first told me to put, or actually
find all the corner and edge pieces and to separate
those from the middle pieces. And he gave me a couple pieces to put together and kept on encouraging me as I
went along. So eventually, I became more competent,
and my father didn't have to sit next to me, and he was just able to watch
me solve the puzzle. I was able to learn I was actually able to
work more independently. So higher mental functions are
characterized more by independent learning and thinking. But that can only be cultivated by the
elementary mental functions, which involve a tutor or someone older who acts as a
guide through which we model our behavior. So according Vygotsky, this type of social
interaction involves cooperative and collaborative dialogue, and that's what promotes this cognitive ability or
development. So, in this example I was telling you
about, my dad was an MKO, which is a more
knowledgeable other. So this is the first key term that I want
you to know. MKO stands for more knowledgeable other. So this is one term that Vygotsky defined. So the more knowledgeable other is basically someone who has a better
understanding or a higher ability level than the
learner, which, in this example, was me. I was the learner. So this MKO has a higher level of, of
understanding and ability with respect to whatever the
task is at hand. So in this case, my dad was an MKO cuz he
had a better understanding of how to put the
puzzle together than I did. So an MKO is someone else, but then we
have to add in that sociocultural factor. So the interaction of myself, which is
right here, with the MKO, the other person is what leads to learning,
which I'll put over here. And it's what also leads to these higher
mental functions in independence. Now the second key term that I want you to
know is called the zone of proximal development, so ZPD for short, but I'll
just write it out here. So it's called the zone of proximal
development, and basically, I'm gonna illustrate in a second for you
what what this looks like. But this zone of proximal development is
the part where the most sensitive instruction or
guidance should be given. So in my puzzle example, I was in that
zone of proximal development because I was most sensitive to the
information my father was giving me. I was between the ability of being able to do something and not being able to do
something. And then that zone of guidance that I
received is what allowed me to transition from the set of skills I
already had to a more expanded set of skills by learning, and going beyond what
I had already known. So this is what develops these higher
mental functions. So let's pretend that this is our, right
here I'm gonna draw a box. And this box right here represents
everything that's beyond our reach and what we can't do. So I'm gonna do, put a big Can't Do over here, and this little circle inside over
here represents everything we can do currently; in our
current state, it's what we can do. And according to Vygotsky, the zone of
proximal development is the link between the two, right in here, your ZPD. And that is the zone or the area that's
most sensitive to instructional guidance, that allows the
learner or child to develop the skills they already have and to use it on
their own and go beyond into the areas they can't do, to
expand that learning. So for example, I couldn't solve the
jigsaw puzzle by myself when I was little; it would have taken me such a long
time to do or at all. But I was able to solve it, following the
interaction with my father. The ZPD involves and interaction with the
MKO. And eventually, I developed that
competence of that skill that I can also use in the future. So this arrow right here, just gonna show
you, is what represents all of our learning and our
development. Now another important part of Vygotsky's
theory was the importance of language. So I'll put that right over here. Number three is language. So according to Vygotsky, he said that
language is the main means by which adults transmit info to children, and it's also a very powerful tool of intellectual
adaptation. So he looked at private speech. Now private speech is also called internal
speech. It's when people talk out loud to
themselves. Which happens most likely with what type
of populations? Do adults speak out loud to themselves a
lot or do children? Well, it's actually children. Most children engage in private speech. And he, Vygotsky, sees this as a way for
children to plan activities and strategies, and
this aids in their development. This active speaking to themselves,
talking out loud. So he said this language is, therefore, an accelerator for thinking and
understanding. So children who engage in large amounts of
private speech are actually much more socially competent than children
who do not use it that much. So he believed that language develops from social interactions for communication
purposes. And later language ability becomes
internalized as thought. So as we grow older, it becomes more
internalized, which is called our inner speech, so basically,
thought is a result of language. That ability to think for ourselves and
develop that independence of executing skills comes from this importance of language, according to
Vygotsky. So there you have it. These are the three main parts of his
theory.