PSYB3 – Vygotsky's theory of Cognitive Development

Basic Overview Thinking is influenced by cultural activities Children learn from a More Knowledgable Other (MKO) Vygotsky referred to the 'zone of proximal development' when describing this process. The 'zone of proximal development' is the area between a child's actual level of development and the potential level of development that can be achieved with the help of an MKO.

Three types of speech: External speech (0-3 years). Adult directed e.g "What are you drawing?" Egocentric speech (3-7 years). Child talks out loud as a way of thinking e.g "This is a paintbrush, and this is a pen." Internal speech (7 years +). Child uses speech silently to control their behaviour, and uses external speech for social communication.

Vygotsky & speech Vygotsky found that egocentric speech increased in direct proportion to the amount of thought required for a task. Therefore, egocentric speech is tied to thoughts as well as thinking.

Social interaction Vygotsky sees the whole process of cognitive development as being social in nature. Children at first only respond using actions, but society provides the meanings for these actions through social interaction e.g pointing - child may reach to grab something, but fail, and this may be interpreted as pointing.

Mental Functions Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual development. Vygotsky called these ELEMENTARY MENTAL FUNCTIONS: Attention Sensation Perception Memory

Mental Functions cont... Through interaction within the socio-cultural environment, these are developed into more effective mental processes/strategies - HIGHER MENTAL FUNCTIONS.

Tools Vygotsky refers to tools of intellectual adaptation - these allow children to use the basic mental functions more effectively, and these are determined by the child's culture (e.g mind-maps in order to boost memory).

Key Studies Wood and Middleton (1975) Mothers were shown how to construct a pyramid from wooden blocks. During the session, children had to complete the task without help. Following types of behaviours were identified: General verbal instruction Specific verbal instruction Drawing attention to materials Preparation Modelling.

Key studies cont... Wood and Middleton's study shows an example of SCAFFOLDING. Scaffolding is a support structure that gradually taken away by an MKO as the child progresses during a task. It was concluded that the mothers who changed their help on the basis of the child's response were more likely to have a child who later succeeded in the task.

Key Studies cont... Berk (1994) Investigated the role of language in problem solving. Found that 6 year olds spent an average of 60% of their time talking to themselves when trying to solve a maths problem. Acts as empirical evidence for the concept of egocentric speech.

A02 - Berk (1994) + Good ecological validity due to research method used (observation). + Good temporal validity - scaffolding will not change. - Cultural bias - not all countries have the same education method. - Small sample - cannot be generalised. - Methodological issues i.e consent.

Applications 1) Education should focus on transmitting cultural knowledge from adults to children. 2) Role of education is to instruct, teach and shape. 3) Peer tutoring. 4) Collective argumentation - a group discussion where a joint view is constructed and presented before being tested in the wider community. 5) Community of inquiry - pupils play an active role in a structured lesson, working together with their teachers to carry out tasks and find solutions.

A02 - Strengths + Practical applications e.g peer teaching. + Empirical evidence. + Takes society and culture into account. + Sides with nurture.

A02 - Weaknesses - Children's development could be artificially accelerated. Conflicts with Piaget's 'concept of readiness'. - Emphasis on instruction is likely to reduce the child's ability to think independently. - Unscientific. - Does not account for individual differences, such as IQ. - Ignores the role of nature in cognitive development.