THE CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT

Kravtsov G.G.

RSUH, Moscow

Distinctive features:

1. Formation of a new quality2. Origination of a higher level3. Self-conditionality4. Wholeness of movement5. Multi-composition

Basic concepts of cultural-historical psychology

1. Freedom“The highest problem of the psychological science is the problem of human freedom” (L.S. Vygotsky)

2. Consciousness“Consciousness is the subject of psychology, but old psychology of consciousness could not study the “facts of consciousness”. “To become consciously aware means to master”(L.S. Vygotsky)

Basic concepts of cultural-historical psychology

3. Personality“Free individuality” (K. Marx)“Higher psychological synthesis” and the central problem of psychological science (L.S. Vygotsky)

4. DevelopmentPersonality's means of existence

Basic lines in the movement of development

1. Organic growth and maturity2. Development of elementary psychic3. Socialization4. Cultural development5. Development of personality

Content of basic lines of development

1. Growth, maturity, physical and physiological improvement. Actualization of inbred potentials in the communication and human way of life.2. Formation of fundamental human abilities. Differentiation and enrichment of “natural” psychic.3. Mastery of meanings. Consciousness' enrichment with normative knowledge and ways of action.

Content of basic lines of development

4. Mastery of psychological means and transformation of elementary psychic into cultural one. Entry to the environment of senses of human existence, activities and relationships.

5. Development of psychic's volitional sphere, which defines and integrate all processes of development in all the lines and all the stages of ontogenesis.

Unit of self-development“We should have long ago stopped to oppose an individual and abstractly understood society. An individual is a direct social being.” (K. Marx)

D.B. Elkonin:

Individual – Society

Child - Adult

Child Adultand

Adult

Child

Unit of self-development

Vygotsky: “Consciousness of a “Grand-We” type”.

It is a consciousness of both a child and an adult, who communicates with him. It is characterized by the fact that these two consciousnesses don't have

the dividing border.

“So, E. Seguin pointed that the these children' main shortcoming of all is the lack of will.

The disorder of will, by his words, is much more important than all the other physiological and psychological disorders together. Will - the lever of all actions, all abilities is absent

in a child with mental retardation. The dome of your building is absent of a corner stone. The whole building will fall apart if you, satisfied only by outer decorations,

move away and don't add strength to your work, i.e. don't bind new abilities, which were developed in study, by

organic bond – free will.”

(L.S. Vygotsky “The Problem of Mental Retardation”, Collected works, volume V, p. 231)

The problem of sense and meaning

“The word acquires its sense in the phrase. The phrase itself, however, acquires its sense only in the

context of the paragraph, the paragraph in the context of the book, and the book in the context of the author's collected works. Ultimately, the word's

real sense is determined by everything in consciousness which is related to what the word

expresses.”

(L.S. Vygotsky. Thinking and speech. Collected works, volume II, p. 347)

The problem of sense and meaning

“Sense is a dynamic, fluid, and complex formation which has several zones that vary in their stability. Meaning is

only one of these zones of the sense that the word acquires in the context of speech. It is the most stable, unified, and

precise of these zones.” (ibid. p. 346)

“The question of personal sense may be answered by the disclosure of corresponding motive... Sense is expressed in

meanings (like motive in goals), but meaning is not expressed in a senses” (A.N. Leontiev. The problems of

psychic development. 1981. p.301)

Generalization types

1. Empirical (Formal-logical)Empirical knowledge is formed through the comparison of objects and one's notion of them, which allows to allocate the equal and common qualities in them. (V.V. Davydov. Theory of developmental education. 1996, p.72)

2. Theoretical (Scientific)Theoretical knowledge appears by the way of analysis of role and function of some specific relation in the holistic system, which, at the same time, acts as the genetic original base of all its manifestations. (ibid.)

Generalization types

3. Philosophical (Hermeneutic)Is the result of elucidation of sense context of the whole knowledge system, which includes the concept.

4. Primary (Primary psychological generalization)Appears in the situations of child's communication with close adult, when a child tries, with the help of an adult, to achieve his own goal.“Generalization comes to development by the act of communication” (L.S. Vygotsky, Early childhood, Collected works, volume IV, p. 335)

Thank your for your attention!