LEV VYGOTSKY

Cultural-Historical Psychology was founded in the U.S.S.R. by Lev Vygotsky and his associates in the 1920’s. Vygotsky’s writings emphasize how culture, history and social factors predict cognitive development. This Psychology was based on the newly adopted Marxist philosophy which the U.S.S.R. adopted after the Russian Revolution.

Vygotsky states, “The search for method becomes one of the most important problems of the entire enterprise of understanding the uniquely human forms of psychological activity. In this case, the method is simultaneously prerequisite and product, the tool and the result of the study.” Mind and Society, 1978, p. 65

Vygotsky argues that language is the most symbolic tool provided by society.

A key element in Vygotsky’s theory is the idea that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD) which is fully achieved through social interaction.

Karl Marx