Schools and Movements
Cultural-Historical Psychology
Also Known As Vygotskian Psychology
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Cultural-historical psychology is the school of psychology associated with Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria, founded in the Soviet Union, holding that higher mental functions develop through social interaction and are mediated by culturally transmitted tools, above all language. Vygotsky and Luria began collaborating in Moscow in 1924, later joined by Alexei Leontiev, and Vygotsky's speculative concept of the zone of proximal development, the gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance, later shaped developmental and educational psychology worldwide.
Facts
Central QuestionHow do a child's higher mental functions, such as memory, attention and reasoning, develop through social interaction and culturally provided tools like language, rather than unfolding from innate structures alone? 1 Founded Year Cross-Tradition Connections
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Founded By
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Cultural-Historical Psychology
Wikimedia FoundationVygotsky-Luria Circle sectionQuote, Vygotsky-Luria Circle section
In 1924, the Circle was formed in Moscow after Vygotsky moved there from Gomel, Belarus.
1. Wikipedia: Cultural-Historical Psychology
Wikimedia FoundationThe benefits and failings of the theory sectionQuote, The benefits and failings of the theory section
The larger project of the new psychology of Vygotsky and Luria failed, and no universal integrative theory of human mind and development was built by the time of Vygotsky's death in 1934 or afterwards.
1. Wikipedia: Cultural-Historical Psychology
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Cultural-historical psychology is a branch of psychological theory and practice associated with Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria and their Circle, who initiated it in the mid-1920s to 1930s.
1. Wikipedia: Cultural-Historical Psychology
Wikimedia FoundationFounded By: Lev Vygotsky, Theoretical premises sectionQuote, Founded By: Lev Vygotsky, Theoretical premises section
he claimed that the development of 'higher psychological functions' are a result of the impact of the society (including, according to Marxist principles, its economic basis and the relations of production) and the culture at large.
Wikipedia: Alexander Luria
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Alexander Luria, Early education and move to Moscow sectionQuote, Associated With: Alexander Luria, Early education and move to Moscow section
Following Vygotsky and along with him, in the mid-1920s, Luria launched a project of developing a psychology of a radically new kind.
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Founded By: Lev Vygotsky
Cultural-historical psychology never existed as such during Vygotsky's lifetime and he never completed a developmental theory of his own; the systematized school bearing his name was constructed by later followers and critics from his fragmentary and partly translated writings, not left complete by Vygotsky himself. This does not dispute Vygotsky's own founding role, which is well attested, only that the school's current unified shape postdates him.
A dissenting reading, from an independent laneWikipedia: Cultural-Historical Psychology, Wikimedia Foundation
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