Riva Sharples

Book Review #3

Psycholinguistics

Book Reviewed: Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press.

Mind in Society is a follow-up to Thought and Language. The book is short (just 119 pages), but don’t let that fool you! Even the editors of the book call Vygotsky’s writing “cryptic” and “hard to understand” at times. Mind in Society does not flow as smoothly or have as much unity as Thought and Language because it is essentially a collection of Vygotsky’s essays that were put together by scholars in an attempt to further explain and explore the Russian psychologist’s ideas about the development of the mind over time as it relates to society. A crucial element of this book is the “Afterword,” an essay by editors Vera John-Steiner and Ellen Souberman that attempts to put Vygotsky’s writings into perspective for a Western audience. A comprehensive list of Vygotsky’s writings at the end of the book is a useful resource for researchers.

Mind in Society seems to pick up where Thought and Language left off. The collection of essays revolves around the development of older children (after infancy) and, as the book’s subtitle suggests, how complex cognitive processes work. Each “chapter” of the book deals with development and change/growth in some way, from symbolism (Chapter 1) and perception (Chapter 2) to memory (Chapter 3) and the interaction of those parts (Chapter 6). Like in Thought and Language, in the writings collected in Mind in Society, Vygotsky again spends much time distancing himself from Piaget and other thinkers of his time (for that reason alone, the book is a good source of information about Piaget as well as Vygotsky). There is also a heavier concentration in this book (than in Thought and Language), it seems, on society’s role in helping the individual development.

I can not pretend that I understood everything in this book – it was my first reading. However, I did note some important concepts and ideas to pay attention to when and if you read this book:

· Throughout the book, Vygotsky’s writings continually emphasize a dialectic approach to cognitive development. Vygotsky differentiates between lower and higher mental functions. Vygotsky attributes lower mental functions to genetics, saying they are “natural” and part of a “predetermined internal system of activity” (a Chomsky-like idea?) Higher mental functions (the true interest of Vygotsky’s studies) develop through social interaction, he says. The gap between higher and lower mental functions are “bridged” by signs, symbols, schemes, etc.

· Another important concept of Vygotsky’s, as expressed in Mind in Society, is the zone of proximal development. This is a concept that Vygotsky created to explain the difference between what children know and are able to do on their own and what children must learn from others. Here is where Vygotsky’s ideas about social influence on development are truly apparent. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development is based on two levels (the actual development level, which is what a child can do and has experienced, and the potential development level, which looks at the abilities of those around the child and in his/her social environment that he or she has the potential to learn). The zone of proximal development, then, is “the distance between the actual development level as determined by problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (86).

Web Sites to Visit for Further Information:

The Vygotsky Project -- http://members.home.net/vygotsky/

This site contains a plethora of information about Vygotsky’s works and life, including links to Marxist archives.

The Virtual Faculty Web Resource -- http://www.massey.ac.nz/~ALock/virtual/

This site, maintained by a group of faculty researchers, contains a link to the “Vygotsky projects” as well as half a dozen other interesting projects, including course outlines and a collection of interesting quotes. This site is well worth checking out, even if you’re not interested in reading more about Vygotsky.