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SOCİO HİSTORİCAL

CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

AND

FİFTH DİMENSION

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MALTEPE UNIVERSİTY İSTANBUL TÜRKİYE

Faculty of Science and Letters Department

of Psychology

Assis. Prof. Dr. Figen Karadayı

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Two Types of Psychology (1)Two Types of Psychology

Wundt, 1879 laboratory; beginning of Experimental Psychology

The other face of Wundt; Folk Psychology (Cultural Psychology)

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Two Types of Psychology (2) Experimental Psychology; was

examination of simple cognitive processes.

Folk Psychology; was examination of higher psychological processes.

Goal of Psychology was examination of both simple and higher cognitive processes.

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Two Types of Psychology (3) Experimental Psychology; uses

experimental methods. Folk Psychology; These methods were

impossible. First Psychology; searches for

causality relationships depending on laboratory.

Second Psychology; based on descriptive observations from life experience.

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Two Types of Psychology (4) Experimental Psychology; could study

simple cognitive processes of human beings.

Folk Psychology; Could study higher cognitive processes of human beeings.

Higher cognitive processes could be understood only by studying tradition, norms, rules, law, history, language, art, rituels, every day situations and culture.

Simple cognitive structures can be studied by experimental psychology like physics and chemistry.

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Folk Psychology According to Wundt aim of Psychology was

to understand both simple and complicated psychological phenomenon.

Two areas are needed to complement each other and by synthesis cognitive processes of human beeing can be understood.

Up to our time Psychology walked more in the first Psychology road.

By using methods transfered from natural sciences, abstracting from real life environments, social and cultural factors were not really included in analysis.

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Cross Cultural Psychology Years following W W II programs and

applications in relation to child development drew attention.

Psychologists who have their training in the west, conducted research in their own countries.

Methods developed in the west were tested for universality in other countries stimulated the field of Cross Cultural Psychology.

When CC Psychology rised also Cognitive Psychology became popular, carrying a very experimental approach.

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Conditions preparing for Cultural Psychology (1)

Development of computerisation too, resulted in restriction of psychology in a narrow and experimental area.

Psychology proceeded its way by ignoring the society and people live in social.

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Conditions preparing for Cultural Psychology (2)

Changes in Social Sciences, Cognitive Sciences emphasizing on inter disciplinary cooperation, necessity of languages to complete into Social Sciences.

All these developments have prepared the culture to come into the scene.

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Cultural Psychology (1) After many years, researches have

shown the importance of culture with a increasing number of results.

Russian psychologists Vigotsky, Luria, Leont’ev and Cole, Rogoff, Valsiner, Wertsch, Scribner, Shweder in U.S.A. are the names remembered by their emphasize on the importance of culture .

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Cultural Psychology (2)

Cultural Psychology claims that not any context where the observations are made is never neutral with respect to culture.

Types of behaviors are socially organised and buried in a large scale social organisation which influences them back.

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Cultural Psychology (3) Observation either at natural

conditions or in laboratory conditions researches will use the cultural informations in order to make the material meaningfull.

Therefore Cultural Psychology finds usage of material appropriate to culture and qualitative and observational techniques more important.

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Cultural Psychology (4) Culture is in fact exists in every

natural environment where human beeings live in.

Culture is not just one, it describes many layers of different historical and social, natural life areas where there are shared rules, activities, meanings, symbols, interactions, cooperations, materials used, every thing about living.

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Concept of culture (1)

Concept of culture has many meanings.

Culture can be interpreted as a system, symbols, meanings, techniques, practices that are learned, estimated before, that may result in behavior differences, can be transfered as a whole from generation to generation, shared.

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Concept of culture (2)

In examination human cognition culture can not be thought out of it.

Instead of keeping cognition out of examination in surveys, it is necessary to bring it into the center (Cole).

Culture is in mind.

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Basic Postulates of Socio Historical Cultural Psychology (1) Socio Historical Cultural Psychology

is an approach combining two Psychologies of Wundt in a whole.

The basic postulate is, it’s claim that human psychological processes are different than animals’ because they have emerged from culturally mediated historically developed every day practical activities.

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Basic Postulates of Socio Historical Cultural Psychology (2) It has three basic principles 1.Mediation with artifacts 2.Historical development 3.Practical activities

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Basic Postulates of Socio Historical Cultural Psychology 5

Mediation with

artifacts

Historical developme

nt

Practical activities

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Mediation through artifacts (1) Artifacts; are the tools and techniques used

by the people in the passed and plays important role in human development.

Artifacts change not only human conditions from its roots but also they effect a change in him and his psyhic condition.

Artifacts are both concrete and abstract. Artifacts also develope from generation to

generation.

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Mediation through artifacts (2) Artifacts also develope from

generation to generation. Human beeings mediate by using

tools and in interaction with other people from generation to generation.

Culture is a cumulated pool of artifacts and techniques cumulated by a social group within the experience of historical developmental process.

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Mediation through artifacts (3) Cultural Historical Psychologist

consider language to be an integral part of overall process of cultural mediation.

Language is the artifact of artifacts. Human beeings mediate through

artifacts within the interaction with other people in many cultural settings.

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MEDİATION

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Historical development (1) In addition to using and making

tools, human beings arrange for the discovery of the already-created tools in succeeding generation.

Becoming a cultural being and arranging forn others to become cultural beings are intimately linked parts of a single process called enculturation.

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Historical development (2) As a consequence we live in a world of

persons and things which in large measure what it is because of what has been and transmitted from previous human activities.

Culture according to this perspective , can be understood as the entire pool of artifacts accumulated by the social group in the process of its historical experience.

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Historical development (3)

Culture, is then seen as the species-specific medium of humandevelopment

Capacity to develope within the medium and arrange for its reproduction in succeeding generations is the distinctive characteristics of our species.

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Historical development (4)

History in Present

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Practical activities (1) Third basic premise of cultural

historical psychology is the analysis of human psychological functions must be grounded within the everyday activities.

Duality of materialism versus idealism could be covered by this way.

Because it is in the activitiy that people experience the ideal/material residue of activity of prior generations.

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Practical activities (2)

Zone of proximal

development

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Other principles of Cultural Historical Psychology (1) Special attention paid to the role of adults

into arrange the environment of children so as to optimize their development according to existing norms.

This generates the idea of ‘zone of proximal development’ means the proximal relevant environment of experience for development.

Historical accumulation of of artifacts and their fusion in activity implicate the social origines of human thought processes.

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Other principles of Cultural Historical Psychology (2)

All means of cultural behavior (artifacts) are social in essence.

Any function in children’s development appears twice:

First it appears on the social plane and then on the psychological plane

First it appears between people as an interpsychological category and then within individual child as an intrapsychological category.

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Other principles of Cultural Historical Psychology (3) Internalization transforms the

process itself and changes its structure and function.

Social relations or relations among people genetically underlie all higher functions and their relationships (Vygotsky).

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Levels of human development (1) Human development occurs at

five different levels: Physical Level Philogenetical level Cultural historical level Ontogenetic level Microgenetic level

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Levels of human development (2)Physical Level

Philogenetic Level

Cultural Historical Level

Ontogenetic Level

Microgenetic Level

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Physical level

Development in physical time;

Formation of universe,Formation of earth,Years of physical changes in

the earth.

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Phylogenetic level Appearance of first living beings. Pre Homo sapiens developments

of species. Developments of species up to the

humans is also combined into the development of man.

However artifacts do not spread, cumulate in other species and even in other primates.

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Cultural Historical Level (1) Although cultural mediation is a

universal phenomenon special to man, development of specific mediation styles is not universal for all cultures.

While all cultures develope their capacity to use language, and artifacts, they did not develope competancies, styles of mediation called school, literacy, quantitative activities.

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Cultural Historical Level (2) Literacy and schooling activities,

creating different activity areas, influences development.

From the first man to our modern time historical change happens at two dimensions.

While use of culturally mediated cognitive processes increases, use of natural unmediated lower level processes decreases.

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Cultural Historical Level (3) In primer cultures natural everyday

memory which develops by participating in everyday phenomena, is seen.

This memory is where human beings registered passively and not used actively to change the world.

This natural memory does not transform historical change.

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Cultural Historical Level (4) With the development of more complex

means of memorizing and new experiences with more complex artifacts mediations and depending on these changes in the role natural process, the whole system changes toward more complex mediated systems, which means cultural memory developes.

Historical development of memory does not mean a change in the capacity of memory.

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Cultural Historical Level (5) Evolution of memory changes it, also

changes the mediation artifacts which has developed itself.

Discovery of writing was a new way of mediation artifact which led to new styles of human activities, has played an important role in cultural historical thought.

With the writing capasities, mediated artifacts change qualitatively and quantitatively and in variety.

At the end both the culture and human styles of thought change.

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Ontogenetical Level (1) Ontogenetical level, corressponds to

dailly levels of analysis. Ontogenetic refers to the development

in life long practical activities. But it is a plain interwoven with

previous levels. As the children participate in activities

with the others, intercognitive activities results in intracognitive qualitative changes.

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Ontogenetic Level (2) By this way cognitive processes obtain

origines. According to Vygotsky, children in

interactions with parents, teachers and other competent peers, internalyze and infuse knowledge and thought styles.

In acquisition of higher psychological activities, with gaining language as a critical turning point, ontogeny and cultural history intermingles.

Learning language, starts a different state of mediation.

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Microgenetical Level (1)

Microgenetical development occurs at every natural, social environments where children interact.

Microgenesis is a psychological process and development of thought and voluntary behaviors of children just in front of the eye in everyday nearby activities.

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Microgenetical Level (2)

Microgenesis is the examination of the child at a certain activity environment every minute for some period of time.

Microgenetic development is the examination of individual learning continuously minute by minute.

That level involves all the previous plains in itself.

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History exists in the present Domains of development must be

considered in relationship to each other. A study of human development is an

inquiry into human origins. There are turning points in the historical

develpments. These are like; finding fire, finding of

writing, print machine, literacy, and the like.

Every level completes itself and combines into the following level.

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Socio Historical Cultural Psychology

Vygotsky

Luria

Leont’ev

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Fifth Dimension Project

Michael Cole and His Team

Laboratory of Comparative

Human Cognition

LCHC

University California San Diego

UCSD

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Fifth Dimension Project (1) A continuous project between a

university and a social institution training children or youth

Collaboration between university and other social institutions

Individual and social developmental project

Cognitive and social development of children

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Fifth Dimension Project (2) After school activity Combination of play and education Basicly 7-12 years and preschool years Use of Artifacts Playing and learning activities A system with rules, principles, place

and practices Continuous interaction and mediation Continuous development of artifacts

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Distiquising Characteristics of Fifth Dimension (1)

Voluntary Participatio

n

Play and training

Child, adolescent,

adult interaction

Collaboration

Cooperation

Concentration on play

Continuous

condense interactio

n

Choosing opportuninie

s

Development of

Learning strategies

Mediation with

artifacts

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Distiquising Characteristics of Fifth Dimension (2)

Learning; two way activity

Training; an

effective process

Teaching; not a

hierarchical Process

World of imagination

Creativity

Wizard

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Distiquising Characteristics of Fifth Dimension (3)

Use of technolog

y

Development of

artifacts

Motivational levels of artifacts Puzzle

box

Language use

Accepting

individual differenc

es

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Distiquising Characteristics of Fifth Dimension (4)

Criticisms

İnterculturaldisciplina

ry work

intergenerational

Problem solving

competencies

Learning and

enjoying

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Why Fifth Dimension?Difficulties in formal education

Difficulty to adapt rapid changing

technology

Distance between

theory and practice

Low education

al motivation

School knowledge

not providing to daily uses

Hierarchical order in education

Develope critical

thinking and

learning

Cognitive and social

developement in free medium

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