Vygotsky Lev Semyonovich. Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky

The famous Russian psychologist and one of the founders of neurophysiology, Alexander Luria, repeatedly admitted that “we owe everything good in the development of Russian psychology to Vygotsky.” Lev Vygotsky is a truly iconic figure for several generations of psychologists and humanitarians, and not only Russian ones.

After his work Thinking and Speech was published in English in 1962, Vygotsky's ideas spread widely in the United States, Europe, and then in other countries. When one of the American followers of the cultural-historical school, Uri Bronfenbrenner from Cornell University, managed to come to the USSR, he immediately embarrassed Vygotsky's daughter Gita Lvovna with the question: "I hope you know that your father is God to us?"

Vygotsky's students, however, considered him a genius even during his lifetime. As the same Luria recalls, at the end of the 1920s, “our entire group devoted almost the entire day to our grandiose plan for the restructuring of psychology. L.S. Vygotsky was an idol for us. When he went somewhere, students wrote poems in honor of his trip.

Vygotsky came to psychology from among theater-goers and art lovers - from the world of " silver age"Russian culture, in which he was well versed.

Before the revolution, he attended the Shanyavsky People's University in Moscow, where he listened to lectures by the literary critic and critic Yuri Aikhenvald, the philosopher Gustav Shpet and Georgy Chelpanov. Thanks to these courses and independent reading (in several languages), Vygotsky received an excellent liberal education, which he later supplemented with natural science.

After the revolution, he wrote reviews on theatrical performances and taught in his hometown Gomel, prepared several works on Shakespeare's drama and developed the foundations of the psychology of art.

In 1924, he again moved to Moscow at the invitation of the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology, where he finally found his calling.

In the most difficult conditions of post-revolutionary Russia, before he reached the age of 38, he proposed many solutions in psychological theory and pedagogy that remain fresh today.

As early as 1926, Vygotsky stated that not only domestic, but also world psychology was in crisis. A complete restructuring of its theoretical foundations is needed. All the opposing schools, which developed rapidly in the first quarter of the 20th century, can be divided into two parts - natural science and idealistic. The first studies reflexes and reactions to stimuli, and the position of the latter was most clearly expressed by Wilhelm Dilthey, who argued that "we explain nature, but we understand mental life."

To overcome this opposition and this crisis is possible only through the creation of a general psychology - through the systematization and ordering of individual data on the human psyche and behavior. It was necessary to combine explanation and understanding in a single and holistic approach to the analysis of the human psyche.

What is the most common thing in all the phenomena studied by psychology, which makes the most diverse phenomena psychological facts - from the salivation of a dog to the enjoyment of tragedy, what is common in the delirium of a madman and the strictest calculations of a mathematician?

Lev Vygotsky from "The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis"

A person is fundamentally different in that he uses consciousness and signs - namely, this is what psychology ignored until then (behaviorism and reflexology), considered it in isolation from social practice (phenomenology) or replaced it with unconscious processes (psychoanalysis). Vygotsky saw the way out of the crisis in dialectical materialism- although he was skeptical about attempts to directly adapt Marxist dialectics to psychology.

Marx had fundamentally important provisions on the determining role of social relations, instrumental and symbolic activity in the formation of the psyche:

The spider performs operations reminiscent of those of a weaver, and the bee puts some human architects to shame by building her wax cells. But even the worst architect differs from the best bee from the very beginning in that, before building a cell out of wax, he has already built it in his head.

Karl Marx "Capital", Chapter 5. The Process of Labor and the Process of Value Addition

General Psychology Overcoming Differences different schools and approaches, did not appear during Vygotsky's lifetime - it does not exist even now. But in these revolutionary years in all respects, it seemed to many that this was quite possible: the general psychological theory was somewhere nearby, “we now hold in our hands the thread from it,” he writes in 1926 in notes that were later revised and published under the title "The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis". At this time, Vygotsky was in the Zakharyino hospital, where he was urgently hospitalized due to an exacerbation of tuberculosis.

Luria later said: “Doctors said that he had 3-4 months of life left, he was placed in a sanatorium ... And then he began to write convulsively in order to leave some basic work behind him.”

It was at this time that what would later be called "cultural-historical theory" began to take shape. In 1927, Vygotsky was discharged from the hospital and, together with his colleagues, began to conduct research on higher mental functions, which would bring him worldwide fame. He studies speech and sign activity, genetic mechanisms formation of the psyche in the process of development children's thinking.

Vygotsky's classic scheme of behaviorism "stimulus-response" turns into a scheme "stimulus-sign (means)-reaction".

The intermediate element transforms the whole scene of thinking, changes all its functions. What was a natural reaction becomes conscious and socially conditioned cultural behavior.

3 theses of Vygotsky's psychology

“... Every function in the child's cultural development appears on the scene twice, on two planes, first social, then psychological, first between people as an interpsychic category, then within the child as an intrapsychic category. This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory to the formation of concepts, to the development of the will.

This is the famous formulation of the "general genetic law cultural development”, which Vygotsky proposed in Thinking and Speech. We are talking here about the social origin of consciousness - but this formula can be interpreted in completely different ways.

Similar ideas were once expressed by the French psychologist and philosopher Pierre Janet: those forms of behavior that others initially applied to the child (“wash your hands”, “don’t talk at the table”), he then transfers to himself.

Vygotsky does not at all assert that social factors entirely and completely determine the development of the psyche. Just as it does not say that consciousness arises from natural, innate mechanisms of adaptation to the environment. "Development is a continuous self-conditioned process, and not a puppet directed by pulling two strings." The child arises as a separate person only through interaction, active participation in the lives of others.

As Luria's experiments conducted in Uzbekistan in the early 1930s showed, logical operations that we consider natural occur only in the context of formal education. If you are not taught in school what a circle is, the idea of ​​the circle itself will not come down to you from the Platonic world of ideas.

For the illiterate, a triangle is a tea stand or an amulet, a filled circle is a coin, an unfinished circle is a month, and there is nothing in common between them.

Suppose you were offered the following syllogism: 1. In the Far North, where there is always snow, all bears are white. 2. New Earth located in the Far North. 3. What color are the bears there? If you have not been taught to think in abstract terms and solve abstract problems, then you will answer something like "I have never been to the North and have not seen bears" or "you should ask people who have been there and seen."

Vygotsky and Luria showed that many mechanisms of thinking that seem to be universal are actually conditioned by culture, history, and certain psychological tools that do not arise spontaneously, but are acquired in the course of training.

“A person introduces artificial stimuli, signifies behavior, and with the help of signs creates, acting from the outside, new connections in the brain”; “in the higher structure, the functional defining whole or focus of the whole process is the sign and the way it is used.”

Vygotsky emphasizes that all forms of behavior characteristic of a person have a symbolic nature. Signs are used as psychological tools: the simplest example is a knot tied in memory.

Let's see how children play with blocks. It can be a spontaneous game in which pieces are piled on top of each other: this cube becomes a machine, the next one becomes a dog. The meaning of the figures is constantly changing, and the child does not come to some kind of stable solution. The child likes it - the process itself brings him pleasure, and the result does not matter.

A teacher who considers such an activity pointless can offer the child to build a certain figure according to the drawn model. There is a clear goal here - the child sees where each cube should stand. But he is not interested in such a game. A third option can also be proposed: let the child try to assemble a model from the cubes, which is indicated only approximately. It cannot be copied - you need to find your own solution.

In the first version of the game, the signs do not determine the behavior of the child - he is driven by the spontaneous flow of fantasy. In the second version, the sign (drawn model) acts as a predefined sample that you just need to copy - but the child loses his own activity. Finally, in the third version, the game acquires a goal, but allows many solutions.

It is this form that human behavior, mediated by signs that give it a purpose and meaning without taking away the freedom of choice.

“... Involving in behavior, a psychological instrument changes the entire course and structure of mental functions. He achieves this by setting the structure of a new instrumental act, just as a technical tool changes the process of natural adaptation, determining the type of labor operations. But the action of the sign, unlike the instrument, is not directed outward, but inward. It not only conveys a message, but also acts as a means of self-determination.

“The immaturity of functions at the time of the beginning of training is a general and fundamental law”; “Pedagogy should focus not on yesterday, but on tomorrow. child development. Only then will it be able to bring to life, in the process of learning, those developmental processes that now lie in the zone of proximal development.

The concept of the "zone of proximal development" is one of Vygotsky's most famous contributions to pedagogical theory. The child can perform a certain range of tasks on his own. With the help of leading questions and tips from the teacher, he can do much more. The gap between these two states is called the zone of proximal development. It is through her that any training is always carried out.

To explain this concept, Vygotsky introduces a metaphor about a gardener who needs to watch not only ripened, but also ripening fruits. Education should focus on the future - something that the child does not yet know how, but can learn. It is important to stay within this zone - not to stop at what you have learned, but also not to try to jump too far ahead.

A person cannot exist separately from others - any development always takes place in a team. Modern science has achieved a lot not only because it stands on the shoulders of giants - no less important is a whole mass of people who remain anonymous for the majority. Genuine talents arise not in spite of, but because of the environmental conditions that push and direct their development.

Many of Vygotsky's ideas and concepts remained unformed. Experimental work to test his bold hypotheses was mainly carried out not by himself, but by his followers and students (therefore, most of the concrete examples in this article are taken from the works of Luria). Vygotsky died in 1934 - unrecognized, scolded and forgotten for many years by everyone except a narrow circle of like-minded people. Interest in his theory was revived only in the 1950s and 1960s in the wake of the “semiotic turn” in humanitarian studies.

Today, both domestic representatives of cultural-historical theory and foreign sociocultural psychologists, cognitivists, anthropologists and linguists rely on his work. Vygotsky's ideas have become a must-have for educators around the world.

How would you define who you are if not for the avalanche of cultural clichés that others bombard us with on a daily basis? How would you know that the major and minor premise of a categorical syllogism lead to a very definite conclusion? What would you have learned if not for teachers, notebooks, classmates, class journals, and grades?

The reason for Vygotsky's continued influence is that he shows the importance of all these elements that so easily escape our attention.

Soviet psychologist. 1896–1934

Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky (in 1917 and 1924 he changed his patronymic and surname) was born on November 17, 1896 in the city of Orsha in the family of the deputy manager of the Gomel branch of the United Bank, the merchant Simkha (Semyon) Yakovlevich Vygodsky and his wife Tsili (Cecilia) Moiseevna Vygodskaya. He was the second of eight children in the family.

The boy was educated by a private teacher Sholom (Solomon) Mordukhovich Ashpiz, known for using the so-called method of Socratic dialogue.

In 1917, Lev Vygotsky graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University and at the same time from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the People's University. Shanyavsky.

From 1924 he worked at the Moscow State Institute of Experimental Psychology, then at the Institute of Defectology founded by him; gave lectures at scientific and educational institutions in Moscow (Institute of Psychology, N.K. Krupskaya AKB, Pedagogical Faculty of the 2nd Moscow State University, etc.), Leningrad and Kharkov. Professor at the Institute of Psychology in Moscow. He began his scientific activity with the study of the psychology of art - he studied the psychological laws of perception literary works("Psychology of Art", 1925, published in 1965).

The formation of Vygotsky as a scientist coincided with the period of restructuring of Soviet psychology based on the methodology of Marxism, in which he took an active part. In Search of Methods for Objectively Studying Complex Forms mental activity and behavior of the individual, Vygotsky critically analyzed a number of philosophical and most of his contemporary psychological concepts (“The Meaning of the Psychological Crisis,” the manuscript was created in 1926), showing the futility of attempts to explain human behavior by reducing higher forms of behavior to lower elements.

The entire Moscow period of his life, all ten years, Lev Semenovich, in parallel with psychological research, conducted theoretical and experimental work in the field of defectology. He developed a qualitatively new theory of the development of an abnormal child.

In the field scientific interests L.S. Vygotsky was big circle questions relating to the study, development, education and upbringing of anomalous children. The most significant are the problems that help to understand the essence and nature of the defect, the possibilities and features of its compensation and the correct organization of the study, education and upbringing of an abnormal child.

Lev Semenovich began his scientific and practical activities in the field of defectology as early as 1924, when he was appointed head of the abnormal childhood subdepartment at the People's Commissariat of Education. In subsequent years. L.S. Vygotsky not only carried out intensive scientific work, but also did a great deal of practical and organizational work in this area.

In 1926, he organized a laboratory for the psychology of abnormal childhood at the Medical and Pedagogical Station in Moscow. During the three years of its existence, the employees of this laboratory have accumulated interesting research material and have done an important pedagogical work. For about a year, Lev Semenovich was the director of the entire station, and then became its scientific consultant.

In 1929, on the basis of the above-mentioned laboratory, the Experimental Defectological Institute of the Narkompros (EDI) was created. I.I. was appointed director of the institute. Danyushevsky. From the inception of EDI to last days of his life L.S. Vygotsky was his supervisor and consultant.

The institute carried out examination of an abnormal child, diagnosis and planning of further corrective work with deaf and mentally retarded children. L.S. Vygotsky examined the children and then analyzed in detail each separate case, revealing the structure of the defect and giving practical recommendations to parents and teachers.

EDI had a communal school for children with behavioral problems, an auxiliary school (for mentally retarded children), a school for the deaf, and a clinical diagnostic department. In 1933 L.S. Vygotsky together with the director of the Institute I.I. Danyushevsky decided to study children with speech disorders.

Conducted by L.S. Vygotsky at this institute, research is still fundamental for practical development problems of defectology. Created by L.S. Vygotsky scientific system in this area of ​​knowledge is not only of historiographical significance, but also significantly influences the development of the theory and practice of modern defectology. His teaching still does not lose its relevance and significance.

Studying the development and decay of higher mental functions, Vygotsky comes to the conclusion that the structure of consciousness is a dynamic semantic system of affective volitional and intellectual processes that are in unity. These experiments form the basis of a general psychological concept known as the "cultural-historical theory of the psyche", which reveals the socio-historical nature of consciousness, higher mental functions. The book History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions (1930–1931, published in 1960) provides a detailed exposition of the cultural-historical theory of the development of the psyche. According to Vygotsky, it is necessary to distinguish between two plans of behavior - natural (the result of the biological evolution of the animal world) and cultural (the result of the historical development of society), merged in the development of the psyche. The hypothesis put forward by Vygotsky offered a new solution to the problem of the relationship between lower (elementary) and higher mental functions. The main difference between them is the level of arbitrariness, that is, natural mental processes cannot be regulated by a person, and people can consciously control higher mental functions.

This theory was important for the psychology of learning. According to it, the structure of social interaction "adult - child", presented in an expanded form in the so-called zone of proximal development of the child, is subsequently assimilated by him and forms the structure of mental functions. This is the reason for the ratio of training and development: training "leads" development, and not vice versa. He formulated the problem of age in psychology, proposed a variant of periodization of a child's development based on the alternation of "stable" and "critical" ages, taking into account the mental neoplasms characteristic of each stage. Studied the stages of development of children's thinking; proved that speech is social both in origin and in function. He created a new direction in defectology, showing the possibility of compensating for a defect through the development of higher mental functions. Developed a new doctrine of the localization of mental functions in the cerebral cortex. Created a large scientific school.

, Moscow City People's University named after A.L. Shanyavsky

Notable students A. N. Leontiev, A. R. Luria, A. V. Zaporozhets, L. I. Bozhovich and others

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky(name at birth - Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky; November 5, Orsha, Mogilev province - June 11, Moscow) - Soviet psychologist. Founder of the research tradition that has come to be known since the critical writings of the 1930s as "cultural-historical theory" in psychology. Author of literary publications, works on pedology and cognitive development of the child. A team of researchers known as the "Vygotsky-Luria circle" (also "Vygotsky circle") is named after him.

The current situation in the development of Vygotsky’s legacy in Russia and abroad is often characterized as the “cult of Vygotsky” (Vygotsky cult, the cult of Vygotsky, the cult of personality around Vygotsky): “Currently, in psychology there is a certain “cult of Vygotsky”, blind worship , rarely based on understanding and reading the works of this undeniably outstanding scientist. On the other hand, as a counterbalance to this cult, since the early 2000s, a “revisionist revolution in Vygotsk studies” has been going on all over the world.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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✪ LIFE STRATEGIES: Vygotsky Lev Semenovich

✪ Ideas L.S. Vygotsky and modern defectology

✪ S.N. Mareev - L.S. Vygotsky Part 1: The Problem of Method

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Biography

Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky (changed his surname in 1923) was born on November 5 (17), 1896, in the city of Orsha, the second of eight children in the family of a graduate of the Kharkov Commercial Institute, merchant Simkha (Semyon) Lvovich Vygodsky (1869-1931) and his wife, teacher Tsili (Cecilia) Moiseevna Vygodskaya (1874-1935). A year later, the family moved to Gomel, where his father received the position of deputy manager of the local branch of the United Bank. The Vygodsky family was quite prosperous: together with other heirs of the late brother Semyon Lvovich Vygodsky, they owned a house in Gomel. The children were educated by a private teacher Sholom Mordukhovich (Solomon Markovich) Ashpiz (1876-after 1940), known for using the so-called Socratic dialogue method and participating in revolutionary activities as part of the Gomel Social Democratic organization. A significant influence on the future psychologist in childhood was also exerted by his cousin, later a well-known literary critic and translator David Isaakovich Vygodsky (-). After the death of his father in 1897, David Vygodsky, with his brother, sister and mother Dvosya Yakovlevna, lived in the family of his uncle, Semyon Lvovich Vygodsky, and was brought up with his eight children. L. S. Vygodsky subsequently changed one letter in his surname in order to differ from the already famous D. I. Vygodsky.

Having received his primary education at home, L. S. Vygotsky passed the exams for 5 classes and entered the 6th grade of the state gymnasium, finished the last two classes at the private Jewish men's gymnasium A. E. Ratner. He continued to study Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Latin and English with private teachers, independently studied Esperanto. In 1913 he entered the medical faculty of Moscow University, but soon transferred to law. As a student, he wrote a two-hundred-page study "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by W. Shakespeare" (1916), which, upon graduation from the university, he presented as thesis(published in 1968 as an addendum to the second edition of The Psychology of Art). In 1916 he published articles on literary themes in the New Way weekly dedicated to Jewish life (in which he worked as a technical secretary): “M. Y. Lermontov (on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his death)" and " Literary notes(Petersburg, novel by Andrey Bely)"; also published in the "Chronicle" and "New World" published by Maxim Gorky. Until 1917, inclusive, he actively wrote on the topics of Jewish history and culture, expressing the rejection of anti-Semitism in Russian literature and a negative attitude towards the ideas of socialism and communism. In 1917, he dropped out of classes at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University and graduated from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University. Shanyavsky.

He also worked in a number of government, educational, medical and research organizations in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov and Tashkent. At the very beginning of 1934, Vygotsky was invited to the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, which was being created at that time in Moscow, to organize a psychology sector in it. However, these plans were not destined to come true: Vygotsky was hospitalized in May and died on June 11, 1934 in Moscow from tuberculosis. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery on June 13, 1934.

Chronology of the most important events of life and career

• 1924, January - participation in the work of the II Psychoneurological Congress in Petrograd, moving from Gomel to Moscow, enrollment in graduate school and a position in Moscow (Director of the Institute - K.N. Kornilov)
• 1924, July - the beginning of work as the head of the sub-department of the education of physically handicapped and mentally retarded children of the department of the Social and Legal Protection of Minors (SPON) (head of the department of SPON - S.S. Tizanov) of the Glavsotsvos under the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR; dismissed from office in 1926 due to disability
• 1924, November 26-December 1 - II Congress of the Social and Legal Protection of Minors (SPON), Moscow: at the congress, during the work of the mental retardation section, a turn to social education as a new direction in the development of Soviet defectology and special pedagogy; a collection of articles and materials was published under the editorship of L.S. Vygotsky "Issues of education of blind, deaf-mute and mentally retarded children"
• 1925, May 9 - the birth of the first child: the daughter of Gita
• 1925, summer - the first and only trip abroad: sent to London for a defectological conference; on the way to England, he passed through Germany, where he met with local psychologists
• 1925 - dissertation defense Psychology arts. On November 5, 1925, due to illness, without protection, Vygotsky was awarded the title of senior researcher, equivalent to the modern degree of candidate of sciences, a contract for the publication Psychology of art was signed on November 9, 1925, but the book was never published during Vygotsky's lifetime
• November 21, 1925 to May 22, 1926 - tuberculosis, hospitalization in the Zakharyino sanatorium-type hospital; on discharge from the hospital for medical reasons qualified as a disabled person until the end of the year
• 1926 - throughout the year temporary disability due to disability caused by recovery from treatment for chronic tuberculosis; Vygotsky's first book, Pedagogical Psychology, was published; writes notes and essays that constituted an unfinished manuscript on the "crisis of psychology", subsequently, several decades later, after the author's death, published under the title The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis
• 1927 - from the beginning of the year (officially - from January 1, 1927) returns from disability, resumes work in and in a number of other institutions in Moscow and Leningrad
• 1927, September 17 - the scientific and pedagogical section of the State Academic Council (GUS) approved Vygotsky as a professor
• 1927, December 19 - appointed head of the Glavsotsvos of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, remained in this position until October 1928 (dismissed due to own will), since 1929 - freelance scientific consultant, head of psychological laboratories at the Experimental Defectological Institute (reformed Medical and Pedagogical Station)
• 1927, December 28 - January 4, 1928 - First All-Russian Pedological Congress, Moscow; Vygotsky takes part in the work of the congress as co-editor of the section on difficult childhood (editors: L. S. Vygotsky and L. V. Zankov) of a collection of abstracts and reports, and also presents two reports: “The development of a difficult child and its study” (at the section on difficult childhood) and "Instrumental method in pedology" (at the research and methodological section); they are thematically adjoined, respectively, by Zankov’s reports “Principles of constructing integrated programs auxiliary school from a pedological point of view" and Luria "On the methodology of instrumental psychological research»; first public presentation of "instrumental psychology" as research method and the first public application for independent scientific direction in psychology associated with the names of Vygotsky and Luria
• 1928 - first publications in the spirit of independent psychological theory and based on the results of experimental studies using the "instrumental method": a series of journal articles was published in Russian and English and Vygotsky's second book, "Pedology of School Age"
• 1928, December - conflict with the director of the Institute of Experimental Psychology (GIEP) K.N. Kornilov, Vygotsky submits a memorandum to the collective governing body of the institute, the Collegium of the Institute; Vygotsky continued to work at the Institute of Psychology as a teacher of psychology, but from the end of 1928 the research activities of the Vygotsky-Luria group were curtailed in this organization, and experimental research is transferred to the Academy of Communist Education, to the department (laboratory) of psychology (head since 1924 - Luria)
• April 1929 - Vygotsky lectures in Tashkent (returned to Moscow in early May of that year)
• 1929, autumn - the first official work in the institution of the healthcare system of the RSFSR: Vygotsky was hired as an assistant (later: head of the psychological laboratory) of child psychoneurology and experimental psychology at the Clinic for Nervous Diseases 1 of Moscow State University (dismissed no later than March 1931)
• 1929, September - IX International Psychological Congress at Yale University; Luria presented two reports, one of which was made on the basis of his many years of original research (using the so-called coupled motor method), and the other was co-authored with Vygotsky; Vygotsky himself did not take part in the work of the congress.
• 1930 - the birth of a second child: daughter Asya; the third book is published (co-authored with Luria), “Etudes on the History of Behavior: Monkey. Primitive. Child" and Vygotsky's fourth book, in three parts (respectively, in 1929, 1930 and 1931), "Pedology of the Adolescent"
• 1930, January 25-February 1 - First All-Union Congress for the Study of Human Behavior ("Behavioral Congress"), Leningrad; Vygotsky takes part in the work of the congress as a member of the presidium and co-editor of the materials of the congress on the section of pedology in the collection of abstracts and reports (other members of the presidium of the pedological section and co-editors: Basov M. Ya., Vygotsky L. S., Molozhaviy S. S. and Shchelovanov N. M.), and also presents three reports:
• 1930, April 23-27 - At the VI International Conference on Psychotechnics in Barcelona, ​​the final report of L. S. Vygotsky "Le problème des fonctions intellectuelles supérieures dans le systeme des recherches psychotechniques" was read in absentia (the abstracts of the report were also published in Russian in 1930 year: "Problem higher intellectual functions in system psychotechnical research" in the journal Psychotechnics and psychophysiology labor); the first public presentation of the results of emiric research by the researchers of Krug Vygotsky and Luria as joint project to study " higher forms" and "cultural development" in conditions of normal and abnormal development
• 1930, summer - they move from Berlin to Soviet Union and former students of Kurt Levin Nina Kaulina and Gita Birenbaum begin to work in collaboration with the researchers of the Vygotsky-Luria Circle: the beginning of a full-scale revision of the research program and convergence of "instrumental" and "cultural-historical" psychology of Vygotsky with the German-American Gestaltist movement in psychology
• 1930, October 9 - report on psychological systems, made at the Clinic of Nervous Diseases 1 of Moscow State University: the beginning was announced a new research program aimed at studying psychological systems ; actual refusal to study isolated "psychological functions"
• 1931, January-February - the beginning of the first official work in the People's Commissariat of Health: by order of the People's Commissariat of Health of February 17, 1931, Vygotsky was hired as deputy director for scientific affairs
• 1931, March 1 - from a researcher of the 1st category was transferred to full members (Director of the Institute - A.B. Zalkind)
• 1931, spring-summer - early March: reactological discussion in State Institute psychology, pedology and psychotechnics; in the course of the discussion, Vygotsky and Luria publicly renounce "reactology" and the mechanism of the "instrumental period" of the 1920s; May-August: Luria's first psychological expedition to Central Asia (with Vygotsky's absentee participation); the third student of Kurt Levin Blum Zeigarnik moves from Berlin to Moscow and joins the Circle Vygotsky-Luria; Vygotsky entered the medical faculty of the Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy in Kharkov, where he studied in absentia together with A.R. Luria
• 1931, October 22 - father's death
• 1932, March - report by Vygotsky at the Institute of Psychology, Pedology and Psychotechnics: the first public presentation of the research project and the project of the book "Thinking and Speech" (Director of the Institute - V.N. Kolbanovsky)
• 1932, summer - the second psychological expedition of Luria to Central Asia (with the direct participation of Kurt Koffka and the absentee participation of Vygotsky)
• 1932, December - report on consciousness in Moscow, formal divergence from Leontiev's group in Kharkov
• 1933, April-May - Kurt Levin stops in Moscow on his way from the USA (through Japan), meetings with Vygotsky
• 1934, January-February - Vygotsky receives an invitation and begins work on the creation of a specialized psychological department in (VIEM), in Moscow
• 1934, May 9 - Vygotsky was transferred to bed rest
• 1934, June 11 - death
• 1934, December - publication of a posthumous collection of works of 1928-1934. titled "Thinking and Speech"

Places of work after 1924

• (from 1924 - researcher of the 2nd category, from 1931 - full member),
• (GINP) at LGPI and in (in 1927-1934),
• Academy Communist Education named N. K. Krupskaya (AKV) (1929-1931),
• Clinic of Nervous Diseases at the First Moscow state university(1st Moscow State University) (as an assistant, then head of the psychological laboratory; see Rossolimo, Grigory Ivanovich) (1929-1931)
• Second Moscow State University (2nd Moscow State University) (1927-1930), and after the reorganization of the 2nd Moscow State University -
  • Moscow Pedagogical State University (MGPI named after A.S. Bubnov) (1930-1934; Head of the Department of Pedology of Difficult Childhood) and
  • (MGMI) (1930-1934; head of the department of general and age-related pedology);
  • (up to the liquidation of the institute in 1931)
• at the Natural Science Section of the Komakademiya (member of the section from 17.03.1930: ARAN. F.350. Op.3. D.286. LL.235-237ob)
• (from the beginning of 1931 in the position of deputy director of the institute for the scientific part)
• (EDI named after M. S. Epstein) (1929-1934, scientific director of the research laboratory)

He also gave lecture courses at a number of educational institutions and research organizations in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov and Tashkent, for example, at the Central Asian State University (SAGU) (in April 1929).

Family and relatives

Khaya-Anna Semyonovna Vygodskaya (Havina, 1895 - June 6, 1936). Zinaida Semyonovna Vygodskaya (1898-1981), linguist, author of Russian-English and English-Russian dictionaries, translator. Esther (Esya) Semyonovna Vygodskaya (1899-1969). Claudia Semyonovna Vygodskaya (1904-1977), linguist, author of Russian-French and French-Russian dictionaries. Maria Semyonovna Vygodskaya (1907-1990) . David (presumably 1905-1918 or 1919). Gita Lvovna Vygodskaya (1925-2010) - psychologist and defectologist, candidate psychological sciences, researcher, co-author of the biography “L. S. Vygotsky. Strokes for a portrait "(1996) (her daughter - Elena Evgenievna Kravtsova, Doctor of Psychology). Asya Lvovna Vygodskaya (1930-1985), candidate of biological sciences, researcher.

• Cousin- David Isaakovich Vygodsky, poet, literary critic, translator (his wife is a children's writer Emma Iosifovna Vygodskaya).

Scientific contribution

The formation of Vygotsky as a scientist coincided with the period of restructuring of Soviet psychology based on the methodology of Marxism, in which he took an active part. In search of methods for the objective study of complex forms of mental activity and personality behavior, Vygotsky subjected a number of philosophical and most contemporary psychological concepts to critical analysis (“The Meaning of the Psychological Crisis,” an unfinished manuscript), showing the futility of attempts to explain human behavior by reducing “higher” forms of behavior to "lower" elements.

Exploring speech thinking, Vygotsky solves the problem of localization of higher psychological functions as structural units of brain activity in a new way. Studying the development and decay of higher psychological functions on the basis of child psychology, defectology and psychiatry, Vygotsky comes to the conclusion that the structure of consciousness is a “dynamic semantic system” of affective, volitional and intellectual processes that are in unity.

Despite the fact that the designation "cultural-historical theory" is found only once in the texts of Vygotsky himself, this name subsequently took root among a number of scientists who positioned themselves as followers of Vygotsky. Since the beginning of the 21st century, a historical analysis of missed opportunities in the original theory of Vygotsky has been taking place all over the world, a revision of traditional assessments of the creative heritage of the Vygotsky Soviet period and the development of new ones - originally conceived by the author, but subsequently forgotten or ignored in Soviet psychology of the 20th century - ways of its development on present stage(see, for example). This intellectual movement has become widely known in a number of recent publications as the "revisionist revolution" in Vygotsk studies.

The doctrine of "higher psychological" processes

Throughout the whole decade of his scientific career as a psychologist (1924-34), Vygotsky always understood the meaning of his scientific work as the development of the doctrine of "higher psychological" processes, phenomena, functions, systems of functions, forms of behavior, etc. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of understanding these phenomena precisely as “higher psychological ones”: “Consciousness determines life (image), but it itself arises from life and forms its moment: ergo life determines life through consciousness. As soon as we tore thinking away from life (from dynamics) - we took it as a concept of the mental, and not the psychological - we closed off any way for us to clarify and explain its main property: to determine the way of life and behavior, to act, to influence. At the same time, Vygotsky emphasized the fundamental importance of distinguishing psychological And mental phenomena from the point of view of dialectical psychology and, in particular, his psychological theory:

Dialectical psychology ... does not confuse mental and physiological processes, it recognizes the irreducible qualitative originality of the psyche, it only asserts that psychological processes are one. Thus, we come to the recognition of unique psycho-physiological unified processes representing the highest forms of human behavior, which we propose to call psychological processes, in contrast to mental processes and by analogy with what is called physiological processes.

Moreover, in his works, published during the life of their author, Vygotsky never used the expression "higher mental”to describe the phenomena that his psychological theory described and studied. However, immediately after his death, Vygotsky's texts began to be systematically edited in preparation for publication, which ultimately led to systemic falsification of his scientific heritage in post-war publications of Vygotsky's works throughout the entire Soviet period of the 1950s-1980s.

Cultural-historical theory

The most striking expression of the posthumous falsification of Vygotsky's legacy is presented in Vygotsky's so-called "cultural-historical" theory. In an unfinished and untitled manuscript of a work published in a distorted form in 1960 under the title "History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions" (the title is given by the first words of the text, the work on the manuscript was completed no later than ) and presented as the main theoretical work of this author, an extended presentation of the cultural-historical theory of the development of the psyche, according to which it is necessary to distinguish between lower and higher psychological functions, and, accordingly, two plans of behavior - natural, natural (the result of the biological evolution of the animal world) and cultural, socio-historical (the result of the historical development of society), merged in development psyche.

The hypothesis put forward by Vygotsky offered a new solution to the problem of the relationship between lower (elementary) and higher psychological functions. The main difference between them lies in the level of arbitrariness, that is, natural psychological processes cannot be regulated by a person, and people can consciously control the higher psychological functions. Vygotsky came to the conclusion that conscious regulation is associated with the mediated nature of higher psychological functions. Between the influencing stimulus and the human reaction (both behavioral and mental) there is an additional connection through the mediating link - stimulus-means, or sign.

The most convincing model of mediated activity, which characterizes the manifestation and implementation of higher psychological functions, is the “situation of Buridan's donkey”. This classical situation of uncertainty, or a problematic situation (the choice between two equal possibilities), interests Vygotsky primarily from the point of view of the means that make it possible to transform (solve) the situation that has arisen. By casting lots, a person "artificially introduces into the situation, changing it, new auxiliary stimuli that are not connected with it in any way." Thus, the cast die becomes, according to Vygotsky, a means of transforming and resolving the situation.

He noted that the operation of throwing lots reveals a new and peculiar structure, so the person himself creates stimuli that determine his reactions, and uses these stimuli as a means to master the processes of his own behavior.

Developing a method for studying higher psychological functions, Vygotsky is guided by the principle of “manifestation of the great in the smallest” and, in addition to casting lots, analyzes such phenomena as “tying a knot in memory” and counting on fingers.

IN last years During his lifetime, Vygotsky focused on studying the relationship between thought and word in the structure of consciousness. His work "Thinking and Speech" (1934), devoted to the study of this problem, is fundamental for Russian psycholinguistics. In this work, Vygotsky points out the different genesis of the development of thinking and speech in phylogeny, and that the relationship between them is not a constant value. In phylogenesis, a pre-speech phase of intellect is found, as well as a pre-intellectual phase of the development of speech itself. But in the process of ontogenetic development, at some point, thinking and speech intersect, after which thinking becomes speech, and speech becomes intellectual.

Inner speech, according to Vygotsky, develops through the accumulation of long-term functional and structural changes. It branches off from the external speech of the child, along with the differentiation of the social and egocentric function of speech, and finally, speech functions assimilated by the child become the main functions of his thinking.

Developmental and educational psychology

In the works of Vygotsky, the problem of the relationship between the role of maturation and learning in the development of higher mental functions of the child is considered in detail. Thus, he formulated the most important principle, according to which the preservation and timely maturation of brain structures is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of higher mental functions. The main source for this development is the changing social environment, for which Vygotsky introduced the term social development situation, defined as "a peculiar, age-specific, exclusive, unique and unrepeatable relationship between the child and the surrounding reality, primarily social". It is this attitude that determines the course of development of the child's psyche at a certain age stage.

L. S. Vygotsky noted that culture creates special forms of behavior and modifies the activity of the mental function. In this regard, the concept of the cultural development of the child is explained by him as a process corresponding to the mental development that took place in the process of the historical development of mankind. Both types are repeated in the development of the child. mental development: biological and historical. In other words, these two types of development are in dialectical unity.

Revisionist movement in Vygotsk studies

The current state of affairs in critical international Vygotsk studies of the 21st century is characterized as overcoming the "cult of Vygotsky" and a "revisionist revolution in Vygotsk studies". Criticism of various interpretations of Vygotsky began as early as the 1970s both in the Soviet Union and abroad: in the 1980s-1990s, and especially in the 21st century. The number of critical publications has steadily increased all this time up to the present day, and only recently, in the 2000s, did it finally take shape during the “revisionist revolution” in Vygotsk studies. Both the quality of the translations of Vygotsky and numerous members of the Vygotsky circle and the authenticity of his texts published in the Soviet Union in Russian are subject to revision. All this critical literature makes a great contribution to the reassessment also of the historical role and theoretical legacy of Vygotsky in the context of modern science. The revisionist movement includes scholars from Brazil, Britain, Germany, Greece, Israel, Canada, Korea, the Netherlands, Russia and South Africa and is growing rapidly. A whole series of revisionist publications has taken place recently in Questions of Psychology and PsyAnima, Dubna Psychological Journal.

Complete Works of Vygotsky

An essential component of the revisionist movement in Vygotsk studies is the work on a voluntary, non-profit research and publishing project " PsyAnima Complete Works of Vygotsky PsyAnima Complete Vygotsky" project), during which a number of Vygotsky's texts for the first time become freely available to a wide range of readers, and in a form freed from censorship, editorial interventions, distortions and falsifications in posthumous Soviet editions of a later time. This publishing and editorial work is supported by a stream of critical research and scientific publications on textual criticism, history, theory and methodology of the psychological theory of Vygotsky and members of the Vygotsky-Luria circle.

Memory

• Facsimile editions published and available free of charge as part of the non-commercial publishing project PsyAnima Complete collection works Vygotsky
• L. S. Vygotsky Institute of Psychology, Russian State University for the Humanities
• Gomel State Pedagogical College named after L. S. Vygotsky
• In honor of L. S. Vygotsky, a street in the Novinki microdistrict in Minsk and a lane in the center of Moscow were named (2015).
• Monument to Vygotsky in the building of humanities faculties

Questions of theory and history of psychology.

The first volume includes a number of works by the outstanding Soviet psychologist L. S. Vygotsky, devoted to the methodological foundations of scientific psychology and analyzing the history of the development of psychological thought in our country and abroad. This also includes the work The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis, published for the first time, which is, as it were, a synthesis of Vygotsky's ideas concerning a special methodology of psychological cognition.

Collected Works in 6 volumes. Volume 2. Problems of General Psychology

In the second volume of the Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky included works containing the main psychological ideas of the author. This includes the well-known monograph "Thinking and Speech", which represents the result of Vygotsky's work. The volume also includes lectures on psychology.

This volume directly continues and develops the range of ideas presented in the first volume of the Collected Works.

Collected Works in 6 volumes. Volume 3. Problems of the development of the psyche

The third volume includes the main theoretical study of L.S. Vygotsky on the problems of the development of higher mental functions. The volume consists of both previously published and new material. The author considers the development of higher psychological functions (attention, memory, thinking, speech, arithmetic operations, higher forms of volitional behavior; the child's personality and worldview) as the transition of "natural" functions into "cultural" ones, which occurs in the course of a child's communication with an adult on the basis of mediation. these functions by speech and other sign structures.

Collected Works in 6 volumes. Volume 4. Child psychology

In addition to the monograph “Pedology of the Adolescent”, known from the previous publication, the volume includes chapters published for the first time from the works “Problems of Age”, “ Infant age", as well as a number of special articles.

Collected Works in 6 volumes. Volume 4. Part 2. The problem of age

The volume is devoted to the main problems of child psychology: general issues of periodization of childhood, the transition from one age period to another, the characteristic features of development in certain periods of childhood, etc.

In addition to the monograph “Pedology of the Adolescent”, known from the previous publication, the volume includes chapters published for the first time from the works “Problems of Age”, “Infancy”.

Collected Works in 6 volumes. Volume 6. Scientific heritage

The volume included previously unpublished works: “The Teaching of Emotions (The Teaching of Descartes and Spinoza on Passions)”, which is a theoretical and historical study of a number of philosophical, psychological and physiological concepts about the patterns and neuromechanisms of a person’s emotional life; "Tool and sign in the development of the child", covering the problems of the formation of practical intelligence, the role of speech in tool actions, the functions of sign operations in the organization mental processes.

A detailed bibliography of the works of L. S. Vygotsky, as well as literature about him, is presented.

Imagination and creativity in childhood

Psychological and pedagogical foundations for the development of children's creative imagination are considered. First published in 1930 and republished by Enlightenment in 1967, this work has not lost its relevance and practical value.

The book is provided with a special afterword, which assesses the works of L.S. Vygotsky c. areas of children's creativity.

Thinking and speech

The classic work of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky occupies a special place in the series on psycholinguistics. This is the work by which psycholinguistic science itself was actually founded, although even its name was not yet known. This edition of Thought and Speech offers the most authentic version of the text, untouched by later editorial revisions.

The main currents of modern psychology

The authors of the collection present and develop views on the psychology of the victorious clan of anti-mechanists in Soviet philosophy and openly support the positions of A.M. Deborin, who monopolized the study of philosophy in the country for almost the entire 1930.

Nevertheless, already at the end of 1930, Deborin and his group were criticized for "Menshevik idealism" and were removed from the leadership of philosophy in the country. As a result of this critique and a two-front campaign against mechanism (left inflection) and "Menshevik idealism" (right inflection), this publication has become inaccessible and rare.

Fundamentals of defectology

The book includes published in the 20-30-ies. works devoted to the theoretical and practical issues of defectology: the monograph "General Issues of Defectology", a number of articles, reports and speeches. - this is the leading idea of ​​the works of L. S. Vygotsky.

Pedagogical psychology

The book contains the main scientific provisions of the largest Russian psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (1896-1934), concerning the connection of psychology with pedagogy, education in children of attention, thinking, emotions.

It deals with the psychological and pedagogical problems of labor and aesthetic education schoolchildren, taking into account their giftedness and individual characteristics in the process of education and upbringing. Particular attention is paid to the study of the personality of schoolchildren and the role of psychological knowledge in teacher work.

The problem of cultural development of the child

In the process of its development, the child learns not only the content of cultural experience, but the methods and forms of cultural behavior, cultural ways of thinking. In the development of the child's behavior, therefore, two main lines must be distinguished. One is the line of natural development of behavior, closely connected with the processes of general organic growth and maturation of the child. The other is the line of cultural improvement of psychological functions, development of new ways of thinking, mastery of cultural means of behavior.

So, for example, an older child may remember better and more than a younger child for two very different reasons. Memory processes done during this period notable development, they have risen to a higher level, but which of the two lines this development of memory proceeded can only be revealed with the help of psychological analysis.

Psychology

The book contains all the main works of the outstanding Russian scientist, one of the most authoritative and well-known psychologists, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky.

The structural construction of the book is made taking into account the program requirements for the courses " General psychology" And " Age-related psychology» psychological faculties of universities. For students, teachers and all those interested in psychology.

Psychology of art

The book of the outstanding Soviet scientist L. S. Vygotsky "The Psychology of Art" was published in the first edition in 1965, the second - in 1968 and won universal recognition. In it, the author summarizes his work of 1915-1922 and at the same time prepares those new psychological ideas that constituted Vygotsky's main contribution to science. "Psychology of Art" is one of the fundamental works characterizing the development of Soviet theory and art.

VYGOTSKY(real name Vygodsky) Lev Semenovich (Simkhovich) (November 5, 1896, Orsha, Mogilev Province - June 11, 1934, Moscow) - an outstanding psychologist, founder of the cultural-historical school in psychology; Professor; member of the Russian Psychoanalytic Society (1925–30).

the only permanent place Vygotsky’s work over the past 10 years (1924-1934) was the Moscow State Pedagogical University (then the Second Moscow State University and the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after A.S. Bubnov), in which the scientist continuously worked in various positions, headed the Department of Difficult Childhood of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute.

In 1917 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University and at the same time - the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the Moscow City People's University. A.L. Shanyavsky. After the revolution of 1917 in Gomel he taught literature at school. Worked at the Moscow State Institute of Experimental Psychology (1924–28); in LGPI them. A.I. Herzen; at the State Institute of Scientific Pedagogy at the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute. A.I. Herzen (1927–34); at the 2nd Moscow State University (1924–30); at the Academy of Communist Education. N.K. Krupskaya (1929–31); at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute A.S. Bubnova (1930–34); at the Experimental Defectological Institute of the Narkompros (EDI) founded by Vygotsky himself (1929–34). He also read courses of lectures at universities in Tashkent and Kharkov. Carried away by literary criticism, Vygotsky wrote reviews of the books of the Symbolist writers: A. Bely, V. Ivanov, D. Merezhkovsky (1914–17), as well as the treatise The Tragedy of Danish Hamlet by W. Shakespeare (1915–16). In 1917 he began to work research work and organized a psychological study in Gomel at the Pedagogical College. At the II All-Russian Congress on Psychoneurology in Leningrad (1924) he delivered an innovative report "Methodology of reflexological and psychological research." He was sent to London for a defectological conference (1925), visited Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. In 1925, his doctorate was accepted for defense. diss. "Psychology of Art". He published a textbook on psychology for teachers of secondary schools "Pedagogical Psychology" (1926). Member of the International Psychological Congress at Yale University (1929). At the VI International Conference on Psychotechnics in Barcelona, ​​Vygotsky's report on the study of higher psychological functions in psychotechnical research was read (1930). He entered the medical faculty at the Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy in Kharkov (1931). Together with A.R. Luria organized scientific expedition on Central Asia(1931–32), during which one of the first cross-cultural studies was carried out cognitive processes. In 1924 the Moscow stage of Vygotsky's activity began. The most important direction research in the early years (1924-27) was the analysis of the situation in world psychology. The scientists wrote prefaces to Russian translations. the works of the leaders of psychoanalysis, behaviorism, gestaltism, in which the significance of each of the directions was determined for the development of a new picture of mental regulation. Up until 1928, Vygotsky's psychology was a humanistic reactology, a type of learning theory that attempted to recognize the social nature of human thought and action. In search of methods for the objective study of complex forms of mental activity and behavior of the individual, Vygotsky created the fundamental work The Historical Meaning of the Psychological Crisis (1926–27). He tried to give human psychology the status of a science based on the laws of cause and effect. The second period of creativity (1927-31) - instrumental psychology. Vygotsky wrote the book The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions (1930–31, published in 1960), in which he outlined the cultural-historical theory of the development of the psyche, which distinguished two plans of behavior merged in evolution: “natural” (product biological development animal world) and "cultural" (the result of historical development). He formulated the concept of a sign as a tool, when operating with which an individual from his primary natural mental processes (memory, attention, associated thinking) develops a special system of functions of the second sociocultural order inherent only to a person. Vygotsky called them the highest mental functions. New research program was the main one in the last years of the scientist's life (1931–34). The monograph "Thinking and Speech" (1934), devoted to the study of the relationship between thought and word in the structure of consciousness, became fundamental for Russian psycholinguistics. Vygotsky revealed the role of speech in the transformation of a child's thinking, in the formation of concepts, and in solving problems. The triad "consciousness-culture-behavior" became the focus of Vygotsky's searches. Studying the development and decay of higher mental functions on the material of child psychology, defectology and psychiatry, I came to the conclusion that the structure of consciousness is a dynamic semantic system of affective volitional and intellectual processes that are in unity. Great importance in creative heritage Vygotsky was occupied with the idea of ​​the relationship between education and the mental development of the child. The main source of this development is the changing social environment, to describe which Vygotsky introduced the term "social situation of development". A serious contribution to educational psychology was the concept he created of the "zone of proximal development", according to which only that training is effective, which "runs ahead" of development. Many works of Vygotsky are devoted to the study of mental development and the patterns of personality formation in childhood problems of teaching children at school. Vygotsky played an outstanding role in the development of defectology and pedology. Created in Moscow a laboratory for the psychology of abnormal childhood, which later became integral part EDI. One of the first among domestic psychologists, he not only theoretically substantiated, but also confirmed in practice that any shortcoming, both in psychological and in physical development amenable to correction. Vygotsky proposed a new periodization life cycle person, which was based on the alternation stable periods development and crises, accompanied by the appearance of certain neoplasms. He was the first in psychology to approach the consideration of the psychological crisis as a necessary stage in the development of the human psyche, revealing its positive meaning. In the last period of creativity, the leitmotif of the scientist's searches, linking various branches of his work into a common knot (the history of the doctrine of affects, the study of the age dynamics of consciousness, the semantic subtext of the word), has become the problem of the relationship between motivation and cognitive processes. Vygotsky's ideas, which revealed the mechanisms and laws of the cultural development of the individual, the development of his mental functions (attention, speech, thinking, affects), outlined a fundamentally new approach to the fundamental issues of personality formation. Vygotsky had a great influence on the development of domestic and world psychology, psychopathology, pathopsychology, neuropsychology, psychiatry, sociology, defectology, pedology, pedagogy, linguistics, art history, and ethnography. The emergence of social constructivism is associated with the name of Vygotsky. The ideas of the scientist determined a whole stage in the development humanitarian knowledge in Russia still retain their heuristic potential. In the 1980s, all of Vygotsky's main works were translated and formed the basis of modern educational psychology in the United States.

Pupils and followers: L.I. Bozhovich, P.Ya. Galperin, L.V. Zankov, A.V. Zaporozhets, P.I. Zinchenko, R.E. Levina, A.N. Leontiev, A.R. Luria, N.G. Morozova, L.S. Slavina, D.B. Elkonin. A number of foreign researchers and practitioners (J. Bruner, J. Valsiner, J. Wertsch, M. Cole, B. Rogoff, R. Hare, J. Shotter) consider Vygotsky their teacher.

Op.: Pedagogical psychology // Worker of education. M., 1926; Adolescent pedology. M., 1930; Thinking and speech. M.; L., 1934; Mental development children in the learning process: a collection of articles. M., 1935; Development of higher mental functions. M., 1960; Psychology of art. M., 1965; Structural psychology. M., 1972; Collected works: in 6 volumes / ch. ed. A.V. Zaporozhets. M., 1982–84; Problems of defectology. M., 1995.

“Works of L. S. Vygotsky: on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth.”