Jenna T.

Santos
BSE 1-4

Lev Vygotsky – was a Russian Soviet developmental

psychologist and known to be the Mozart of Psychology.
He was born on November 17, 1896 in Orsha and died
on June 11, 1934 at Moscow due to tuberculosis. He is a
brilliant man known for developing several major theories
including Zone of Proximal Development and
Sociocultural Theory. He stressed the vitality of dynamic
interactions between children and parents and teachers as children learn gradually and
continuously from whom they interact with. Nevertheless, his theories were assailed
with much skepticism in the early 20th century. He initially studied medicine but later
switched to law and developed an interest in psychology. He was a pioneering
psychologist who specialized in the fields of developmental psychology, child
development, and education. He aimed to use Marxist methodology to re-formulate
psychological theories in accordance with Marxist thinking. His theories were
considered controversial during his lifetime though they became much popular decades
after his untimely death at the age of 37.
His philosophy about self discussed about the
fundamental role of social interaction in the
development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) stated:
“Every function in the child’s cultural development
appears twice: first, on the social level, and later,
on the individual level; first, between people
(interpsychological) and then inside the child
(intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and
to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships
between individuals.” This was an attempt to explain the consciousness as the end
product of socialization. He also gave an example of pointing our finger. He said that it
was a meaningless grasping motion in the beginning, though as people react to this, it
becomes a movement that has meaning. In short, the pointing gesture represents an
interpersonal connection between individuals.
TheFamousPeople.com. (2019). Lev Vygotsky Biography. Retrieved from
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/lev-vygotsky-5998.php
George Herbert Mead – was an American philosopher
popular in both social psychology and the development of
Pragmatism. He was born on February 27, 1863 at South
Hadley, Massachusetts and died on April 26, 1931 at
Chicago. He pursued a bachelor’s degree focusing on
history and literature at Oberlin College. He worked as an
instructor in philosophy and psychology at the University of
Michigan. To social psychology, Mead’s main contribution was his attempt to show how
the human self arises in the process of social interaction. He thought that spoken
language played a central role in this development. Through language the child can
take the role of other persons and guide his behaviour in terms of the effect his
contemplated behaviour will have upon others. In philosophy, he was much influenced
by the theory of relativity, it was called relativity. In this, he stated that some objects are
edible if it is related to the digestive system so he thought that experience, life,
consciousness, personality, and value are all objective properties of nature. He never
published a book but his students edited four volumes from stenographic recordings
and notes on his lectures and from unpublished papers.
The self, according to him, is made up of two components: the “I” and the “me”. The
“me” (generalized other) represents the expectations and attitudes of others organized
into a social self. Individuals define their behavior according to the attitude of the social
group they are with. As they view themselves just like the others, self-consciousness is
attained. Therefore “me” is the major instrument of social control for it is the mechanism
by which the community exercises control over the conduct of its individual members.
The “I” is the response to the “me,” or the person’s individuality. It is the essence of
agency in human action. So, in effect, the "me" is the self as object, while the "I" is the
self as subject. According to Mead's theory, the self is developed through three
activities: language, play, and game. Language allows people to take on the “role of the
other” and respond to their own behaviors through the symbolized attitudes of others.
During play, individuals take on the roles of different people and pretend to be them to
express their expectations. This process of role-playing is key to the generation of self-
consciousness and to the general development of the self. People must comprehend
the rules of the game and internalize the roles of everyone else involved.
Crossman, Ashley. (2019, June 28). Biography of Sociologist George Herbert Mead.
Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/george-herbert-mead-3026491