Chapter 1: Tool and Symbol in Child Development
From WikEd
Chapter 1 begins with a backdrop of the historical perspectives of the field of child development in which Vygotsky refers to the movement of the field from a botanical model to a zoological model which paralleled the behavior of animal to the behavior young children particularly in the use of tools in solving various problems. This provides an argument for the failure of both to adequately address the higher intellectual processes of the child however. In the botanical such processes were considered to be too difficult to study experimentally and with the zoological model the tendency was to extrapolate the higher intellectual processes as an extension or furtherance of the “corresponding processes in animals (p20).”
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Practical Intelligence in Animals and Children
Delineating works of Kohler and Buler which provide evidence of correspondent behavior of high category animals (chimpanzee) to small children, prior to developing speech and others deprived of speech, which is termed “practical intelligence”. Vygotsky points to the importance of the process of, “intelligent speech being preceded by technical thing” but disagrees with the assertion that the independence of speech and tool use continues into adulthood in the human species. Rather that speech is be integrated with action as the child develops. Shapiro and Gerke is cited as indicating the importance of “social experience” in the development of children. However, the results tended to be extend to an imitation by along the zoological model leaning on adaptation and again mitigating the contribution of speech with which Vygotsky disagreed. Citing the work of Guillaume and Meyerson , Vygotsky contends that in the development of the child speech contributes organizationally to higher psychological functions.
Relation between Speech and Tool Use
Purposive behavior of animals having been demonstrated to be independent of symbolic activity through experimentation, Vygotsky asserts that in the research of his day speech and action, demonstrated through tool use, was pursued separately. This activity renders a limited understanding of their interwoven relationship in child development. He remarks that, though they may operate separately, convergence of practical intelligence and sign is the “essence of complex human behavior, with “symbolic activity” providing an organizing structure to produce new forms of behavior.
Social Interaction and the Transformation of Practical Activity
Vygotsky identifies the progressive development of children, involving both action and speech, in which the more difficult the task the more persistent the “egocentric” speech is used as a tool. The process of the progression of speech as observed originates with description and analysis which is followed by speech incorporating planning culminating in speech as included in the solution of the problem. Vygotsky asserts that children utilize speech as a tool to solve practical task which form a uniquely human characteristic. With further development the child’s “egocentric” speech becomes “inner speech” of adulthood. Vygotsky points out that the primary function of speech (sign) for the child in for social contact or “socialized speech” by this gives rise to “egocentric” speech in the absence of collaboration. The relationship of speech and action is dynamic. At first speech coincides with action but with the child’s development speech precedes action becoming an auxiliary tool for use in problem resolution, organization and self regulation. This ability to utilize speech, in its various manifestations, to influence action enabling abstract thinking as well as concrete perception provides a basis of the complex unique human behavior which is couched in the dynamic relationship of the individual and social history.
There is often a reemergence of egocentric speech. When we are faced with multiple tasks, we may employ egocentric speech to organize and focus. Egocentric speech can also be used when reading. One may read at a slower rate and read as if one were reading aloud or in fact, actually read aloud in order to concentrate or ensure comprehension.
Comment & Questions
The concluding statement punctuates the importance of society and culture as a framework in the developmental process as they are interwoven in the fabric of the development of speech and therefore the child and therefore the culture and society.
“From the very first days of the child’s development his activities acquire a meaning of their own in a system of social behavior and, being directed towards a definite purpose, are refracted through the prism of the child’s environment. The path from object to child and from child to object passes trough another person. This complex human structure is the product of a developmental process deeply rooted in the links between individual and social history.”
- How do we understand the use of tool?
- How do we define speech, sign, symbol in the light of this chapter?
- What is the influence of society and culture in problem resolution and interaction?
