Principles of Cultural-Historical Psychology
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[edit] The Cultural-Historical Approach
Michael Cole adopted a cultural-historical approach to cultural psychology, which stemmed from his interactions with Alexander Luria and editing texts by Luria and Vygotsky.
Cole proposes that a major premise of the cultural-historical approach is that "the structure and development of human psychological processes emerge through culturally mediated, historically developing, practical activity" (Cole, p. 108). Cole further explains this thesis by breaking down its components, which he calls the basic principles of cultural-historical psychology.
[edit] The Basic Principles
- Mediation through artifacts: Humans modify objects to control their interactions with others and the environment. Cole proposes that these objects are artifacts, but others may identify them as tools. These artifacts are created by humans and used by humans. In using artifacts, humans change their environment and are also influenced by the artifacts.
Another view of tool mediation suggests that an auxiliary means it placed between the function of the tool and the task.
- Historical Development: Culture involves all of the artifacts created and used by the group during the entirety of its historical experience. There is then a "capacity to develop within that medium and to arrange for its reproduction" in generations to come. The world in which we live is influenced by what has happened in previous generations.
- Practical activity: When analyzing the functions of humans, the analysis should be grounded in human's everyday activities.
[edit] What is culture?
Culture is the historical accumulation of artifacts of the group and this is then the medium through which humans develop.
[edit] Questions:
Why is the definition of culture limited to artifacts and why does it exclude other aspects of culture?
How can Cole's approach be applied to the area of education?
