Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory: Changes in thought with guidance

Modern social learning theories stem from the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (Figure 1), who produced his ideas as a reaction to existing conflicting approaches in psychology (Kozulin, 1990). Vygotsky’s ideas are most recognized for identifying the role of social interactions and culture in the development of higher-order thinking skills. His theory is especially valuable for the insights it provides about the dynamic “interdependence between individual and social processes in the construction of knowledge” (John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996). Vygotsky’s views are often considered primarily as developmental theories, focusing on qualitative changes in behavior over time as attempts to explain unseen processes of development of thought, language, and higher-order thinking skills. Although Vygotsky’s intent was mainly to understand higher psychological processes in children, his ideas have many implications and practical applications for learners of all ages.

Three themes are often identified with Vygotsky’s ideas of sociocultural learning:

• (1) human development and learning originate in social, historical, and cultural interactions,
• (2) use of psychological tools, particularly language, mediate the development of higher mental functions, and
• (3) learning occurs within the Zone of Proximal Development. While we discuss these ideas separately, they are closely interrelated, non-hierarchical, and connected.

Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. Vygotsky contended that thinking has social origins, social interactions play a critical role, especially in the development of higher-order thinking skills, and cognitive development cannot be fully understood without considering the social and historical context within which it is embedded. He explained, “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)” (Vygotsky, 1978. p. 57).  It is through working with others on various tasks that a learner adopts socially shared experiences and associated effects and acquires useful strategies and knowledge (Scott & Palincsar, 2013).

Rogoff (1990) refers to this process as guided participation, where a learner actively acquires new culturally valuable skills and capabilities through a meaningful, collaborative activity with an assisting, more experienced other. It is critical to notice that these culturally mediated functions are viewed as being embedded in sociocultural activities rather than being self-contained. Development is a “transformation of participation in a sociocultural activity,” not a transmission of discrete cultural knowledge or skills (Matusov, 2015).

Scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development

Vygotsky differed from Piaget in that he believed that a person not only has a set of abilities but also a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others. He believed that through guided participation, known as scaffolding, with a teacher or capable peer, a child can learn cognitive skills within a certain range, known as the zone of proximal development (Figure 2). While Piaget’s ideas of cognitive development assume that development through certain stages is biologically determined, originates in the individual, and precedes cognitive complexity, Vygotsky presents a different view in which learning drives development. The idea of learning driving development, rather than being determined by the developmental level of the learner, fundamentally changes our understanding of the learning process and has significant instructional and educational implications (Miller, 2011).

Have you ever taught a child to perform a task? Maybe it was brushing their teeth or preparing food. Chances are you spoke to them and described what you were doing while you demonstrated the skill and let them work along with you throughout the process. You gave them assistance when they seemed to need it, but once they knew what to do, you stood back and let them go. This is scaffolding. Educators have also adopted this approach to teaching. Rather than assessing students on what they are doing, they should be understood in terms of what they are capable of doing with the proper guidance.

This difference in assumptions has significant implications for the design and development of learning experiences.

• If we believe, as Piaget did, that development precedes learning, then we will make sure that new concepts and problems are not introduced until learners have developed innate capabilities to understand them.
• On the other hand, if we believe, as Vygotsky did, that learning drives development and that development occurs as we learn a variety of concepts and principles, recognizing their applicability to new tasks and new situations, then our instructional design will look very different.

Attributions

This chapter was adapted from Lumen Learning’s Lifespan Development, developed by Sonja Ann Miller and Laura Overstreet and available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.

References

Kozulin, A. (1990). Vygotsky’s psychology: A biography of ideas. Harvard University Press.

John-Steiner, V. & Mahn, H. (1996). Sociocultural approaches to learning and development: A Vygotskian framework. Educational Psychologist, 31, 191–206.

Vygotsky, Lev (1978). Mind in Society. London: Harvard University Press. p. 57

Scott, S., & Palincsar, A. (2013). Sociocultural theory. http://dr-hatfield.com/theorists/resources/sociocultural_theory.pdf

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.

Matusov, E. (2015). Vygotsky’s theory of human development and new approaches to education. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 316–321). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.92016-6

Miller, P. (2011). Theories of developmental psychology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.