THE NEO-VYGOTSKIAN APPROACH TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT

For the first time, the neo-Vygotskian approach to child development is introduced to English-speaking readers. Russian followers of Vygotsky have elaborated his ideas into a theory that integrates cognitive, motivational, and social aspects of child development with an emphasis on the role of children’s activity as mediated by adults in their development. This theory has become the basis for an innovative analysis of periods in child development and of the mechanism of children’s transitions from one period to the next. In this book, the discussion of the neo-Vygotskians’ approach to child development is supported by a review of their empirical data, much of which have never before been available to English-speaking readers. The discussion is also supported by a review of recent empirical findings of Western researchers, which are highly consistent with the neo-Vygotskian analysis of child development.

Yuriy V. Karpov is Professor and Associate Dean at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology of Touro College. He did his undergraduate and graduate studies and then worked as a faculty member at the School of Psychology of Moscow State University, the center of Vygotsky-based studies in the former  Soviet Union. His studies on the implementation of Vygotsky’s ideas in education, psychological assessment, and the analysis of child development have been published as books, chapters, and journal articles in Russian, English, and Spanish.

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THE NEO- VYGOTSKIAN APPROACH TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT

YURIY V. KARPOV
Touro College

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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 2005

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no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2005

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Karpov, Yuriy V., 1957–
The neo-Vygotskian approach to child development / Yuriy V. Karpov.
p.  cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-521-83012-5
1. Vygotskifi, L. S. (Lev Semenovich), 1896–1934.  2. Child development.  I. Title.
HQ767.9.K363  2006
305.231 – dc22        2005006331

ISBN-13 978-0-521-83012-6 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-83012-5 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for
the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or
third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this book
and does not guarantee that any content on such
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The book is dedicated to my parents, Viktor Ioffe and Sofya Karpova.

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Contents

List of Figures		page ix
Acknowledgments		xi
Introduction
	The Problem of Determinants and Mechanisms of Child Development; The Structure and Content of the Book	1
1	Vygotsky’s Approach to Child Development	15
2	The Neo-Vygotskian Elaboration of Vygotsky’s Approach to Child Development	45
3	First Year of Life: Emotional Interactions With Caregivers as the Leading Activity of Infants	77
4	Second and Third Years of Life: Object-Centered Joint Activity With Adults as the Leading Activity of Toddlers	109
5	Three- to Six-Year-Olds: Sociodramatic Play as the Leading Activity During the Period of Early Childhood	139
6	The Period of Middle Childhood: Learning at School as Children’s Leading Activity	171
7	The Period of Adolescence: Interactions With Peers as the Leading Activity of Adolescents	203
Conclusion
	The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development: Accomplishments and Shortcomings	229
References		241
Author Index		273
Subject Index		281

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Figures

1.1.	A quipu. Reprinted from Leontiev, 1959, p. 325.	page 22
1.2.	Vygotsky’s model of child development.	42
2.1.	Example of the structure of animal activity.	53
2.2.	Example of the structure of human activity.	55
2.3.	Initial activity of a character from Leontiev’s story.	67
2.4.	New activity of the character from Leontiev’s story that developed from his initial activity attributable to the phenomenon of the conversion of goals into motives and actions into activities.	68
2.5.	The neo-Vygotskian model of child development.	72
6.1.	Steps of the theoretical learning procedure for teaching 6-year-old children to write letters of the Russian alphabet.	187
6.2.	Example of the problems offered to students who attended “traditional” and “theoretical learning” schools.	190
6.3.	The optimal eight-move solution of all the problems that were offered to students who attended “traditional” and “theoretical learning” schools.	190

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Acknowledgments

My interest in, and knowledge of, the neo-Vygotskian approach to child development formed during my 17-year affiliation with the School of Psychology of Moscow State University, which was the center of Vygotsky-based research in the former Soviet Union. I am deeply indebted to my former teachers, especially to Daniel Elkonin, Piotr Galperin, Alexey Leontiev, Alexander Luria, and Nina Talyzina, whose writings, lectures, and generous sharing of their ideas with students and younger colleagues have shaped my entire professional life.

I have a special debt to John Borkowski, Steven Warren, and Carl Haywood, whose help and support made it possible for me to restart my scientific career after my immigration to the United States in 1991.

My efforts to produce this book have benefited from all kinds of support from my colleagues and Dean Anthony Polemeni at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology of Touro College. My deepest gratitude must be reserved for my friend and colleague Ronald Lehrer, who provided extremely useful scholarly consultations, commentary, and suggestions on my analysis and presentation of the material.

I am also grateful to anonymous reviewers, who reviewed an early draft of the manuscript for Cambridge University Press and provided very helpful feedback.

I express my gratitude to Mikhail Akopyan for the design of figures that illustrate the book.

The work for this book could not have been completed without the understanding and moral support of my wife Lora.

Finally, I want to thank Philip Laughlin, the book editor; Nicole M. McClenic, the project manager; Elizabeth Budd, the copy editor; and other staff at Cambridge University Press and TechBooks who dedicated their expertise, time, and effort to the preparation of this book for publication.