The development of higher mental functions according to L.S. Vygotsky

The child's psyche, as a relatively labile system, is heterogeneous. It intertwines the natural features inherent in living organisms, as well as the features acquired in the process of historical and cultural development, which subsequently form the highest mental functions in children.

The role of society in the psychological development of a child is extremely widely disclosed in the works of E. Durkheim, L. Levy-Bruhl, as well as our compatriot L.S. Vygotsky. In accordance with their ideas, mental functions can be divided into lower and higher categories. The first includes qualities given to a person as a result of phylogeny, for example, involuntary attention and memory - everything that he does not have the ability to control, which occurs outside of his consciousness. To the second - properties obtained in ontogeny, fastened by social ties: thinking, attention, perception, etc. - tools that the individual controls consciously and controlled.

The most important tools influencing the development of mental functions in children are signs - psychological substances that can change the consciousness of the subject. One of these are words and gestures, in a particular case, parental. In this case, the PFs change in the direction from the collective to the individual. Initially, the child learns to interact with the outside world and understand the patterns of behavior, and then turns the experience to himself. In the process of improvement, he will have to successively go through the stages of natural, pre-speech, speech, entrapsychic, and then spontaneous and arbitrary intrapsychic functions.

Varieties of higher mental functions

The interaction of the biological and cultural aspects of human life nurtures:

• Perception - the ability to receive information from the environment, while highlighting significant and useful data from the total volume;
• Attention - the ability to concentrate on a specific object of information collection;
• Thinking is the generalization of signals received from outside, the drawing up of patterns and the formation of connections.
• Consciousness is an improved degree of thinking with deeper cause-and-effect relationships.
• Memory is the process of preserving traces of interactions with the outside world with the accumulation and subsequent reproduction of data.
• Emotions are a reflection of the child's attitude towards himself and society. The measure of their manifestation characterizes satisfaction or dissatisfaction with expectations.
• Motivation - a measure of interest in the performance of any activity, is divided into biological, social and spiritual.

Periodization and crises

Improving mental skills inevitably faces contradictions that arise at the junction of a changed self-consciousness and a stable surrounding world.

It is quite natural that at such moments a violation of higher mental functions develops in children. So, the following periods require the most careful attention:

1. From 0 - 2 months - the neonatal crisis, during which there is a decisive restructuring of the habitual image of intrauterine existence, acquaintance with new objects and subjects.
2. 1 year - the child masters speech and free movement, which opens up horizons with new for him, but so far redundant information.
3. 3 years - at this time, the first attempts to realize oneself as a person begin, the experience gained is rethought for the first time, and character traits are formed. The crisis manifests itself in the form of obstinacy, stubbornness, willfulness, etc.
4. 7 years - the existence of a child becomes unthinkable without a team. The assessment of the actions of other children changes with a simultaneous increase in independence. In this case, mental imbalance is possible.
5. 13 years old - precedes the hormonal surge, and sometimes captures it. Physiological instability is accompanied by a change in role from a slave to a leader. Manifested in a decrease in productivity and interest.
6. 17 years is the age when a child is on the threshold of a new life. Fear of the unknown, responsibility for the chosen strategy for later life entail an exacerbation of diseases, the manifestation of neurotic reactions, etc.

It is impossible to determine the exact time and causes of violations of higher mental functions in children. Since each child overcomes the challenges posed by the environment in his own way: some of them experience them calmly, imperceptibly, others accompany them with a vivid emotional reaction, including an internal one.

Distinguishing crises will help constant observation and comparison of the behavioral patterns of a particular child, and not his peers - at the beginning and end of the inter-crisis period. However, it should be understood that a fracture is part of the development process, and not a violation of it. It is during this time period that the function of an adult as a mentor, who has already gone through such upheavals, is enhanced. Then the high risk of harm will be minimized.

State budgetary educational institution School No. 1413

Seminar

on the topic:

"Features of the development of higher mental functions

in children 3-7 years old "

Compiled by: Teacher-defectologist

Yarkovenko Galina Yurievna

3-4 YEARS (younger group)

The years of preschool childhood are the years of intensive mental development and the emergence of new, previously absent mental characteristics. The leading need of a child of this age is the need for communication, respect, recognition of the child's independence. Leading activity -game. During this period, there is a transition from a manipulative game to a role-playing game.

Perception. The leading cognitive function is perception. The value of perception in the life of a preschooler is very great, since it creates the foundation for the development of thinking, contributes to the development of speech, memory, attention, and imagination. At primary school age, these processes will occupy a leading position, especially logical thinking, and perception will perform a service function, although it will continue to develop. A well-developed perception can manifest itself in the form of a child's observation, his ability to notice the features of objects and phenomena, details, features that an adult will not notice. In the process of learning, perception will be improved and honed in the process of coordinated work aimed at developing thinking, imagination, and speech. The perception of a younger preschooler 3-4 years old is of an objective nature, that is, the properties of an object, for example, color, shape, taste, size, etc., are not separated from the object by the child. He sees them together with the object, considers them inseparably belonging to him. During perception, he does not see all the characteristics of the object, but only the most striking, and sometimes even one, and by it he distinguishes the object from others. For example: grass is green, lemon is sour and yellow. Acting with objects, the child begins to discover their individual qualities, to comprehend the variety of properties. This develops his ability to separate properties from an object, to notice similar qualities in different objects and different in one.

Attention. The ability of children to control their attention is very limited. It is still difficult to direct the child's attention to an object with verbal directions. Switching his attention from object to object often requires repeated instruction. The amount of attention from two objects at the beginning of the year increases to four by the end of the year. The child can hold active attention for 7-8 minutes. Attention is mainly involuntary, its stability depends on the nature of the activity. The stability of attention is negatively affected by the impulsiveness of the child's behavior, the desire to immediately get the object they like, answer, do something.

Memory. Memory processes remain involuntary. Recognition still prevails. The amount of memory essentially depends on whether the material is linked into a semantic whole or is scattered. Children of this age at the beginning of the year can remember two objects with the help of visual-figurative and auditory verbal memory, by the end of the year - up to four objects.[ibid].

The child remembers well everything that is of vital interest to him, causes a strong emotional response. The information that he sees and hears many times is firmly assimilated. Motor memory is well developed: it is better to remember what was associated with one's own movement.

Thinking. At the age of three or four, the child, however imperfectly, tries to analyze what he sees around him; compare objects with each other and draw conclusions about their interdependencies. In everyday life and in the classroom, as a result of observations of the environment, accompanied by explanations from an adult, children gradually gain an elementary idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe nature and life of people. The child himself seeks to explain what he sees around. True, it is sometimes difficult to understand him, because, for example, he often takes the consequence for the cause of the fact.

Compare, analyze younger preschoolers in a visual-effective plan. But some children are already beginning to show the ability to solve problems based on representation. Children can compare objects by color and shape, highlight differences in other ways. They can generalize objects by color (it's all red), shape (it's all round), size (it's all small).

In the fourth year of life, children somewhat more often than before use generic concepts such astoys, clothes, fruits, vegetables, animals, dishes, include in each of them a larger number of specific items. However, the relationship of the general to the particular and the particular to the general is understood by the child in a peculiar way. So, for example, the wordsdishes, vegetables are for him only collective names for groups of objects, and not abstract concepts, as is the case with more developed thinking.

Imagination. In the fourth year of life, the child's imagination is still poorly developed. A baby can be easily persuaded to act with objects, transforming them (for example, using a stick as a thermometer), but the elements of “active” imagination, when the child is fascinated by the image itself and the ability to act independently in an imaginary situation, are just beginning to form and manifest[ibid].

In younger preschoolers, an idea is often born after an action has been completed. And if it is formulated before the start of activity, it is very unstable. The idea is easily destroyed or lost in the course of its implementation, for example, when encountering difficulties or when the situation changes. The very emergence of an idea occurs spontaneously, under the influence of a situation, an object, a short-term emotional experience. Toddlers still do not know how to direct their imagination. In children of 3-4 years old, only elements of preliminary planning of a game or productive activities are observed.

4-5 years old (middle group)

Development of mental processes

The most striking development of children of middle preschool age (4-5 years) is characterized by increasing arbitrariness, premeditation, purposefulness of mental processes, which indicates an increase in the participation of will in the processes of perception, memory, attention.

Perception. At this age, the child masters the methods of active knowledge of the properties of objects: measurement, comparison by imposing, applying objects to each other, etc. In the process of cognition, the child gets acquainted with various properties of the surrounding world: color, shape, size, objects, characteristics of time, space, taste, smell, sound, surface quality. He learns to perceive their manifestations, to distinguish shades and features, masters the methods of detection, remembers the names. During this period, ideas about the basic geometric shapes (square, circle, triangle, oval, rectangle and polygon) are formed; about the seven colors of the spectrum, white and black; about the parameters of the value (length, width, height, thickness); about space (far, close, deep, shallow, there, here, above, below); about time (morning, afternoon, evening, night, season, hours, minutes, etc.); about the special properties of objects and phenomena (sound, taste, smell, temperature, surface quality, etc.).

Attention. Increased attention span. The child is available concentrated activity for 15-20 minutes. When performing any action, he is able to keep a simple condition in memory.

In order for a preschooler to learn to voluntarily control his attention, he must be asked to think aloud more. If a child of 4-5 years old is asked to constantly name aloud what he should keep in the sphere of his attention, then he will be able to arbitrarily keep his attention on certain objects and their individual details and properties for quite a long time.

Memory. At this age, the processes of first voluntary recall and then deliberate memorization begin to develop. Having decided to remember something, the child can now use some actions for this, such as repetition. By the end of the fifth year of life, there are independent attempts to elementary systematize the material in order to memorize it.

Arbitrary memorization and recall are facilitated if the motivation for these actions is clear and emotionally close to the child (for example, remember what toys are needed for the game, learn the poem “as a gift to mom”, etc.).

It is very important that the child, with the help of an adult, comprehend what he memorizes. Meaningful material is remembered even when the goal is not to remember it. Meaningless elements are easily remembered only if the material attracts children with its rhythm, or, like counting rhymes, woven into the game, becomes necessary for its implementation.

The amount of memory gradually increases, and the child of the fifth year of life more clearly reproduces what he remembers. So, retelling a fairy tale, he tries to accurately convey not only the main events, but also secondary details, direct and author's speech. Children remember up to 7-8 names of objects. Arbitrary memorization begins to take shape: children are able to accept a memorization task, remember instructions from adults, can learn a short poem, etc.

Thinking. Imaginative thinking begins to develop. Children are already able to use simple schematic images to solve simple problems. They can build according to the scheme, solve labyrinth problems. Anticipation develops. Children can tell what will happen as a result of the interaction of objects based on their spatial arrangement. However, at the same time, it is difficult for them to take the position of another observer and, on the internal plane, make a mental transformation of the image. For children of this age, the well-known phenomena of J. Piaget are especially characteristic: the preservation of quantity, volume and size. For example, if a child is presented with three black mugs made of paper and seven white mugs and asked: “Which mugs are more - black or white?”, Most will answer that there are more white ones. But if you ask: “Which is more - white or paper?”, The answer will be the same - more white. Thinking as a whole and the simpler processes that make it up (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, classification) cannot be considered in isolation from the general content of the child's activity, from the conditions of his life and upbringing.

Problem solving can occur in visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal plans. In children 4-5 years old, visual-figurative thinking prevails, and the main task of the teacher is the formation of various specific ideas. But we should not forget that human thinking is also the ability to generalize, therefore it is also necessary to teach children to generalize. A child of this age is able to analyze objects simultaneously in two ways: color and shape, color and material, etc. He can compare objects by color, shape, size, smell, taste and other properties, finding differences and similarities. By the age of 5, a child can assemble a picture from four parts without relying on a sample and from six parts using a sample. Can generalize concepts related to the following categories: fruits, vegetables, clothes, shoes, furniture, utensils, transport.

Imagination. The imagination continues to develop. Its features such as originality and arbitrariness are formed. Children can independently come up with a short fairy tale on a given topic.

5-6 years old (senior group)

Development of mental processes

At the senior preschool age, the cognitive task for the child becomes cognitive (it is necessary to master knowledge!), and not a play one. He has a desire to show his skills, ingenuity. Memory, attention, thinking, imagination, perception continue to develop actively.

Perception. The perception of color, shape and size, the structure of objects continues to improve; systematization of children's ideas. They distinguish and name not only the primary colors and their shades by lightness, but also intermediate color shades; the shape of rectangles, ovals, triangles. They perceive the size of objects, easily line up - in ascending or descending order - up to ten different objects.

Attention. The stability of attention increases, the ability to distribute and switch it develops. There is a transition from involuntary to voluntary attention. The volume of attention at the beginning of the year is 5-6 objects, by the end of the year- 6-7.

Memory. At the age of 5-6 years, arbitrary memory begins to form. The child is able to memorize 5-6 objects with the help of figurative-visual memory. The volume of auditory verbal memory is 5-6 words.

Thinking. At the senior preschool age figurative thinking continues to develop. Children are able not only to solve the problem visually, but also to transform the object in their mind, etc. The development of thinking is accompanied by the development of mental means (schematized and complex ideas develop, ideas about the cyclical nature of changes).

In addition, the ability to generalize is improved, which is the basis of verbal-logical thinking. J. Piaget showed that at preschool age, children still lack ideas about classes of objects. Objects are grouped according to features that can change. However, the operations of logical addition and multiplication of classes are beginning to take shape. Thus, older preschoolers, when grouping objects, can take into account two features. An example is a task: children are asked to choose the most dissimilar object from a group that includes two circles (large and small) and two squares (large and small). In this case, circles and squares differ in color. If you point to any of the figures, and ask the child to name the most unlike it, you can be sure that he is able to take into account two signs, that is, perform logical multiplication. As shown in studies by Russian psychologists, children of older preschool age are able to reason, giving adequate causal explanations, if the analyzed relationships do not go beyond their visual experience.

Imagination. The age of five is characterized by the flowering of fantasy. The child's imagination is especially vividly manifested in the game, where he acts very enthusiastically.

The development of imagination at the senior preschool age makes it possible for children to compose quite original and consistently unfolding stories. The development of the imagination becomes successful as a result of special work to activate it. Otherwise, this process may not result in a high level.

6-7 years old (preparatory group)

Development of mental processes

Perception continues to develop. However, even in children of this age, errors can occur in cases where several different signs must be taken into account simultaneously.

Attention. Increased attention span- 20-25 minutes, attention span is 7-8 items. The child may see dual images.

Memory. By the end of the preschool period (6-7 years), the child develops arbitrary forms of mental activity. He already knows how to consider objects, can conduct purposeful observation, arbitrary attention arises, and as a result, elements of arbitrary memory appear. Arbitrary memory manifests itself in situations where the child independently sets a goal: to remember and remember. It can be said with certainty that the development of arbitrary memory begins from the moment when the child independently singled out the task for memorization. The desire of the child to remember should be encouraged in every possible way, this is the key to the successful development of not only memory, but also other cognitive abilities: perception, attention, thinking, imagination. The appearance of arbitrary memory contributes to the development of cultural (mediated) memory - the most productive form of memorization. The first steps of this (ideally endless) path are determined by the peculiarities of the material being remembered: brightness, accessibility, unusualness, clarity, etc. Subsequently, the child is able to strengthen his memory using techniques such as classification, grouping. During this period, psychologists and educators can purposefully teach preschoolers the techniques of classification and grouping for the purpose of memorization.

Thinking. The leader is still visual-figurative thinking, but by the end of preschool age, verbal-logical thinking begins to form. It suggests development of the ability to operate with words, to understand the logic of reasoning. And here the help of adults will definitely be required, since the illogicality of children's reasoning when comparing, for example, the size and number of objects is known. At preschool age, the development of concepts begins. Completely verbal-logical, conceptual, or abstract, thinking is formed by adolescence.

An older preschooler can establish causal relationships, find solutions to problem situations. Can make exceptions based on all learned generalizations, build a series of 6-8 consecutive pictures.

Imagination. The senior preschool and junior school ages are characterized by the activation of the function of the imagination - first recreating (which allowed at an earlier age to present fabulous images), and then creative (due to which a fundamentally new image is created). This period is sensitive for the development of fantasy.

Material Description: I bring to your attention an article containing a number of psychological and pedagogical exercises for the development and correction of higher mental functions (HMF) in children of preschool and primary school age. This material will be useful for educational psychologists, speech therapists and defectologists of preschool educational institutions and GBOU secondary schools, as well as specialists from early development centers.

The development of higher mental functions in children of preschool and primary school age

Higher mental functions (HMF) are specific mental functions of a person. These include: memory, attention, thinking, perception, imagination and speech. The well-known Russian psychologist, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, wrote: “The highest mental function appears on the stage twice: once as an external, interpsychic (i.e., a function shared between a child and an adult), and the second - as an internal, intrapsychic (i.e. . a function belonging to the child itself)”. A small child is not yet able to focus attention for a long time, remember and correctly pronounce the names of certain objects, etc., therefore, the role of an adult in this period is to be an intermediary between the baby and the outside world. So, the adult acts as the main mental functions of the child, reminding him of the names of phenomena and objects, concentrating his attention, developing thinking and speech. Then, in the process of growing up, the child gradually inherits social experience and becomes able to use it independently. Thus, from Vygotsky's point of view, the process of development is a process of transition from the social to the individual.

It should be noted that the process of development of higher mental functions begins long before the child enters school, even in infancy. Young children learn all the time: in the game, on a walk, watching their parents, etc.

However, there are certain phases in a child's development when they are particularly receptive to learning and creativity. Such periods in the life of the baby are called sensitive (literally "sensitive"). Traditionally, these periods include the process of child development from 0 to 7 years. In domestic psychology and pedagogy, this period is considered the most productive in terms of the child's assimilation of social experience and the acquisition of new knowledge. At this stage, the foundation is laid not only for the behavioral and emotional-volitional, but also for the cognitive sphere of a person's personality.

So, now let's talk about the main exercises and technologies used by teachers in the development of higher mental functions in children of preschool and primary school age. Here are short examples from daily practice.

Thinking.

Mental operations include the processes of generalization, analysis, synthesis and abstraction. Accordingly, different methods are used for the development of each of the operations.

Generalization.

Purpose: to teach the baby to find common signs of an object.

A number of cards are laid out in front of the child, which depict objects united according to one common feature (for example, a series: “apple, banana, pear, plum”). The kid is asked to name all these items in one word (in this case, it is “fruits”) and explain his answer.

Analysis and synthesis.

Purpose: to teach the child to exclude unnecessary and combine objects according to their characteristics.

Option 1. The student is asked to find an image of an extra object among the proposed cards and explain his choice (for example, the series: “skirt, boots, trousers, coat”; the extra one is “boots”, because these are shoes, and everything else is clothes).

It should be emphasized that the child's answer must be complete and detailed. The child should not guess, but meaningfully make his choice and be able to justify it.

Option 2. A form with the image of different animals is presented to the student. The child is explained that if the animal is shod in boots, then this is 1, if not shod, then this is 0 (for example, a cat in boots = 1, and a cat without boots = 0, etc.). Next, the teacher points to each picture in turn and asks the child to name only a number (1 or 0).

Abstraction.

Purpose: to teach the baby to find indirect signs.

A form with the image of animals is presented in front of the child: “a cow, an elephant, a fox, a bear, a tiger”. Then the baby is asked to combine them with other animals whose names begin with the same letter: “rat, dog, lion, mouse, seal” (the correct answer in this case is the following: “cow-rat, elephant-dog, fox-lion, bear-mouse, tiger-seal). The student must be asked to justify his choice, because. children often ignore the instructions and link the pictures according to some other signs (for example, according to the principle big-small, good-evil, wild animal-pet, etc.). If the child does not understand the instruction, it should be repeated again and give an example.

Memory.

Memory is divided into short-term and long-term. To train short-term memory, for example, a student is presented orally with a series of words (usually 10 words), which he must remember and reproduce immediately after presentation in random order.

To train long-term memory, you can, for example, read a series of words several times (so that the child remembers them properly) and ask him to reproduce all the words in 15-40 minutes. The task can be complicated by asking the child to reproduce all the words in order.

The norm for a younger student is the reproduction of 10 words. For a preschooler - 7-8 words.

An excellent exercise for the development of memory was and remains reading literature. After reading, it is necessary to discuss the plot of a fairy tale or story with the child, ask them to evaluate the characters, ask questions on the test, etc. You can also ask the child to draw a favorite episode from the book, mold the main characters from plasticine, etc.

Attention.

A large printed text (not very long) is presented in front of the child. Then the kid is asked to circle all the letters “A” in the text with a red pencil in a circle, all the letters “B” in a blue pencil in a square, all the letters “C” in a green pencil in a triangle. You can also present a form with letters printed in random order and ask to cross out certain of them (you need to note the time - 3 minutes).

You can also ask the child to continue the pattern in a notebook in a cage (or draw exactly the same picture next to it). After the pattern is finished, you can ask the child to color each cell in the picture with a different color, etc.

Speech.

Unfortunately, today more and more children come to school with severe speech and writing impairments.

First of all, it should be understood that for the harmonious development of speech with a child, it is necessary to communicate. When talking with a child, try to use the full name of phenomena and objects: do not abbreviate them, do not use “slang” in your own speech, do not distort sounds (for example, not “fotik”, but “camera”; not “shop”, but “ shop", etc.). By pronouncing the words clearly and completely, you enrich the child's vocabulary, correctly form sound pronunciation.

An excellent exercise for the development of speech will be reading together (especially old folk tales), reciting poems, sayings, and tongue twisters.

Perception and imagination.

The best exercise for the development of these mental functions is reading fiction and creative and aesthetic activities. Visiting children's performances, exhibitions, concerts, home needlework, modeling, crafts, drawing - all this perfectly develops the child's perception and imagination.

Higher mental functions are complex mental processes that are formed in vivo, social in origin, mediated in psychological structure and arbitrary in the way they are implemented. V. p. f. - one of the basic concepts of modern psychology, introduced into domestic psychological science by L. S. Vygotsky.

Higher mental functions: logical memory, purposeful thinking, creative imagination, voluntary actions, speech, writing, counting, movements, perceptual processes (processes of perception)). The most important characteristic of the HMF is their mediation by various "psychological tools" - sign systems, which are the product of a long socio-historical development of mankind. Among the "psychological tools" speech plays a leading role; therefore, the speech mediation of HMF is the most universal way of their formation.

Structure of the WPF

For Vygotsky, a sign (word) is that “psychological tool” through which consciousness is built. The sign plays an important role in the structure of the HMF. It becomes a means of mediation between one act of human activity and another (for example, in order to remember something, we use an information coding system in order to reproduce it later). At the same time, the very nature of the structure of higher mental functions can be designated as systemic. The HMF is a system that has a hierarchical character, i.e. some parts of this system are subordinate to others. But the HMF system is not a static formation; throughout a person's life, it changes both in the parts of which it consists and in the relationship between them.

Distinctive properties of HMF (specificity)

Arbitrariness (the person himself controls his mental function, i.e. the person sets tasks, goals). Arbitrary VPF are according to the method of implementation. Due to mediation, a person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating a possible result, analyzing his experience, correcting behavior and activities, awareness of the HMF;

Mediation (means are used). The mediation of the HMF is visible in the way they function. The development of the capacity for symbolic activity and mastery of the sign is the main component of mediation. The word, image, number and other possible identification signs of a phenomenon (for example, a hieroglyph as a unity of a word and an image) determine the semantic perspective of comprehending the essence at the level of unity of abstraction and concretization, sociality by origin. HMF is determined by their origin. They can develop only in the process of interaction of people with each other.

Development of the WPF

Laws of formation.

Vygotsky singled out the laws of formation of the HMF:

1. The law of transition from natural to cultural (mediated by tools and signs) forms of behavior. It can be called the "law of mediation".

2. The law of transition from social to individual forms of behavior (the means of a social form of behavior in the process of development become the means of an individual form of behavior).

3. The law of transition of functions from outside to inside. "This process of transition of operations from outside to inside is what we call the law of rotation." Later, in a different context, L.S. Vygotsky will formulate another law, which, in our opinion, can be considered a continuation of this series.

4. "The general law of development is that awareness and mastery are characteristic only of the highest stage in the development of any function. They arise late." Obviously, it can be called "the law of awareness and mastery."

Activity. General psychological characteristics of activity

Activity - it is a kind of organized and socially determined human activity aimed at cognition and creative transformation of the surrounding world, including oneself and the conditions of one's existence. Animals also have activity, but unlike animals, whose activity is consumer-based, not producing or creating anything new compared to what is given by nature, human activity is productive, creative, constructive.

Human activity is subject, i.e. associated with the objects of material and spiritual culture, which are used by him as tools, as a means of his own development or as objects of satisfaction of needs. Animals perceive human tools and means of satisfying needs as well as ordinary natural objects, without regard for their cultural and spiritual significance. In the process of activity, a person transforms himself, develops his abilities, needs, living conditions. During the activity of animals, changes in themselves or in the external conditions of life are much less pronounced. Activity is the result of the biological evolution of living beings, while human activity in its various forms and means is a product of history.

The activity of animals is genotypically determined and develops as the natural anatomical and physiological maturation of the organism. A newborn child initially does not have objective activity, it is formed in the process of education and training, in parallel with the development of internal, neurophysiological and psychological structures that control the external side of practical activity. Activity is closely related to behavior, but differs from this concept in activity, focus on creating a certain product. It is organized and systematic.

AN Leontieva - implementation of the activity approach to the analysis of psychological phenomena. Activity is considered here as the subject of analysis, since the psyche itself cannot be separated from the moments of activity that generate and mediate it, and the psyche itself is a form of objective activity. When solving the question of the relationship between external practical activity and consciousness, he proceeded from the premise that the internal plan of consciousness is formed in the process of curtailing initially practical actions.

The concept of activity in theory S. L. Rubinshtein - implementation of the activity approach to the analysis of psychological phenomena. The subject of analysis here is the psyche through the disclosure of its essential objective connections and mediations, in particular through activity. In deciding the question of the relationship between external practical activity and consciousness, he proceeded from the position that one cannot consider "internal" mental activity as being formed as a result of the curtailment of "external" practical activity.

The activity was considered B. F. Lomov as a socio-historical category that captures the active (transforming) nature of human existence: “It is in the process of activity that the subjective reflection of the object (object of activity) is carried out, and at the same time, the transformation of this object into its product in accordance with the subjective goal” (1984) . Initially, psychology studies activity at the level of individual being, as the activity of a particular person who realizes this or that society. function.

In the activity of an individual, psychology is not interested in its content or structure (object, means, conditions, product) in itself, but in the subjective plan: forms, types, levels and dynamics of the psychic. reflections of reality. It is in activity that the psychic is revealed as a developing whole (system); the activity itself acts as a the leading determinant of mental processes. One of the most confusing and acute questions of psychology - about the ratio of reflection (psyche) of ideation - was solved by B. F. Lomov from the standpoint of the principle of unity of "external" and "internal", formulated and substantiated by S. L. Rubinshtein (1957).

At the same time, Lomov emphasized, the internal also changes under the influence of the external (1984). Ideas about the psychological structure of individual activity were developed by Lomov on the basis of research by dec. types of operator work. According to him, the mechanism of mental regulation of activity - the subject of its own psychol. learning - is a multi-level system, components, or components, which are: a motive, a goal, a conceptual model, an activity plan, actions, as well as processes for processing current information, making a decision, checking results and correcting actions.

Problems of the development of higher mental functions of a person in the process of education and training

One of the most pressing problems of modern education and upbringing is related to the development of all mental processes of a person in ontogeny. There are three areas of the psyche, the development and functioning of which provides the individual with the necessary prerequisites for optimal social adaptation: intellect, will and emotions. All intellectual, volitional and emotional processes are interconnected and interdependent. The process of training and education is aimed at their development and balance. An important condition for normal adaptation is the relative correlation of volitional, intellectual and emotional processes. If this correspondence is violated, phenomena of maladaptive behavior can be observed both in adults and in children. For example, with the dominance of volitional processes (in conditions of insufficient emotional development of the individual), a desire for power, a manipulative way of behavior, etc. can be manifested. The predominance of intellectual processes over volitional and emotional ones leads a person to escape from reality into the world of ideas and theories. A pronounced emotional response contributes to the formation of an impulsive character, which makes it impossible to establish normal relationships with other people.

Studying the problems of personality development, L.S. Vygotsky singled out the mental functions of a person, which are formed in specific conditions of socialization and have some special features. He defined these functions as the highest, considering them at the level of idea, concept, concept and theory. In general, he defined two levels of mental processes: natural and higher. If natural functions are given to an individual as a natural being and are realized in spontaneous response, then higher mental functions (HMF) can be developed only in the process of ontogenesis in social interaction.

Modern research has significantly expanded and deepened the general ideas about the patterns, essence, structure of the HMF. Vygotsky and his followers identified four main features of HMF - complexity, sociality, mediation and arbitrariness.

The complexity is manifested in the fact that HMFs are diverse in terms of the features of formation and development, in terms of the structure and composition of conditionally distinguished parts and the connections between them. In addition, the complexity is determined by the specific relationship of some results of human phylogenetic development (preserved in modern culture) with the results of ontogenetic development at the level of mental processes. During the historical development, man has created unique sign systems that allow comprehending, interpreting and comprehending the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world. These systems continue to evolve and improve. Their change in a certain way affects the dynamics of the very mental processes of a person. Thus, the dialectic of mental processes, sign systems, phenomena of the surrounding world is carried out.

The sociality of the HMF is determined by their origin. They can develop only in the process of interaction of people with each other. The main source of occurrence is internalization, i.e. transfer ("rotation") of social forms of behavior into the internal plan. Internalization is carried out in the formation and development of external and internal relations of the individual. Here the HMF goes through two stages of development. First, as a form of interaction between people (interpsychic stage). Then as an internal phenomenon (intrapsychic stage). Teaching a child to speak and think is a vivid example of the process of internalization.

The mediation of the HMF is visible in the way they function. The development of the capacity for symbolic activity and mastery of the sign is the main component of mediation. The word, image, number and other possible identification signs of a phenomenon (for example, a hieroglyph as a unity of a word and an image) determine the semantic perspective of comprehending the essence at the level of unity of abstraction and concretization. In this sense, thinking as operating with symbols, behind which there are representations and concepts, or creative imagination as operating with images, are the corresponding examples of the functioning of the HMF. In the process of functioning of the HMF, cognitive and emotional-volitional components of awareness are born: meanings and meanings.

Arbitrary VPF are according to the method of implementation. Due to mediation, a person is able to realize his functions and carry out activities in a certain direction, anticipating a possible result, analyzing his experience, correcting behavior and activities. The arbitrariness of HMF is also determined by the fact that the individual is able to act purposefully, overcoming obstacles and making appropriate efforts. A conscious desire for a goal and the application of efforts determines the conscious regulation of activity and behavior. We can say that the idea of ​​the HMF comes from the idea of ​​the formation and development of volitional mechanisms in a person.

In general, modern scientific ideas about the HMF phenomenon contain the foundations for understanding personality development in the following areas. First, the social development of a person as the formation of a system of relations with people and phenomena of the surrounding reality. Secondly, intellectual development as the dynamics of mental neoplasms associated with the assimilation, processing and functioning of various sign systems. Thirdly, creative development as the formation of the ability to create a new, non-standard, original and original. Fourthly, volitional development as the ability to purposeful and productive actions; the possibility of overcoming obstacles on the basis of self-regulation and stability of the individual. At the same time, social development is aimed at successful adaptation; intellectual - to understand the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world; creative - on the transformation of the phenomena of reality and self-actualization of the individual; volitional - to mobilize human and personal resources to achieve the goal.

Higher mental functions develop only in the process of education and socialization. They cannot arise in a feral person (feral people, according to K. Linnaeus, are individuals who grew up in isolation from people and were brought up in the community of animals). Such people lack the main qualities of HMF: complexity, sociality, mediation and arbitrariness. Of course, we can find some elements of these qualities in the behavior of animals. For example, the conditionality of the actions of a trained dog can be correlated with the quality of the mediation of functions. However, higher mental functions develop only in connection with the formation of internalized sign systems, and not at the level of reflex activity, even if it acquires a conditioned character. Thus, one of the most important qualities of the HMF is the mediation associated with the general intellectual development of a person and the possession of numerous sign systems.

The question of the internalization of sign systems is the most complex and poorly developed in modern cognitive psychology. It is in the context of this direction that the main problems of human intellectual development in the process of education and upbringing are studied. Following the allocation of structural blocks of cognitive activity (R. Atkinson), the development of a cognitive theory of personality (J. Kelly), the study of experimental study of the particular processes and functions of mental activity (J. Piaget), the creation of concepts of the cognitive structure of personality associated with the development of intelligence in learning process (J. Bruner, D. Ozbel), critical information appears due to the lack of conceptual unity of numerous theories. Recently, we can find a fair amount of skepticism about research in the cognitive field. There are many reasons for that. One of them, in our opinion, is disappointment in the possibilities of social adaptability of intellectual activity and the lack of an accurate diagnosis of its level. The results of intelligence studies have shown that its high level is very weakly associated with a person's success in society. Such conclusions are quite obvious if we proceed from the theory of the WPF. After all, only a sufficiently high level of development of the intellectual sphere of the individual, combined with an equally high level of development of the emotional-volitional sphere, allows us to speak about the possibility of social success. At the same time, there must be a certain balance between emotional, volitional and intellectual development. Violation of this balance can lead to the development of deviant behavior and social maladaptation.

Thus, it can be stated that interest in the problems of human intellectual development in the process of training and education is being replaced by interest in the general problems of socialization and adaptation of the individual. Modern cognitive psychology has settled on the study of general mental processes: memory, attention, imagination, perception, thinking, etc. The most successful training and education is associated with their development. However, today it is quite clear that only in elementary school such close attention to mental processes is fully justified, since it is determined by the age sensitivity of younger students. The development of the cognitive sphere in middle and high school students should be associated with the process of understanding the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world, since age is the most sensitive for the formation of social and gender-role identification.

In our opinion, it is very important to turn to the processes of understanding as comprehension of the essence of the surrounding world. If we analyze the majority of educational programs in a modern school, we can see that their main advantages are related to the selection of content and the peculiarities of the interpretation of scientific information. In recent years, new subjects have appeared at the school, the range of additional educational services has expanded, and new areas of education are being developed. The newly created textbooks and teaching aids amaze us with the possibilities of applying scientific data in the study of certain subjects at school. However, the developing possibilities of the content of the material remain outside the attention of the authors. It is assumed that these opportunities can be implemented at the level of pedagogical methods and technologies. And in the content of educational material, developing learning opportunities are simply not used. Students are offered an adapted quintessence of scientific knowledge. But is it possible to use the content of educational material for the development of the cognitive sphere of a person?

The origins of this idea can be found in the works of the Russian psychologist L.B. Itelson ("Lectures on Modern Problems of the Psychology of Education", Vladimir, 1972), as well as in numerous modern developments in the theory of argumentation by A.A. Ivin. The essence of their idea lies in the fact that during training, the content of information (which turns into knowledge with assimilation) should be selected in such a way that, if possible, all the intellectual functions of a person develop.

The main intellectual functions are identified, which (with a certain degree of conventionality) can be combined into five dichotomous pairs according to the principle of subordination: analysis - synthesis; abstraction - concretization; comparison - comparison, generalization - classification; encoding - decoding (decoding). All these functions are interconnected and interdependent. Together, they determine the processes of cognition and comprehension of the essence of phenomena. Obviously, modern education is aimed primarily at the development of such functions as concretization, comparison, coding. Concretization is determined by the ability of a person to abstract from the essence of the phenomenon and focus on particulars. So, for example, working with signs or facts in the study of any phenomena of reality contributes to the development of this function. Comparison as an intellectual function develops in students in almost all subjects at school, since so many tasks and questions on topics are given for comparison. And, finally, coding, which is associated with the development of speech, develops from childhood. Coding includes all intellectual operations that accompany the translation of images and ideas into words, sentences, text. Each person has his own coding features, which are manifested in the style, meaning formation of speech and the general structure of the language as a sign system.

As for analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparison, generalization, classification and decoding, there are very few tasks for the development of these functions in modern textbooks, and the content of the educational material itself does not contribute to their formation.

Indeed, it is extremely difficult to form many functions due to their essential specificity. So, for example, the possibilities of developing the comparison function are limited, because this function involves the correlation of things not according to an essential feature (as in comparison), but according to the belonging of objects to a different class of phenomena. On the other hand, it is absolutely necessary to prepare children for the analysis of the realities of modern life. Here they will often have to make decisions and make choices based on the correlation of various phenomena. A good example of the selection of content for the development of the matching function is L. Carroll's fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". Recently, interesting teaching aids for children have begun to appear, where the possibilities of implementing this approach are presented. However, there are still very few such publications, and many teachers do not quite understand how to use them. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary to deal with the problems of the development of the intellectual functions of children, since a person’s ability to correctly comprehend the essence of the phenomena of the surrounding world depends on this.

The concept of L.S. Vygotsky on higher and lower mental functions and modern research on cognitive development in infancy

One of the foundations of L.S. Vygotsky is the thesis about the social origin of human mental functions. Putting forward this thesis, L.S. Vygotsky was forced to reconcile it with the indisputable fact of the existence of mental functions in newborns. The answer to this contradiction was the distinction between lower (natural) mental functions and higher mental functions.

The relationship between these classes of functions in the theory of L.S. Vygotsky were not strictly marked. In some cases, lower mental functions were considered as biological prerequisites for the construction of the corresponding higher mental functions (for example, the involuntary memory of a newborn and infant can be the basis for the development of mediated and voluntarily controlled memory), in other cases, higher mental functions can exist in an intersubjective form and are simply assimilated. child in the learning process (such as writing and reading skills). In both cases, L.S. Vygotsky saw the development of mental functions in the context of the Hegelian scheme of development, according to which any developing cognitive function exists initially "in-itself", then "for-others", and finally "for-itself".

As an example, we can cite the interpretation of L.S. Vygotsky on the development of the pointing gesture in infants. Initially, this gesture exists in the form of a failed grasping movement of the child directed at the desired object. As such, this is not yet a pointing gesture, but it can acquire the meaning of a pointing gesture if it is interpreted appropriately by close adults. At this (second) stage, the grasping movement becomes mediated by the child's social environment and acquires the meaning "help me take it", which is quickly assimilated by the child; the latter begins to use it both for the purposes of communication with close adults, and for the practical purposes of mastering the desired object, which he cannot get on his own. By doing this, the child may still be unaware of the fact that he is using the gesture as a social cue. Even later, this pointing gesture "for-others" can be consciously used by the child as a tool by which the child exercises control over his own behavior, to highlight a certain fragment of the picture and concentrate attention on it. This time the child understands that what he is doing with his index finger (or an object that replaces it) is a special act carried out with the aim not to let attention creep over the picture, but to concentrate it on a certain chosen point. At this stage, the pointing gesture exists "for-itself" or, more precisely, for the child who uses it and at the same time knows that he uses it.

More generally, the development of cognitive functions is considered by L.S. Vygotsky as their transition from lower (natural) to higher mental forms; at the same time, the distinction between these forms is made according to four main criteria: origin, structure, mode of functioning and relation to other mental functions. By origin, most of the lower mental functions are genetically innate, by structure they are not mediated, by the way they function they are involuntary, and in relation to other functions they exist as separate isolated mental formations. Unlike the lower mental functions, the higher ones are socially acquired: they are mediated by social meanings, they are arbitrarily controlled by the subject and exist as links in an integral system of mental functions, and not as isolated units. The second and third criteria constitute a special quality of higher mental functions, which L.S. Vygotsky refers to as awareness.

However, already at that time there were views and some experimental data, which, as L.S. Vygotsky, presented a problem for such an approach to development. One of these views was the assertion of Gestalt psychologists, according to which some universal structural laws of perception (for example, the law of "common fate") are innate. In particular, Volkelt reported data according to which the perception of an infant in the first months of life has a structural and "orthoscopic" character (a statement implicitly attributing to the newborn the ability to perceptual constancy).

It is not surprising that L.S. Vygotsky was categorically against such statements. His main objection was more theoretical than empirical: if the child has an innate capacity for perceptual constancy, what then is the development of perception? In other words, if the final phase of perceptual development (namely, such a phase seemed to Vygotsky to be the constancy of perception) is present at the very beginning of development, then the very concept of development becomes redundant. In search of confirmation of his views, L.S. Vygotsky refers, for example, to G. Helmholtz's memories of his childhood, from which it follows that orthoscopic (i.e., constant, integral) perception is not innate, but is formed through experience. Although L.S. Vygotsky himself qualified this evidence as shaky, yet he used it as evidence in favor of the theory of the acquired nature of orthoscopic perception.

Nevertheless, research in recent decades has shown an astonishing sophistication of perception in infants. I will mention only a few of them. T. Bauer reported data showing that infants at the age of three weeks reveal an understanding of the structural law of "common destiny": A. Slater, V. Morison and D. Rose showed that newborns are able to distinguish between basic archetypal figures (such as a cross and a circle ); E. Gibson and A. Walker demonstrated that one-month-old infants are able to perceive the consistency of an object (ie, whether the object is solid or elastic) and transfer this information from tactile to visual modality; again, T. Bauer and later A. Slater and W. Morison found that babies at the age of eight weeks perceive the constancy of the shape of an object. R. Ballargeon found that infants aged 3.5 and 4.5 months are able to understand such a physical property of a solid body as its impermeability to another solid body. The conclusion that follows from these data is quite obvious: infants and even newborns really have an understanding of the permanence of the existence of an object and other qualities comparable in complexity to the higher mental functions as understood by L.S. Vygotsky.

In recent decades, these discoveries in the field of early manifestation of the abilities of infants have resulted in a special theory according to which the knowledge of a person (and possibly not only a person) is based on innate "modules" (or "predispositions"), the function of which is to " development has risen from the earth."

So, was L.S. Vygotsky in his denial that infants can have complex mental functions, similar to the perception of the constancy of shape and size? The seemingly inevitable positive answer to this question can be given, however, only with serious reservations.

First, the way in which these early infant abilities are described and discussed by enthusiastic research authors raises some doubts. A characteristic feature of most recent publications and reports on the subject is that these early cognitive abilities are drawn in the same terms as similar abilities in adults; for example, infants of the first months of life are supposed to be able to "infer" that a physical object, from which the support is removed, will fall, and will not hang in the air; they can "understand" that a solid object cannot pass through another solid object; they are able to "evaluate" the permanence of the existence of an object, and so on. It is not that the qualitative differences between the mental makeup of an infant and an adult are openly denied; rather, it is taken for granted that either these qualitative differences do not apply to these abilities, or that they are essentially unimportant. As a result, the question of how the behavior of, say, a five-month-old baby, which indicates his understanding of the permanence of the existence of an object, differs from the corresponding behavior of an adult is very rarely raised, and if it is, the usual answer to it is an indication of the difference in the scope of this cognitive ability; thus, if an infant is able to apply the rule of object permanence to a limited number of cases, then an adult can generalize this rule to a much larger number of observable physical events. In other words, careful reading reveals that the development of cognitive abilities is indeed seen by many as a quantitative improvement in early acquired (or innate) abilities, rather than as a series of qualitative changes that this ability must go through before it reaches its highest form. Therefore, despite the fact that L.S. Vygotsky could be a mistake, the question posed by him is undoubtedly correct: where (and in what) is development, if the main mental functions in their almost complete form are already present in the first months of life?

Secondly, if we look at the potential meaning of the answer given by L.S. Vygotsky, and not on its literal content, it will turn out that this answer is extremely contradictory. On the one hand, L.S. Vygotsky denies the innate nature of perceptual constancy on the grounds that this ability has intrinsic complexity and, therefore, can only be a socially acquired quality. On the other hand, if we consider the criteria by which the lower mental functions differ from the higher ones, then we will not find among them the criterion of internal complexity. In fact, as I have already said, in contrast to the lower mental functions, which are innate, unmediated, involuntary and isolated from one another, the higher ones are socially formed, mediated, voluntarily controlled and united in systems. It is quite obvious that it does not follow from these statements that the lower mental functions cannot have the inherent complexity and perfection that are usually attributed to the mental functions of adults, but not newborns and infants.

The essence of L.S. Vygotsky to draw a line between lower and higher mental functions based on the criterion of complexity is that the former can develop, as it were, within themselves, without developing into higher mental functions. In fact, the stages of development of infants discussed above show that their cognitive abilities, no matter how early they develop, still appear only at a certain age; as the child grows, they become more complex and developed, and this happens long before they develop into truly higher mental functions.

Taking this into account and ignoring the misleading, albeit sincere, faith of L.S. Vygotsky into the impossibility of the existence of congenital and at the same time internally complex mental functions, it can be assumed that the distinction between higher and lower mental functions has not lost its relevance for understanding modern data on the cognitive abilities of infants. It is clear that the amazingly perfect cognitive abilities of infants, the number of descriptions of which is steadily growing with the development of research techniques, nevertheless fall under the category of lower mental functions and must go through that path of development (i.e., become semiotically mediated, conscious, voluntarily controlled and systemic). forms), which was outlined with such insight by L.S. Vygotsky.

Problems of the development of the psyche

Without further discussion, we can part with both assumptions, of which one removes the problem that interests us, simply denying the existence of a cultural development of mental functions, the other culture itself and culture itself. development dissolves in the history of the human spirit.

We again face the same question: what is the development of higher mental functions without changing the biological type?

First of all, we would like to note that the content of the development of higher mental functions, as we tried to define it above, completely coincides with what we know from the psychology of primitive man. The area of ​​development of higher mental functions, which we previously tried to define on the basis of purely negative signs; gaps and unexplored problems of child psychology now looms before us with sufficient clarity of its boundaries and outlines.

In the words of one of the most profound researchers of primitive thinking, the idea that higher mental functions cannot be understood without sociological study, i.e., that they are the product of social rather than biological development of behavior, is not new. But only in recent decades has it received a solid factual foundation in studies of ethnic psychology and can now be considered an indisputable position of our science.

In the connection that interests us, this means that the development of higher mental functions constitutes one of the most important aspects of the cultural development of behavior. The idea that the second branch of cultural development outlined by us, namely the mastery of external means of cultural behavior and thinking, or the development of language, counting, writing, drawing, etc., also finds complete and indisputable confirmation in the data ethnic psychology. We can, therefore, consider the content of the concept "cultural development of behavior" sufficiently clarified for preliminary orientation.

The concept of development and learning of the individual in the cultural-historical theory of L.S. Vygotsky

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