Notes on Donna Vocate

1. Vygotsky's view was that language arose not in the psychic nor the physical but in social history

2. 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). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All higher functions originate as actual relations between human individuals. ( Vygotsky, 1978, p. 57)

3. There is reason to believe that voluntary activity, more than highly developed intellect, distinguishes humans from the animals which stand closest to them. ( Vygotsky, 1978, p. 37)

4.General Characteristics--Higher Mental Processes
1.
Higher mental processes have sociocultural origins. Consequently, such processes transcend the individual's experience and reflect the cultural level of the social environment of the individual.
2.
Higher mental processes are complex functional systems built on a functional base of the more elementary sensory systems of the brain, and capable of controlling such systems.
3.
Higher mental processes arise from a material base that is a "complex functional system of conjointly working cortical zones . . ." ( Luria, 1966b, p. 35).
4.
Higher mental processes evolve through a pattern of developmental stages rather than existing as static, innate qualities of the brain.
5.
Higher mental processes have a mediated structure in that they incorporate auxiliary stimuli ("stimuli artificially introduced into the situation" ( Vygotsky, 1966, p. 24), which are usually produced by the individual himself.
6.
Higher mental processes are distinguished by the fact that the speech system is always a factor in their formation.
7.
Higher mental processes are originally both conscious and voluntary in nature rather than being passive and merely reflexive.