Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development"?

[Todd's keyboard]

Is there a negative direction to Vygotsky's ZPD? Something like individuals sinking to mob mentality?

Did Vygotsky ever talk about people's ability decreasing as a result of social interaction?

thanks,

Todd's keyboard

[what4]

I have not studied Vygotsky for more than a decade, but as I recall, Vygotsky was talking about child development and teaching children. The concept of proximal development morphed into the teaching concept of scaffolding: providing temporary support necessary for students to do something until they can do it on their own.

Coming as he did in the 1920s and 1930s, Vygotsky probably shared the wonderful optimism of the age of social improvement prior to Stalinism. It is a period that gave rise to many innovative and somewhat over-optimistic concepts. My favorite among these was Wilhelm Reich, a great flawed genius mis-remembered for his sad end.

My simplified recollection of Vygotsky's theme is that the mind develops in interaction with others, the environment, and especially with culture. Given behaviorism, that is a radical insight, especially for its time. Today, that concept appears the idea that by using your mind you can grow new cells or revive memories.

I was especially impressed with V's concept that, when learning a complex skill, you literally grow a new organ in your brain that performs that skill, including the specialized perceptions and mental processing that skill requires.

Many of you have specialized mental organs for such things as C++, Perl, even email. Everything we specialize in changes us.

[anonymouse1]

Umm, not as I understand Vygotsky--which is kinda minimal. The idea is that we can only learn something that has some connection to our pre-existing knowledge/understanding. I've always thought of it as relating primarily to intellectual understanding.

What you're proposing is an interesting twist, but the kind of developments you're describing happen at an emotional, rather than intellectual, level, IMHO. What you're getting at is more of a viral or meme kind of theory, I think.

My knowledge of Vygotsky is pretty limited--hope this helps. You could try Van Der Heijen's "Learning with Scenarios" for some fairly interesting stuff about Vygotsky, but again, it's only a page or two out of the full book. Yup, pages 120-121.

[Numo]

Geez, I just knew that someone was due to bring up Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development again. Can't we talk about something else for a change?

Seriously though, I am impressed by the originality of the original question and the erudite responses to it.