I am also fascinated with the issues related to ZPD. But instead of adding
more speculations as to what it might be, I decided to give you all an
example of a communication:
Date: January 28, 1982 Participants: Giga (will be 3 on Feb. 3, 82)
His mother (me)
Yesterday, Giga and I played in the following way. I suggested that I be
his daughter and he my father. He agreed. I cuddled with him a little bit,
and he was kissing me. At one moment I put a finger in my nose to pick it
and I stared daringly at Giga (the "father"). He said:
G: "Oh, you are my son, then!"
M: "No, I am your daughter, your little girl!"
G: (seriously) "But girls don't pick their noses!"
M: (seriously) "How do you know they don't?"
G: "I never saw it."
M: "What do you think, if you didn't see something, it doesn't exist?"
G: (after some thought) "Then, I am getting out of that city."
M: "Which city?"
G: "The Nosepick City." (He is laughing on that)
M: "You are getting out of the Nosepick City?"
G: (laughing) "Yes!"
M: "Is that a city where everybody picks their noses?, so it's name is
Nosepick City?"
G: (laughing) "Yes."
A: "Even the adults?"
G: (this time really astonished and shaking his head): "NO! Only children
pick their noses!"
There was no more playing "Father and Daughter" at that point.
* * *
In my opinion, we ought to look at various aspects and "levels" of very
concrete interactions in order to grasp the dynamics of the ZPD. The
example above (translated from Serbo-Croatian) offers at least several
parallel and intertwining processes.
Dynamics:
First, there is the beginning of play ("Father and Daughter"). An element
of play - daughter picks her nose - is introduced but creates a cognitive
conflict for the child and he attempts to overcome it by restructuring play
("Oh, you are my son, then!"). But that suspends the play interaction in
favor of a "real" discussion (out of play frame) about picking noses. In
this "real" discussion there is a complete change of the emotional tone
from the one in the play: A clear demonstration of power and a gentle put
down by the mother (me)- "What do you think if you didn't see something, it
doesn't exist?"
Then, very briefly and only in reference, the play frame is reinstituted by
the child's reply: "Then I am getting out of that city"
Talking now about the City there is a cooperation and mutuality in defining
a funny object (Nosepick City). But this cooperation introduces one more
cognitive conflict, this time not about the gender of those who indulge
themselves in nose picking, but about their age. This definitively breaks
further play.
Who learned what:
Giga learned that girls and adults also may pick their noses
Mother learned about Giga's conviction that nose picking is sex and age
related to little boys.
What else?
Mother learned that Giga has a "sense of humor"?
Giga learned that there are more things in the world than those he actually
saw?
Giga learned that Mother can be "sarcastic"?
For some of the above assumptions one would need to know more than just the
described situation (for instance, I really didn't know that G. related
nose picking to little boys only and that he would be astonished to "see" a
girl or even an adult doing this. My intention was not to teach him
anything but to just play a little girl, etc.)
Conflicts:
Giga's cognitive conflicts about his assumptions
Conflict between play frame and discussion frame
Power conflict between Giga and his mother
Conflict within the play frame between assumed rules (boys pick their
noses) and proposed rules (a girl may pick her nose).
What do we (adult psychologists) call "conflicts"? It seems that this
category is too broad. The example above is in an overall pleasant and
loving situation and yet it contains "tensions". Can this be compared to
the examples Yrjo Engestrom quoted from P. Hoeg's autobiographical novel?
Conflicts which are described there are existential conflicts, not "merely"
cognitive or emotional.
***
Ana
________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Ana Marjanovic-Shane
151 W. Tulpehocken St. City of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA 19144 OMH/MR - Research & Information
(215) 843-2909 [voice] 1101 Market St. 7th Floor
(215) 843-2288 [fax] Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 685-4767 [v]
(215) 685-5581 [fax]
________________________________________________________________________
pshane who-is-at andromeda.rutgers.edu
anchi who-is-at geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/~anchi/
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