[xmca] (no subject)

[larry smolucha <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>]

From: lsmolucha@hotmail.com
To: vygotsky@unm.edu
Subject: RE: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2012 10:32:02 -0500





Message from Francine Smolucha,
The development of verbally mediated (higher psychological functions) fromnonverbal sensorymotor functions (the lower psychological functions) remainsa central issue in human development and Vygotsky's writings. Just as countingcan be studied in its development as a verbally mediated higher cognitive function(see Vera's email) so can numerous other functions including emotional self-regulationand endless forms of creativity. Even dreaming can develop into consciously directed(verbally mediated) lucid dreaming.
In Vygotsky's 1932 paper Imagination and its Development in Childhood, heintroduced the concept of psychological systems to address the complexity ofmultiple higher psychological functions working together. This is a developmentalmodel that moves from lower psychological functions to higher psychological functions topsychological systems. Vygotsky's concept of psychological systems does not replacehis earlier theory of the development of higher psychological functions - read thepassages from the 1932 Vygotsky text in my 1992 paper (pp.64-65).
Note that introducing an infant to verbal counting does not mean the infant can acquirethat skill without fundamental development of lower level functions. It is actually the toddlerin the second year of life who might begin using verbal labels for numerical quantities(one duck, two ducks) actual counting is a preschool skill.




> From: vygotsky@unm.edu
> To: ablunden@mira.net; xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Subject: RE: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:19:29 -0600
> CC: 
> 
> Hi,
> I think part of the problem is that creativity is too broad a term. It makes
> sense to speak of creative projects, creative outcomes, creative solutions
> (a lot of innovation would fit here)or creative people who are  committed to
> a life of creative projects which require a deep immersion and mastery of a
> domain, like music or mathematics.
> While I think using "new" rather than "higher" psychological functions is a
> good idea (see Andy's message) many psychological functions are taught and
> acquired in their mediated form and do not start as "lower" 
> functions. Counting historically started before we had counting words with
> simple equivalences (stones in a pouch) but in most contemporary societies
> the child is provided with a linguistically mediated form in infancy thus
> starting with a socially-mediated "input." While Vygotsky's original
> distinction between "higher" and "lower" is broadly useful, it needs
> elaboration as well as developmental specification when used for a
> particular function (or process.)
> 
> Vera 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Andy Blunden
> Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 8:13 AM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> 
> Peter, in the last few posts we have had three definitions of what 
> Vygotsky meant by "Higher Psychological Function", but they all, in my 
> opinion, reference the same concept.
> 
>     * I said a higher psychological function is one built by the
>       combination of other psychological functions.
>     * Mike said all (culturally) mediated psychological functions are
>       "higher psychological functions"
>     * You said psychological functions specific to a culture are "higher
>       psychological functions"
> 
> Having multiple definitions of a concept is just as it should be in a 
> human science. How does a person construct new psychological functions 
> out of existing ones?  By mediating the action of a lower function with 
> objects from the culture, which are therefore culturally specific.
> 
> Yes?
> 
> Andy
> Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
> > Thanks Anton. I'm working from Smolucha's translation and accompanying
> commentary, so perhaps am not so much looking for additional proof, but
> rather trying to grasp the claim as made and illustrated in her article on
> creativity.
> >
> > But then, perhaps that's too limiting. I must wonder about my own reading
> of LSV if I've missed all the different versions of higher mental processes.
> It's possible that I seized on the first notion I could understand--that
> higher mental processes are those specific to a culture, and thus those that
> embody cultural concepts so that they guide activity--and interpreted the
> others in light of that schema. 
> >
> > I see creativity as being a capability through which such concepts may be
> developed, within existing channels and contours. But--and I hope I'm not
> repeating myself excessively--creativity itself seems more the engine of
> development than the product of development. Particular sorts of creativity
> seem cultural, if national art forms are taken as examples (Dutch painters
> chose topics, styles, and forms quite different from those that occupied
> French impressionists or Magdalenian cave wall artists). But creativity
> itself doesn't strike me as the cultural framework through which these
> genres of expression were produced, but rather a "lower" psychological
> process that is widely shared rather than culturally specific.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Anton Yasnitsky
> > Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 9:06 AM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> >
> > Like I said, I am under the impression that Vygotsky's expression "higher
> psychological [mental] functions" for Vygotsky means so many things
> (although in different texts authored in different periods of his life) that
> it is bordering on total meaninglessness. Therefore, rephrasing our
> character, "everything can be ... higher mental function", no problem with
> that :)
> >
> >
> > Thus, if I may reformulate the question, we are looking for the textual
> proof that Vygotsky did refer to creativity as higher mental/psychological
> function, right, Peter?
> >
> >
> > AY
> >
> >
> > P.S.
> >
> > By the way, speaking of mental/psychological, here is a funny thing:
> despite his virtually boundless flexibility in many respects, Vygotsky NEVER
> used the word "mental" (literally: psychic, psychical -- psikhicheskie) when
> he referred to functions, but only "psychological". Later on, this phrase
> was pretty consistently "corrected" by his devoted best students in many
> --but not all--of his posthumous publications of  Soviet period. Curious
> detail, isn't it? A recent study that has been done back in Germany
> demonstrates this mysterious peculiarity of Vygotsky's discourse of his
> lifetime period as opposed to his posthumous publications, and will be
> published shortly in several international languages in PsyAnima, Dubna
> Psychological Journal ( http://www.psyanima.ru/journal/2011/4/index.php ).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >  From: Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu>
> > To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> > Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 6:23:57 AM
> > Subject: RE: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> >  
> > In any case, in service of the scholarly discussion, I'm genuinely puzzled
> by the idea that creativity is a higher mental function, and would
> appreciate further clarity to that provided by Anton. Thx,p
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Peter Smagorinsky
> > Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 6:20 AM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: RE: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> >
> > My apologies to Francine if my mnemonic sounded snide--I was going from
> the pronunciation guide on the article that I had scanned, and I have no
> idea of who put it there. With a name like Smagorinsky (which also might be
> an Ellis Island adjustment), making fun of people's names is not usually
> part of my approach. I'm glad to have the correction. Peter
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of larry smolucha
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:22 PM
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: [xmca] Smolucha - pronunciation/genealogy
> >
> >
> > Message from Francine Smolucha:
> > I have been a member of XMCA for several years - anyone could haveasked me
> how to pronounce my last name.
> > I not surprised that the discussion of the work my husband and I have
> donebegins with a snide comment about our last name.Growing up in Chicago as
> a Polish-American, other ethnic groupswould often make fun of your last
> name, and tell insulting Polish jokes abouthow stupid Poles are. Polish
> immigrants often had their last names Americanizedby immigration officials
> at Ellis Island. In order for other ethnic groups to be able topronounce,
> and spell a Polish last name, Poles would typically use an easy English
> pronunciation.
> > My husband's family would usually say Smo-lou-ka.Some family members would
> say Smo-lou-cha.The proper Polish pronunciation is Smo-whoo-ha (Smolucha has
> an umlaut over the u).The Smolucha family 'Y' chromosome is Scandinavian
> (Vikings who settled Eastern Europecirca 800 A.D.) - we had the National
> Geographic Society's Genoanthropology project do aDNA analysis.
> > When I married into the Smolucha family, I chose to use my married name
> out of respect formy husband's family. By the way, my maiden name is Polish
> too.
> > As I have been working on my new paper titled "A Vygotskian Theory of
> Cultural Synergy andCultural Creativity", my conversation with a
> Latin-American colleague required that I debunksome popular misconceptions
> about 'white ethnics.' So I retell the story here:
> > My own family is 'Celtic' Polish in origin (the Krakov area was settled by
> Celts, Vienna was originally a Celtic village). The European Celts
> disappeared from history. Poland itself did not existfor over 150 years
> (from approximately 1760 until 1918) - while it was divided among
> Prussia(then Germany), Austria, and Russia. [The Palestinian loss of
> statehood is not unique in history.]One of my great grandmothers ran an
> illegal underground school in her farmhouse near Vilna where she taught
> children how to read and write the Polish language. The Czar had
> orderedanyone doing so to be shot. Her son (my grandfather) had to be
> smuggled out of St. Petersburgon a cattle ship bound for Canada after the
> aborted 1905 Russia revolution - he was a memberof a student group being
> hunted down by the Czar's orders. Back in Krakov, my other grandfatherwas
> serving in Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph's 'Polish' cavalry (Austrian
> occupied Poland beingrenamed Galactia) -  grandpa's wife was Spanish
> Hapsburg.
> > My parents, both first generation Americans, did not attend high school,
> instead my Dad worked in the Chicago Stock Yards as a teenager (you might
> recall Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle.)My mom was a factory girl. They
> grew up in that famous Chicago ghetto known as Back-of-the-Yards.Five months
> after they were married, Pearl Harbor was attacked -  my Dad served in the
> Army fieldartlllery, doing four beachheads in the South Pacific (Aleutians,
> Kwajelian, Philippines, & Okinawa).His unit would have landed in the first
> wave in the Invasion of Japan - which was cancelled whenJapan surrendered
> after the atomic bombs were dropped. Mom spent the war years building
> fighterplanes in a defense plant - yes, Rosie the Riveter.
> > We come from a family heritage of people who think for themselves and are
> honor bound to do theright thing.
> > If anyone is interested in discussing the Vygotsky Theory of Creativity
> that we have been publishing in thelast 27 years, I welcome the scholarly
> discourse. In addition to my 1992 Reconstruction of Vygotsky'sTheory of
> Creativity, you might read our 2012 publication Vygotsky's Theory of
> Creativity: Figurative thinking Allied withLiteral Thinking [in Contemporary
> Perspectives on Research in Creativity in Early Childhood Education}.
> >
> >
> >                           __________________________________________
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> >
> >   
> 
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> Joint Editor MCA: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmca20/18/1
> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
> 
> 
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