Re: [xmca] empirical evidence

[Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu>]

Thanks, Francine. These are very helpful suggestions.

Martin

On Jun 23, 2012, at 7:12 PM, larry smolucha wrote:

> 
> Message from Francine regarding Martin's question about citing the strongestempirical evidence that deliberate and conscious systems require cultural mediation:
> Once again, I mention the substantial research literature on verbal regulation ofpsychological functions and its relation to the maturation of the prefrontal cortices. The research literature on how the verbal guidance of a more knowledgeable personis internalized as private self-guiding speech, and then as silent inner speech, hasbeen supported by developmental neuroscience on the maturation of theprefrontal cortices. 
> See Smoluchas 2012 publication Vygotsky's Theory of Creativity: Figurative Thinking Allied with Literal Thinking -p. 66 cites a recent review of the research literature on private speech by Winsler et. al. (2009) Private SpeechExecutive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self Regulation and p. 81 cites Joaquin Fuster's bookThe Prefrontal Cortex which even contains a discussion of Vygotsky-Luria's model of self-regulatory inner speechas it relates to the creative imagination and the distinct maturation of the left and right prefrontal cortices. Note: the left and right prefrontal cortices do not communication directly to one another and have been shownto have different executive functions. My 2012 paper also cites Adele Diamond's neuroscience research on the self-regulatory benefits of verbally guided pretend play in the Tools of the Mind curriculum (Bodrova & Leong).But then none of this is Activity Theory.
> Is there a prevalent bias among Activity Theory proponents to disregard substantial empirical research supportingVygotsky's traditional concepts?When I was presenting at the ISCRAT conference in 2002 in Amsterdam, there was a session on play -the moderator made the uninformed claim that Vygotsky's theory of play had been overlooked by researchers.On the contrary, there already was an extensive research literature on Vygotsky's theory of play - but it was from the traditionalVygotsky theory not Activity Theory. Never-the-less, that traditional view of Vygotsky's theory of play had madeVygotsky's theory one of the most influential theories in preschool education (based on substantial empirical evidence ofculturally mediated play activities.)
>> From: packer@duq.edu
>> Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 16:26:07 -0500
>> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> Subject: [xmca] empirical evidence
>> 
>> We had about 5 topics swirling around together over the past few days, and I hope the discussions continue. But somewhere in the middle I sent the message copied below, which seems not to have arrived on the XMCA server. Someone recently asked me what evidence I have that culture makes a difference to human psychological functioning, and I want to pass the question along. What do each of you consider to be the best evidence we have that culture is constitutive of psychology?
>> 
>> Martin
>> 
>> Here's what I sent two days ago:
>> 
>> What would people say is the strongest empirical evidence we have that LSV was correct in his claim that the HPFs, deliberate and conscious systems, require cultural mediation?
>> 
>> Martin
>> 
>> On Jun 21, 2012, at 8:42 AM, 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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