René van der Veer

Thinking and Speech

This chapter contains documents connected with Thinking and speech written not before 1933. As mentioned previously, this book contained much older material: chapters 2 to 5 were written before 1930 and are included more or less intact; chapters 1, 6, and 7 were written after 1932 on the basis of existing lectures, notes, etc.. (Yasnitsky & Van der Veer, 2016). The exact circumstances of the final composition of the book are not fully known (cf. Van der Veer & Valsiner 1991), and recently Mecacci revealed that just part of the original draft was preserved (Mecacci 2015).

Vygotsky in English: What Still Needs to Be Done

At present readers of English have still limited access to Vygotsky’s writings. Existing translations are marred by mistakes and outright falsifications. Analyses of Vygotsky’s work tend to downplay the collaborative and experimental nature of his research. Several suggestions are made to improve this situation. New translations are certainly needed and new analyses should pay attention to the contextual nature of Vygotsky’s thinking and research practice.

The Concept of Culture in Vygotsky's Thinking

It is shown that Vygotskys concept of culture was codetermined by two fundamental traditions in the human sciences. The first tradition was initiated by Humboldt and exerted a powerful influence on Vygotskys thinking through the works of Potebnya and Shpet. Vygotskys thinking about linguistic mediation was to a large extent determined by this tradition. The second tradition was that of Marxism and progressive thought and influenced Vygotskys thinking about such notions as tool-use and social and cultural progress. The way in which Vygotsky combined these different perspectives in his concept of culture is described. It is suggested that this concept of culture was powerful but also limited and biased.It is shown that Vygotskys concept of culture was codetermined by two fundamental traditions in the human sciences. The first tradition was initiated by Humboldt and exerted a powerful influence on Vygotskys thinking through the works of Potebnya and Shpet. Vygotskys thinking about linguistic mediation was to a large extent determined by this tradition. The second tradition was that of Marxism and progressive thought and influenced Vygotskys thinking about such notions as tool-use and social and cultural progress. The way in which Vygotsky combined these different perspectives in his concept of culture is described. It is suggested that this concept of culture was powerful but also limited and biased.

Furthering the internalization debate : Gal'perin's contribution.

In this article we examine the contribution to the analysis of the problem of internalization made by the Russian psychologist Gal’perin. The concept of internalization has been criticized recently fo

“When Strangers Meet”: John Bowlby and Harry Harlow on Attachment Behavior

From 1957 through the mid-1970s, John Bowlby, one of the founders of attachment theory, was in close personal and scientific contact with Harry Harlow. In constructing his new theory on the nature of the bond between children and their caregivers, Bowlby profited highly from Harlow’s experimental work with rhesus monkeys. Harlow in his turn was influenced and inspired by Bowlby’s new thinking. On the basis of the correspondence between Harlow and Bowlby, their mutual participation in scientific meetings, archival materials, and an analysis of their scholarly writings, both the personal relationship between John Bowlby and Harry Harlow and the cross-fertilization of their work are described.

Lev Vygotsky and Pierre Janet: On the origin of the concept of sociogenesis☆

Abstract The contribution of Lev S. Vygotsky to psychological theorizing is becoming widely recognized in contemporary developmental psychology. The widespread appreciation of Vygotskys work has unfortunately carried with it an oversight of his intellectual interdependency with the thinking of his contemporary psychologists and psychiatrists. This article provides an analysis of the immediate intellectual roots of Vygotskys concept of social development of human personality.

Loneliness in Infancy: Harry Harlow, John Bowlby and Issues of Separation

In this contribution, the authors give an overview of the different studies on the effect of separation and deprivation that drew the attention of many in the 1940s and 1950s. Both Harlow and Bowlby were exposed to and influenced by these different studies on the so called ‘hospitalization’ effect. The work of Bakwin, Goldfarb, Spitz, and others is discussed and attention is drawn to films that were used to support new ideas on the effects of maternal deprivation.

Is the ideal mother a sensitive mother? Beliefs about early childhood parenting in mothers across the globe

In this article, we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory’s notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory’s description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children, were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct.

Rigorous Experiments on Monkey Love: An Account of Harry F. Harlow’s Role in the History of Attachment Theory

On the basis of personal reminiscences an account is given of Harlow’s role in the development of attachment theory and key notions of attachment theory are being discussed. Among other things, it is related how Harlow arrived at his famous research with rhesus monkeys and how this made Harlow a highly relevant figure for attachment theorist Bowlby.

Vygotsky in Context: 1900-1935

It is a fundamental tenet of Vygotskian theory that in order to understand the inner mental processes of human beings, we must look at human beings in their sociocultural context. We should not look for the explanation of human behavior in the depths of the brain or the soul but in the external living conditions of persons and, most of all, in the external conditions of their societal life - in their social-historical forms of existence (Luria, 1979, p. 23). By accepting this tenet and generalizing it to the understanding of the creative work of investigators, we might say that in order to more fully understand the work of a specific thinker, we should step outside of that thinkers mind and take a look at the broader socioeconomic and sociocultural background in which he or she worked. The researchers private abilities and preferences undoubtedly play a role in the creation of major theories, but the shaping of character, inclinations, and abilities of the researcher takes place in a specific sociocultural context, and every scientist is dependent on the ideas and tools available in his or her time. There is no true understanding of an investigators theories, then, without an assessment of the broad context in which the theories were created (cf. Van der Veer, 1997).