Basic Objections to the Theory of Stage-By-Stage Formation of Mental Actions and Concepts

1067

Abstract

The article presents main directions of the criticism of P.Ya. Galperin’s theory of the stage-by-stage formation of mental actions and concepts (SFMA) from the early days of its development (1950s) up to the present days. Four directions of the criticism are discussed: from the general psychological, educational psychological, pedagogical and developmental psychological perspectives. From the standpoint of general psychology, the main objections are related to the idea of internalization as the basic mechanism for the emergence of mental processes; it is argued that the transformation of the material form into the ideal form is not proven enough in the SFMA theory. From the standpoint of educational psychology, the main critical remarks refer to the explanation of the formation of new actions and concepts as not being supported by facts. The objections to this criticism are based on the idea of alternative research methodology. From the standpoint of pedagogy, critical remarks concern the stage-by-stage formation as a pedagogical method. Objections to this criticism are related to an alternative understanding of the correlation between learning and thinking. From the standpoint of developmental psychology, the basic objection is that the SFMA focuses entirely on the ‘aktualgenese’, ignoring the ontogenetic development. The paper concludes with an outline of the developmental perspectives of the SFMA theory.

General Information

Keywords: P.Ya. Galperin, theory of stage-by-stage formation, action, internalization, learning

Journal rubric: Theory and Methodology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2019150303

Funding. This work was supported by grant RFFI №119-013-00717.

For citation: Sidneva A.N. Basic Objections to the Theory of Stage-By-Stage Formation of Mental Actions and Concepts. Kul'turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya = Cultural-Historical Psychology, 2019. Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 22–31. DOI: 10.17759/chp.2019150303. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Aidarova L.I. Formirovanie nekotorykh ponyatii grammatiki po tret’emu tipu orientirovki v slove [Formation of some of the concepts of grammar in the third type of orientation in the word]. In Galperin P.Ya. (еds.), Zavisimost’ obucheniya ot tipa orientirovki [ Dependence of teaching on the type of orienting activity]. Moscow: MGU Publ., 1968, pp. 42—80.
  2. Bozhovich E.D. Natal’ya Aleksandrovna Menchinskaya: zhizn’, kharakter, poisk: Vstupitel’naya stat’ya [Natalya Aleksandrovna Menchinskaya: life, character, searching. Editorial]. In Menchinskaya N.A. Problemy obucheniya, vospitaniya i psikhicheskogo razvitiya rebenka [Problems of education, socialization and mental development of the child]. Moscow: Publ. In-ta prakticheskoi psikhologii. Voronezh: NPO «MODEK», 1998, pp. 7—24.
  3. Vysotskaya E.V., Rekhtman I.V. Dva podkhoda k postroeniyu uchebnogo predmeta po tret’emu tipu orientirovki i vybor «osnovnykh edinits» (na materiale khimii) [Two Approaches to Curriculum Design Following the Third Type of Orientation: Choosing ‘Main Units’ (with Chemistry Curriculum as an Example)]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical psychology], 2012, no. 4, pp. 42—54. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  4. Gal’perin P.Ya. Lektsii po psikhologii [Lectures on psychology]. Moscow: Knizhnyi dom «Universitet»: Vysshaya shkola, 2002. 400 p.
  5. Gal’perin P.Ya. Neskol’ko raz»yasnenii k gipoteze umstvennykh deistvii [A few clarifications to the hypothesis of mental actions]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1960, no. 4, pp. 141—148.
  6. Gal’perin P.Ya. Umstvennoe deistvie kak osnova formirovaniya mysli i obraza [A mental action as a basis for the formation of ideas and images]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1957, no. 6, pp. 58—69.
  7. Dubrovskii D.I. Psikhicheskie yavleniya i mozg [Psychic Phenomena and the Brain]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1971. 386 p.
  8. Zinchenko V.P. Petr Yakovlevich Gal’perin: ot deistviya s zadannymi svoistvami k svobodnoi mysli [Peter Ya. Galperin: from actions with given properties to free thought]. Stil’ myshleniya: problema istoricheskogo edinstva nauchnogo znaniya. K 80-letiyu Vladimira Petrovicha Zinchenko [Style of thinking: the problem of the historical unity of scientific knowledge. The 80th anniversary of Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko]. Moscow: Publ. ROSSPEN, 2011, pp. 387—412.
  9. Il’yasov I.I. Struktura protsessa ucheniya [The structure of a learning process]. Moscow: MGU Publ., 1986. 198 p.
  10. Kabanova-Meller E.N. Perekhod ot «vneshnikh» deistvii k myslennym v formirovanii znanii u shkol’nikov [The transition from «external» actions to mental ones in the formation of knowledge among school children]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1959, no. 3, pp. 44—55.
  11. Leont’ev A.N, Zaporozhets A.V., Gal’perin P.Ya., El’konin D.B. Diskussiya o problemakh deyatel’nosti [Discussion about activity’s problems]. In Davydov V.V. (еds.), Deyatel’nostnyi podkhod v psikhologii: problemy i perspektivy [Activity approach in psychology: problems and perspectives]. Moscow: APN SSSR Publ., 1990, pp. 134— 169.
  12. Liders A.G., Frolov Yu.I. Ot Vygotskogo k Gal’perinu [From Vygotsky to Galperin]. Teoriya i metod planomernogo formirovaniya v istorii otechestvennoi psikhologii. Spetsial’noe prilozhenie k «zhurnalu prakticheskogo psikhologa» [Theory and method of planned formation in the history of Russian psychology. A special supplement to the Journal of Practical Psychologist]. Moscow: Folium Publ., 1996, pp. 4—51.
  13. Lyublinskaya A.A. O prirode deistviya v kontseptsii formirovaniya umstvennykh deistvii [About nature of the action in the theory of mental actions’ formation]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1960, no. 3, pp. 136—141.
  14. Menchinskaya N.A. O kontseptsii formirovaniya umstvennykh deistvii [About the theory of mental actions’ formation]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1960, no. 1, pp. 157—164.
  15. Nechaev N.N. Razvitie i obuchenie: pri kakikh usloviyakh obuchenie mozhet stat’ «razvivayushchim»? [Development and teaching: under what conditions teaching may become “developmental”]. Rossiiskii psikhologicheskii zhurnal [Russian Psychological Journal], 2015. Vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 70—88. doi:10.21702/rpj.2015.3.7
  16. Nechaev N.N. Rol’ teorii poetapnogo formirovaniya v razvitii metodologii deyatel’nostnogo podkhoda [The role of the gradual development of human intellectual activity theory in the methodology of the activity approach]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya [Moscow University Psychology Bulletin], 2012, no. 4, pp. 23—42.
  17. Obukhova L.F. Neokonchennye spory: P.Ya. Gal’perin i Zh. Piazhe [Unfinished arguments: P.Y. Galperin and G.Piaget]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie [Psychological science and education], 1996, no. 1, pp. 31—41. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  18. Obukhova L.F. Teoriya P.Ya. Gal’perina — stanovlenie novoi otrasli psikhologii [Galperin Theory — Establishment of a New Branch in Psychology]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2010, no. 4, pp. 4—10. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  19. Pantina N.S. Formirovanie dvigatel’nogo navyka v zavisimosti ot tipa orientirovki v zadanii [Formation of writing skills depending on the type of orientation in the task]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1957, no. 4, pp. 117—133.
  20. Podol’skii A.I. Psikhologicheskaya kontseptsiya P.Ya. Gal’perina: nekotorye napravleniya i perspektivy dal’neishei razrabotki [P.Ya. Galperin’s psychological conception: directions and perspectives]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya [Moscow University Psychology Bulletin], 2012, no. 4, pp. 11—22. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  21. Podol’skii A.I. Stanovlenie poznavatel’nogo deistviya: nauchnaya abstraktsiya i real’nost’ [The development of cognitive functions: scientific abstraction and reality.]. Мoscow: MGU Publ., 1987. 175 p.
  22. Raev A.I. Upravlenie umstvennoi deyatel’nost’yu mladshego shkol’nika [Management of the mental activity of the primary school children]. Leningrad: LGPI imeni A.I. Gertsena Publ., 1976. 134 p.
  23. Rubinshtein S.L. Problema sposobnostei i voprosy psikhologicheskoi teorii [The problem of abilities and questions of psychological theory]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1960, no. 3, pp. 3—15.
  24. Rubinshtein S.L. Bytie i soznanie [Being and consciousness]. Moscow: Publ. AN SSSR, 1957. 326 p. (a)
  25. Rubinshtein S.L. Printsip determinizma i psikhologicheskaya teoriya myshleniya [Determinism principle and psychological theory of thinking]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1957, no. 5, pp. 57—65 (b).
  26. Samarin Yu.A. O kontseptsii tak nazyvaemykh «umstvennykh deistvii» P.Ya. Gal’perina [About P.Ya Galperin’s theory of ‘’mental actions’’]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1959, no. 5, pp. 154—160.
  27. Senyushchenkov S.P. Problema genezisa psikhicheskikh protsessov v TPF [The problem of psychological processes’ genesis in TPF]. Metodologiya i istoriya psikhologii [Methodology and history of psychology], 2009. Vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 59—75. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  28. Sidneva A.N. Problematika umeniya uchit’sya v otechestvennoi psikhologii obrazovaniya: obzor osnovnykh kontseptsii [The learning to learn problem in Russian educational psychology: main approaches]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie [Psychological science and education], 2017, no. 6, pp. 56—67. doi:10.17759/pse.2017220605
  29. Sidneva A.N. O dvukh podkhodakh k formirovaniyu umeniya uchit’sya v otechestvennoi psikhologo- pedagogicheskoi nauke[About two approaches to teaching the ability to learn in the Russian psychological and pedagogical sciences]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya [Moscow University Psychology Bulletin], 2008, no. 1, pp. 37—48. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  30. Stepanova M.A. Istoricheskoe znachenie obshchepsikhologicheskoi teorii P.Ya.Gal’perina [Historical meaning of P. Ya. Galperin’s theory]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal [Psychological Journal], 2016. Vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 112—123.
  31. Talyzina N.F. K probleme formirovaniya umstvennykh deistvii [To the problem of mental actions’ formation]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1960, no. 4, pp. 133—140.
  32. Talyzina N.F., Karpov Yu.V. Pedagogicheskaya psikhologiya. Psikhodiagnostika intellekta [Educational psychology. Psychodiagnostics of intelligence]. Moscow: Publ. MGU, 1987. 85 p.
  33. Frolov Yu.I., Liders A.G. Razvitie predstavlenii ob orientirovke i orientirovochnoi deyatel’nosti v kontseptsii P.Ya.Gal’perina [Evolution of Concepts of Orientation and Orienting Activity in Galperin’s Theory]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-historical psychology], 2012, no. 4, pp. 13—27. (In Russ., abstr. in Engl.).
  34. El’konin D.B. Izbrannye psikhologicheskie trudy [Selected psychological works]. Moscow: Pedagogika Publ., 1989. 560 p.
  35. El’konin D.B. Kontseptsiya formirovaniya umstvennykh deistvii i ee kritika Yu.A. Samarinym [Formation of mental actions’ theory and its criticism by Yu.A. Samarin]. Voprosy psikhologii [Psychological issues], 1958, no. 6, pp. 150— 156.
  36. Podolskiy A.I. “There is nothing so practical as a good theory”: How to let it work in practice (the case of Galperin’s theory). Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 2014, Vol. 7(3), pp. 4—12. doi:10.11621/pir.2014.0301

Information About the Authors

Anastasiya N. Sidneva, PhD in Psychology, Senior researcher, Department of Educational psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9815-9049, e-mail: asidneva@yandex.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 2509
Previous month: 20
Current month: 12

Downloads

Total: 1067
Previous month: 7
Current month: 4