Michael Cole as the Mediator and Integrator of Cultural-Historical Psychology

The article describes the ideas and tuning points of M. Cole's career — the famous American psychologist, his theoretical, methodological and empirical contribution to modern psychology. It is composed of three sections. The first one considers Cole—Luria's cooperation for many years: scientific as well as personal interactions in the process of acquiring Cultural-Historical Psychology of Russia. It summarizes the outcomes and methodological problems of interdisciplinary cross-cultural studies that M. Cole and his colleagues conducted in Africa and on the Yucatan Peninsula. The second one outlines M. Cole's important role as an international mediator in Soviet and post-Soviet psychology that revealed both through his own studies and his translations of L.S. Vygotsky and A.R. Luria's works in English or their editing. Plus his occupations with “Soviet psychology” (later — “Journal of Russian and East European Psychology”). The third section briefly evaluates Cole's theoretical efforts on the integration of Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev's ideas as much as recasting them in the context of modern trends in Cultural psychology. Significant place is given to a context-activity approach developed by M. Cole in Cultural in the framework of integrated "Cultural-Historical Activity theory". The erroneous labeling of the context-activity approach as an anti-historical one is discussed. The authors come to the conclusion that M. Cole's context-activity approach is not far remote from Cultural-Historical Psychology but complements its development with new concepts, methods and points of growth.

1. Averkieva Yu.P. Istoriya teoreticheskoy mysli v amerikanskoi etnografii [History of theoretical thought in American ethnography]. Moscow: Nauka, 1979. 288 p.
2. Vygotskii L.S. K voprosu o plane nauchno-issledovatel’skoj raboty po pedologii nacional’nyh men’shinstv [Towards the question of the scientific research plan for the paedology of national minorities]. Pedologiya [Pedology], 1929, no. 3, pp. 367—377.
3. Vygotskii L.S. Myshlenie i rech’. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Thinking and speech. Psychological investigations]. Moscow-Leningrad: Socekgiz, 1934. 324 p.
4. Vygotskii L.S. Problema umstvennoi otstalosti [Problem of mental retardation]. In Vygotskii L.S. (eds.), Umstvenno otstalyi rebenok. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya. Vyp. 1. [Mental retardation child. Psychological issues]. Moscow: Uchpedgiz, 1935, pp. 7—34.
5. Vygotskii L.S. Narushenie ponyatii pri shizofrenii [Dysfunction of Concepts in Schizophrenia]. Izbrannye psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Collected Psychological issues]. Moscow: Akad. ped. nauk RSFSR, 1956. 505 с.
6. Denisova T.S. Afrikanskie konflikty i religioznye ritualy (Na primere grazhdanskih vojn v Liberii). [African conflicts and religious rituals (Civil war in Liberia as an example)]. Aziya i Afrika segodnya [Asia and Africa today], 2012, no. 10, pp. 45—52.
7. Zinchenko V.P., Mamardashvili M.K. Problema ob’ektivnogo metoda v psikhologii [The Problem of objective method in psychology]. Voprosy filosofii [Questions of philosophy], 1977, no. 7, pp. 109—125.
8. Koul M. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya: nauka budushchego [Cultural-Historical Psychology. The science of the Future]. Moscow: In-t psihologii RAN, 1997. 424 p.
9. Koul M. Kommentarii k kommentariyam knigi “Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psihologiya: nauka budushchego” (M., 1997) [The commentaries about the commentaries of the book “Cultural-Historical Psychology. The Science of the Future”]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal [Psychological journal], 2001. Vol. 22, no. 4., pp. 93—101.
10. Koul M. Predislovie. Luriya A.R. Priroda chelovecheskih konfliktov: Ob”ektivnoe izuchenie dezorganizacii povedeniya cheloveka [Introduction to The Nature of Human conflicts]. Moscow: Kogito-Centr, 2002a, pp. 7—14.
11. Koul M. Razmyshleniya nad portretom A.R. Luriya [Thoughts about A.R. Luria’s picture]. Voprosy psikhologii [Questions of psychology], 2002b, no. 4, pp. 25—43.
12. Koul M., Skribner S. Kul’tura i myshlenie. Psikhologicheskii ocherk [Culture and Thought: A Psychological description]. Moscow: Progress, 1977. 262 p.
13. Lomov B.F., Belyaeva A.V., Koul M. Vvedenie [Introduction]. In Lomov B.F. (eds.), Poznanie i obshchenie [Knowledge and communication]. Moscow: Nauka, 1988, pp. 3—9.
14. Luriya A.R. Ob istoricheskom razvitii poznavatel’nyh processov. Eksperimental’no-psihologicheskoe issledovanie [Historical development of cognitive processes]. Moscow: Nauka, 1974. 172 p.
15. Luriya A.R. Priroda chelovecheskih konfliktov: Ob”ektivnoe izuchenie dezorganizacii povedeniya cheloveka [The Nature of Human conflicts]. Moscow: Kogito-Centr, 2002. 527 p. (Klassiki psikhologii).
16. Meshcheryakov B.G., Zinchenko V.P. L.S. Vygotskii i sovremennaya kul’turno-istoricheskaya psikhologiya (kriticheskii analiz knigi M. Koula) [L.S. Vygotsky and contemporary Cultural-Historical psychology. The critical appraisal of M. Cole’s book]. Voprosy psikhologii [Questions of psychology], 2000, no. 2, pp. 102—116.
17. Piazhe Zh. Rech’ i myshlenie rebenka [Speech and thought of the child]. Moscow-Leningrad: Uchpedgiz., 1932.
18. Ponomarev I.V. Diskussionnye voprosy kross-kul’turnyh issledovanii vliyaniya gramotnosti na kognitivnoe razvitie i koncepciya simprakticheskogo obshchestva [Influence of literacy on cognitive development from the perspective of cross-cultural researches and the conception of sympractical society]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaya psihologiya [Cultural-historical psychology], 2007, no.4, pp. 59—67.
19. Samuhin N.V., Birenbaum G.V., Vygotskii L.S. K voprosu o demencii pri bolezni Pika [Towards the problem of dementia in Pick’s disease. Clinical and experimental psychological research]. Sovetskaya nevropatologiya, psihiatriya i psihogigiena [ Soviet neuropathology, psychiatry and hygiene], 1934. Vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 97—136.
20. Koul M. (ed.), Social’no-istoricheskii podhod v psihologii obucheniya [Socio-Historical Approach in the Psychology of Leaning]. Moscow: Pedagogika, 1989. 160 p.
21. Tul’viste P. O teoreticheskih problemah istoricheskogo razvitiya myshleniya [About theoretical problems of historical development of thinking]. In Anciferov L.I. (ed.), Princip razvitiya v psihologii [Development in psychology]. Moscow: Nauka, 1978, pp. 81—104.
22. Tul’viste P. Dve sovremennye koncepcii svyazei mezhdu kul’turoi i myshleniem: Dzh. Bruner i M. Koul [Two contemporary concepts of juncture between culture and thinking: G. Bruner and M. Cole]. Uch. zap. TarGU. Vyp. 753. Struktura poznavatel’nyh processov: [Structure of mental processes] Tr. po psikhologii, t. XIV, Tartu, 1986, pp. 85—103.
23. Tul’viste P. Kul’turno-istoricheskoe razvitie verbal’nogo myshleniya [The Cultural-Historical Development of Verbal Thinking]. Tallin: Valgus, 1988. 344 p.
24. Shchedrovickii G.P. Izbrannye trudy [The Selected Works]. Moscow: Shk. Kul’t. Polit., 1995. 760 p.
25. Cole M. Alexander Luria, Cultural Psychology and The Resolution of the Crisis in Psychology, 1997. Available at http:// lchc.ucsd.edu/People/MCole/luria.html (Accessed 1.08.2018)
26. Cole M. Culture and Cognitive Science. Outlines, 2003, no. 1, pp. 3—15.
27. Cole M. Hooking up with romantic science. In Feuer M.J. (eds), The Past as Prologue: The National Academy of Educat at 50-Members Reflect. The National Academy of Education. Washington, D.C.: NAE, 2015, pp. 86—88.
28. Cole M., Gay J., Glick J., Sharp D.W. The cultural context of learning and thinking. NewYork: Basic Books, 1971.
29. Cole M., Levitin K., Luria A. The Autobiography of Alexander Luria: A Dialog with the Making of Mind. L.: Psychology Press, 2014.
30. Cole M., Meshcheryakov B.G., Ponomariov I.V. Cross-cultural research in the cultural-historical activity theory tradition. In van de Vijver F.J.R. (eds.), Fundamental Questions in Cross- Cultural Psychology. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 2011, pp. 261—287.
31. Cole M., Scribner S. Culture and Thought: A Psychological Introduction. NewYork: John Wiley & Sons, 1974.
32. Evans-Pritchard E.E. Essays in social anthropology. NewYork: Free Press of Glencoe, 1963.
33. Jahoda G., Krewer B. History of cross-cultural and cultural psychology. Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1980. Vol. 1, pp. 1—42.
34. Luria A.R. The Man with a Shattered World. The History of a Brain Wound. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987.
35. Scribner S., Cole M. The Psychology of Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1981. 335 p.
36. Sharp D.W., Cole M., Lave C. Education and Cognitive Development: The Evidence from Experimental Research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Children Development, 1979, no. 44 (1—2).
37. Tamm T., Tulviste P. Theoretic syllogistic reasoning: regressing when not used? Acta et Comentationes Universitatis Tartuensis, 522. Problems of cognitive psychology. Tartu, 1980, pp. 50—59.
38. Wertsch J.V., Tulviste P. L.S. Vygotsky and Contemporary Developmental Psychology. Developmental Psychology, 1992. Vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 548—557.