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

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.

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