Psychological Tools of Socio-Cultural Development of Preschoolers in an Orphanage

The article deals with the issue of socio-cultural development of children in conditions of limited social influence. Ways and forms of mastering the social and cultural experiences in the preschool childhood, child’s patterns of social development are analyzed on the basis of the methodological principles of the cultural-historical psychology and activity approach. It is suggested that the basis of socialization, or according to L. S. Vygotsky, “ingrowth into human culture” determines the mastery of multi-image symbolic systems: verbal, graphical, system of mathematical symbols, musical literacy and others. The fundamental characteristics of the socialization process of preschoolers are marked out. The findings are presented concerning characteristics of the social development of preschoolers in the orphanage. Children have considerable difficulties in understanding the meaning of human relationships due to limited possibilities of mastering the psychological means of social environment cognition.