Vygotsky On Time

From Jsarmi

The child, with the help of speech, creates a time field that is just as perceptible and real to him as the visual one….He can view changes in his immediate situation from the point of view of past activities, and he can act in the present from the viewpoint of the future.

With the help of the indicative function of words," says Vygotsky (1978), "the child begins to master his attention, creating new structural centers in the perceived situation" (p.35). The child, however, can with the help of speech do even more: he [sic] can create "a time field that is just as perceptible and real to him as the visual one. The speaking child has the ability to direct his attention in a dynamic way. He can view changes in his immediate situation from the point of view of past activities, and can act in the present from the viewpoint of the future" (p.36). Thus what is internalized when a certain way of looking at a visual field is internalized, is a deliberately organized way of seeing and acting is constituted from a set of elementary, spontaneous forms, 'called' out in an orchestrated sequence by a set of initially explicit verbal 'instructions'.

The child’s field of attention embraces not one but a whole series of potential perceptual fields.

The possibility of combining elements of the past and present visual fields (for instance, tool and goal) in one field of attention leads in turn to a basic reconstruction of another vital function, memory. Through verbal formulations of past situations and activities, the child frees himself from the limitations of direct recall; he succeeds in synthesizing the past and present to suit his purposes.

With the development of these quasi-needs, the child’s emotional thrust is shifted from a preoccupation with the outcome to the nature of the solution.

Voluntary activity…a product of the historical-cultural development of behavior and…a unique feature of human psychology.

Voluntary activity, more than highly developed intellect, distinguishes humans from the animals which stand closest to them.