PIOTR GAL'PERIN His lifelong quest for the content of psychology JACQUESHAENEN PIOTR GAL'PERIN CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Haenen, Jacques Petrus Paulus Piotr Gal 'perin : his lifelong quest for the content of psychology I Jacques Petrus Paulus Haenen. - [SJ. : s.n.]. - Fig., tab. Proefschrift Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. ,- Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands. ISBN 90-9006498-2 NUGI711 Trefw.: Gal'perin, P.I. I psychologie; Sovjet-Unie; geschiedenis ; 20e eeuw. Copyright J.P.P. Haenen, Delft 1993 Druk: OMI, Universiteit Utrecht All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Cover illustration shows the Poggendorff illusion. VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT PIOTR GAL'PERIN His Iifelong quest for the content of psychology ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit te Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr E. Boeker, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de faculteit der psychologie en pedagogiek op maandag 25 oktober 1993 te 13.30 uur in het hoofdgebouw van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door JACQUES PETRUS PAULUS HAENEN geboren te Heerlen Promotoren: prof.dr J.A.M. Carpay prof.dr G.J. Westhoff Referent: prof.dr J.F.H. van Rappard 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As early as the end of the 1960s, the Dutch psychologists Carel van Parreren (1920-1991) and Jacques Carpay (1933) recognized the significanee of the work of the Soviet psychoiogist Piotr Gal 'perin. Together they introduced it to psychologists and educators in Belgium and the Netherlands. They kindled my interest in Soviet psychology as an undergraduate at Utrecht University, and moreover, it was through their efforts that I was able to study as an exchange student atMoscow University where I heard Gal'perin lecture on his new approach to psychology. Hence, I am most grateful to Carel van Parreren and Jacques Carpay, but I also wish to express my sineere gratitude to Gerard Westhoff, who has followed this project from its beginnings and has taken an instrumental role in it. They have all continuously encouraged me to work on this book and without their support it would not have 'materialized.' Besides them, Hans van Rappard and Bert van Oers have read and commented on earlier drafts of this book. lan Brodie and Leen Don have proofread and ironed out the creases as English is not my native language. I am grateful for their advice and helpfuI criticism, both constructive and otherwise. They have all had a positive effect on the fmished product. Discussions with psychologists from Moscow have enhanced my understanding of Gal 'perin's work. Foremost of these was of course Piotr Gal'perin himself. He received me warmly on several occasions and shared with me his ideas and his vast knowledge of psychology. I also owe a great deal to Liuda Lipchanskaia who first prompted me to look at several aspects of Gal'perin's work in a different light. Andrei Podol'ski contributed to my understanding of the subject. I have worked on this book for several years and am grateful to the IVLOS Institute of Education for providing me with the necessary facilities. I would also like to thank several of my colleagues, especially Els Jimkes and Jos Kessels for alleviating me of my teaching workload. Ad Vianen helped me to produce the final manuscript. I am indebted to my colleagues for making Dur institute sueh a congenial workplace. Publisher M.E. Sharpe has allowed me to include in this book copyrighted material taken from articles published in two special Gal' perin issues of the joumal SovietPsychology, now renamed the Joumal ofRussian and EastEuropean Psychology (Vol. 27, No.3; Vol. 30, No.4). These issues were published thanks to the editor Michael Cole. In hindsight, I realize that it was my work as a guest editor of both these issues which provided the impetus for me to write this book in English. For this reason I would also like to mention the assistant editor Betty Appelbaum and the translator Michel Vale for their professional support at that time. Last but by no means least, I would like to thank my parents, my wife Marian, and our daughters, Janine, Aleid and Edith, for always being there. Their quiet support bas been invaluable, CONTENTS Acknowledgments 5 Contents 6 Figures and tables 10 Introduetion 11 Part One: GAL'PERIN'S SCIENTIFIC CAREER 1. First period (1902-1930): Youth, education and early research 17 Early years 17 Gal' perin's purpose in life 17 Medical studies 20 The physician and hypnotist K.I. Platonov 20 Gal' perin's first research 22 The 'pseudo Babinski' reflex 22 Treatment of addicts 23 The Poggendorff illusion 24 Summary 27 2. Second period (1930-1936): Khar'kov school 28 The school's short existence 28 Gal'perin's memories of L.S. Vygotsky 30 Gal'perin's critique ofPavlov 32 Candidate's dissertation (Master's thesis) 34 The development of tool-mediated operations 35 Summary 36 3. Third period (1936-1943): Before and during the Second World War 38 The 1936 decree on pedology 38 Gal'perin's critique of pedology 40 Rehabilitation of the motor functions of upper limbs 41 The analysis of motor disorders 42 Summary 45 4. Fourth period (1943-1988): Moscow university 47 First years at Moscow University 47 Dembo 's study on emotions 48 Gal'perin's study on emotions 49 Problem solving 51 Gal'perin's new approach to psychology 52 The 'Pavlovization' of Soviet psychology 52 Lecturing at Moscow University 53 Summary 54 7 Part Two: OUTLINE OF GAL'PERIN'S RESEARCH PROGRAM Introduetion 57 5. Main sourees of Galperin's concept of psychology 59 Cultural-historical theory 59 Intemalization 61 Lower and higher psychological functions 62 Vygotsky and Leont'ev split up 63 Two examples from the instrumental phase 64 The concept of activity 65 Gal'perin's position 66 Summary 68 6. The subject matter of psychology 69 The Bluebird of psychology 69 Human soul 70 Phenomena of consciousness 72 Behavior 73 Activity as the subject matter of Soviet psychology 74 Two origins of the concept of activity in Soviet psychology 75 Gal'perin's concept of activity 76 Personalized activity 76 Orienting activity 78 Summary 78 7. Comerstones of Gal' perin's research program 80 The notion of 'research program' 80 Influences on Gal' perin 81 Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory 81 Leont'ev' s activity theory 83 Pavlov's orienting reflex 83 Sokoiov's neuronal model of the stimulus 85 Gal'perin's 'extension' of Sokoiov's model 85 Marx's concept of the ideal 86 11' enkov's understanding of Marx's concept of the ideal 87 Summary: The hard core of Gal' perin's research program 88 The hard core in one phrase 89 8. The systematic formation 90 Activity - action - operation 90 Gal'perin's extension ofboth Vygotsky and Leont'ev 92 Mental action 93 Gal 'perin's methodological maxim 94 Set of four prerequisites for the systematic formation 95 The first prerequisite: The learning motive 95 The second prerequisite: The orienting basis 97 The third prerequisite: The four parameters of an action 99 1 Level of appropriation 99 2 Degree of generalization 100 3 Degree of abbreviation or completeness 100 4 Degree of mastery 100 Summary 101 8 9. The stepwise procedure 102 A full-fledged mental action 102 The first stage: The motivational stage 103 The second stage: The orienting stage 105 The third stage: The material or materialized stage 109 The fourth stage: The stage of overt speech 109 The fifth stage: The stage of covert speech 110 The sixth stage: The mental stage 111 An example of the stepwise procedure 112 Summary 113 10. Three teaching strategies compared 114 The orienting and executive components of an action 114 Understanding and ability 115 Types of orienting bases 115 Three teaching strategies 118 Early research projects on the three teaching strategies 119 Introduetion to handwriting skilis: units of analysis 120 Global or analytic orienting on the shape of a grapheme 121 Three teaching strategies to write graphemes 121 Summary 123 Part Three: EVALUATION OF GAL'PERIN'S RESEARCH PROGRAM Introduetion 127 11. The development of Gal'perin's research program 128 Three phases 128 The first phase (1950-1965) 129 The second phase (from 1966 till the end of the 1970s) 130 The third phase (from 1980 onwards) 132 Getting off to a flying start 133 A.N. Leont'ev's support of Gal'perin's research program 133 The 'Pavlovization' of Soviet psychology 134 Systematic school experiments 135 Summary 136 12. Criticism of Gal'perin's research program 138 The first criticism: The material(ized) action 138 The historical context of the first criticism 139 Introduetion to Karpova' s research on identifying words 139 Karpova' s pilot experiment and the criticism it raised 140 Karpova' s main research 141 The equivalence between the material and the mentallevel 142 Focus on the materialized action 143 Didactic models 143 The second criticism: One-way transmission of the curriculum content 145 Kalmykova's research 146 Summary 148 9 13. More criticism and concluding remarks 149 A storm of criticism 149 The discussion on the pages of Voprosy psikhologii 150 The conceptual framework 150 Leamer characteristics 151 Error avoidanee 152 Reconceptualization and the 'rational object scheme' 153 The concept of number 154 The numeration system 156 Summary 156 References 159 Summary 179 Deel I: Gal'perins wetenschappelijke biografie (Hfdst.