The concept of verbal self-regulation, or verbal mediation, originated in behavioristic analyses of thinking, but was later extended to cognitivistic analyses. In both applications, the research that was generated was usually deficient in ecological validity. In addition, in some of the research verbal self-regulation was inferred when an overt…

The present findings suggest that never" as a response and very often" as a response are mediated by different underlying processes, at least between the ages of 8 and 17. (Author/WY)

Research supported by grant APA-178 from the National Research Council of Canada.

Paper, revised for publication, presented at a Symposium on Heredity and Environment (AERA, New York City, Feb. 16, 1967)

Maintains that, although Leontiev's sociocultural orientation and its activity emphasis were inherited from Vygotsky's theory, the two men's theoretical motives and goals differed. Vygotsky's focus on symbolic mediation transforming psychological processes and Leontiev's on activities leading to internalization of action in mental processes were…

This study examines the development of children's preference for task difficulty levels. Subjects were 78 boys and 66 girls, aged 63 to 105 months. The sample was separated into older and younger groups. Within each age group, half the children of each sex were randomly assigned to one of two forms to test their level of aspiration. Subjects were…

Asserting that the ability to compare is basic to any cognitive process, this paper draws on Reuven Feuerstein's theory of mediated learning experience to guide teachers in encouraging the development of young students' spontaneous comparative abilities. Teachers are to provide students with concepts, labels, operations, and relationships to…

"A new sort of concept attainment or decoding-encoding experimental paradigm based on the model is developed and an experiment on 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds is reported. (Author)

In this study, representational thought, which involves the child's ability to function in terms of nonpresent reality, is viewed within a cognitive-developmental framework. To see if disadvantaged children would function in the same way as advantaged children on tasks which required representational thought rather than verbalization, children…

Presents a study of inferential problem solving abilities of 5-year-old children. Tasks involved the combination of separately acquired behavior segments in order to solve a novel problem. (BD)

Contrasts work of Leontiev and Vygotsky. Suggests that Leontiev concentrated on social activity as a whole, whereas Vygotsky made semiotic mediation through culturally developed symbols a central aspect of his analysis. Maintains that they shared a philosophical base and that Leontiev used Vygotsky's ideas as a starting point to explore human…

Attempts to determine whether infants' performance in two search tasks is related to their entry into Stage 6 of object permanence development (thereby testing Piaget's claim that only Stage 6 infants possess the capacity for representation). (BD)

A study was conducted in light of a neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development to interpret the effect of priming executive schemes for describing relevant features in a referential communication task. Forty-eight 4-year-old children were divided into primed and nonprimed groups and were asked to describe in isolation a black and white…

The study with three profoundly deaf subjects (ages 11-13) investigated whether there is a chain of functional relationships among a method of interaction referred to as a mediation, a cognitive function referred to as spontaneous comparative behavior, the operation of categorization, and the reading comprehension tasks of using lexical cohesion…

A dialogue between Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky is described and analyzed. Practical implications of the theoretical discussions between the psychologists are pointed out for parents, teachers, and other professionals who deal with children. Essential points of agreement for Piaget and Vygotsky concern the crucial role played by consciousness in…