Piaget and Vygotsky on the child becoming sign-minded

Författare

Sara Lenninger

Summary, in English

As the child grows up it becomes more and more a part of the adult world of communication and understanding. Semiotic studies of the development of signs in children are remarkably few, as if the mere existence of signs were taken for granted. The studies in the child’s cognitive development conducted by Piaget and Vygotsky in the last century still have the capacity to influence theoretical claims and the designs of concrete studies.

When the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky are discussed the disunity of their theoretical implications is often in focus, such as the regression or the emergence of egocentrism and inner speech. Although Vygotsky is critical of the early works of Piaget, he is also highly influenced by it, and there are essential similarities between them.In this article, I will point out some similarities and dissimilarities that elucidate interesting questions about the development of cognition and of what Piaget refers to as the semiotic function. Eventually, I will also discuss some implications of Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s cognitive developmental theories on clinical studies of picture comprehension in the child.

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