Exploring Imagination according to

Vygotsky Maria Hotovy & Sarah Lechner

Background . . . From Russia: 1896-1934

Familiar with Gesell, Werner and Piaget

Discussed both developmental and environmental forces

Marxist, understand humans as a social-historical environment

Psychological tool

“Natural” line in addition to “cultural” line

Necessity of Imagination

If world of complete equilibrium

Adapt to environment

Lack of adapting

Inventors

Fantasy

Usual definition: False

Rooted in reality…

Impossible for representation have no relation to reality

Fantasy must not succeed reality

Fantasy awareness

Defining Imagination

Everything one knows

One Cause: Sublimation

Drawing

Development

Types of Imagination

Reproductive

Combinatorial

Emotional

Social-Historical

Imagination in Children

Children vs. Adults?

Exact account impossible

Story read with details omitted

Child’s play very telling

If want strong foundation

Experiment

Objective: to test Vygotsky’s theory that all imagination stems from previous images and experiences

Three girls and three boys, between the ages of 6 and 7 were observed

They were given pencils, crayons, and paper to complete the activity

Procedure

Children that participated in this activity were first asked to write down, in 30 seconds, all the animals they could think of

Because, according to Vygotsky, imagination is based on previous knowledge, it was important to have an understanding of the child’s knowledge of animals

Procedure The child was then asked if they have ever had a pet

If the answer was “yes”, the child was asked the name and type of pet

The student was then read the following scenario:

“One day you get lost in a part of the city you’ve never seen before. It starts raining so you walk into the nearest building, which happens to be a pet store. But this pet store is very unusual; with animals and creatures you’ve never seen or heard of. One of these animals catches your eye and you buy it. After naming it, you try to take your strange new pet on its first walk.”

ProcedureGiven this scenario, the child was asked to draw

a picture of their ideal pet, what it would look and act like

They were given 3 minutes to do so

They then turned over the paper and were asked to write a short description of what their first day with their pet is like

They were given 3 minutes to do so

ResultsGender

Age

Type of Pet

Known Animals

Pet Drawn Description

Female 6.5 Dog Dog, Cat, Lion, Fish, Hors(e), Pig

Black body with four legs, two long rounded ears, whiskers, long tail, purple on the tail, legs, face, and ears

“I went to the play ground to wok (walk) my dog she was good dog the end.”

Female 7 Rabbit Posom (possum), Fox

Black body with four legs, two long pointy ears, pink hair

“The first day I played with him. He was mad. I played nice. I did the best I could to help him.”

Female

6 Dog & 2 Cats

Cat, Bat, Hors(e), Unicorn

Pink unicorn/horse with big tail, two legs with hooves, one eye

“My little pet wanted to go on a wok (walk) she was so hungry we got grass. We go hom(e).”

Male 6 Fish Tiger, bob cat, Snail

Blue nose, yellow eyes/ears, blue, red, brown body, green tail

“My first day with my pet is a god day. We went to the park. My pet went down the side.”

Male 6 Dog, Fish A yellow body with two legs/fins, another brown and purple creature with two legs

“My pet just head (had) dog food to eat something was ttanding (standing)”

Male 7 Dog Lizard, Snake, Dragon

Blue snake body, two sets of wings, one eye, teeth, snake tongue, antennae

“He likes to go to the museum and look at the time of the dinos and dragons”

Female:6Has: Dog & 2 CatsKnown Animals: Cat, Bat, Hors(e), Unicorn “My little pet wanted to go on a wok (walk) she was so hungry we got grass. We go hom(e).”

Male:7Has: DogKnown: Lizard, Snake, Dragon“He likes to go to the museum and look at the time of the dinos and dragons”

Problems All six children talked during the procedure, and may

have influenced the other children with their choice of animal and what it looked like

Ages of children may have been too young, they still had to sound out words while they were writing whereas older children could have given a better description

Children may have needed more time to draw and write the description

Imagination is not a concrete thing that can be compared

Time restraint (ask and point)

ConclusionVygotsky’s theory that “every aspect of fantasy

is rooted in reality without exception” proved to be true

After analyzing the images and descriptions of each child compared to their previous knowledge, we discovered that there is often links between the two

Works CitedCrain, William C. Theories of Development:

Concepts and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Print.

Vygotskii, L S, Vassily Davidov, and Robert J. Silverman. Educational Psychology. Boca Raton, Fla: St. Lucie Press, 1997. Print.

http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Mail/xmcamail.2008_03.dir/att-0189/Vygotsky__Imag___Creat_in_Childhood.pdf