PSY502 Lectures 25-26

BIG PICTURE: What is Historico-Evolutionary Psychology?

Before this school of thought, two major approaches ruled psychology: Behaviorism → studied only behavior (what we do).

• Functionalism → studied what mental processes do (their function). But Soviet psychologists asked a deeper question:

👉 How did the human mind and consciousness develop over history? 👉 How did thinking, language, and understanding evolve? So they created Historico-Evolutionary Psychology. Historico = related to history

• Evolutionary = related to development over time
• Psychology = study of mind and behavior

So this school studies how consciousness developed across human history and how it shapes behavior.

CORE IDEA

These psychologists believed: Human consciousness did not appear suddenly.

• It developed slowly through biological evolution and cultural-historical development.
• Mind, behavior, language, and society grow together.

Now let us meet the key thinkers.

LEON VYGOTSKY (1896–1934)

Vygotsky is the father of Historico-Evolutionary Psychology.

Key Belief 1: Consciousness is not born fully formed

Consciousness = awareness of yourself, your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.

• Vygotsky said: humans develop consciousness through evolution and culture. Meaning:

Animals have basic mental abilities. Humans developed higher mental functions over history. Higher mental functions = thinking, reasoning, planning, problem solving, language, self-control. Example: A cat reacts to food. A human plans a meal, talks about it, writes recipes, and thinks about nutrition.

Key Belief 2: Consciousness developed through collective labor

Collective labor = people working together in society. Vygotsky believed that when humans started working together (hunting, farming, building), they: Needed communication

• Created tools and symbols
• Developed language and thinking

👉 That is how mind evolved. Example: Early humans hunted in groups. They had to plan, signal, remember, and teach. This built thinking and consciousness.

Key Belief 3: Man is a unity - you cannot separate behavior and consciousness

Vygotsky criticized: Behaviorists → studied only behavior

• Structuralists → studied only consciousness

He said: 👉 You cannot divide humans into pieces. Mind and behavior work together. Structure of consciousness = what the mind contains

• Function of consciousness = what the mind does

They depend on each other. Example: Your thought (consciousness) → affects your action (behavior). Your action → changes your thinking.

Key Belief 4: Two types of evolution

Vygotsky said humans develop through:

1. Biological evolution → body and brain
2. Historico-cultural evolution → language, tools, symbols, ideas Historico-cultural = shaped by society and history

Example: We are not born knowing math or language. We learn them through culture, school, and society.

Key Belief 5: Humans change the environment too

Darwin said environment shapes man. Vygotsky added: 👉 Man also shapes the environment.