Social Development Theory (L. Vygotsky)

Initiated from: http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html

A summary of the main ideas, concepts, or principles of the theory.

The idea of researching, discussing and taking part of online social networking seems moot without first understanding the foundation of the social development theory by Vygotsky. The key point to social development theory is that social interaction is a primary role in the development of cognition. [http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html].

Part of the beauty of social networking itself is that it opens up relationships in ways that previously could only happen by way of socializing in a public setting, i.e., business parties, conferences, meetings, etc. Today, sites such as LinkedIn allow for this same type of business/social networking to happen without ever leaving your office or your living room couch.

Technology in itself has transformed how we think, how we react, how we produce, how we research, how we function on a daily basis, so it is not wonder that is also affecting how we interact. Students of today are ridiculously more in tune, and more involved than any other group of students who have gone through our educational systems. They are also more connected. Social networking has become second nature for students. In college, I personally had about 7 or 8 people who I would consider my real friends at that the time. These would have been the 7 or 8 who I spoke to almost daily and made plans with on weekends. My students each have well over 300 ‘friends’ on their Facebook or MySpace sites and they talk to many of them regularly and do make plans with them as well. I can’t even think of 300 people I know!

So, does Vygotsky’s theory of social development give us a better understanding as to why social networking has become so embraced and so popular? Absolutely. Vygotsky “believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning"”. [http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vygotsky.html] This statement also lends itself to understanding interpersonal communication issues that is so often discussed in academia. In an asynchronous (online) course, feelings of isolation and non-interaction, which so many identify while taking online courses, is perhaps the most difficult to overcome. Based on Vygotsky’s theory, social interaction is vital to cognitive development and therefore, “social learning tends to precede development”. [http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vygotsky.html].