What Organizes Our Problem-Solving Activities?

摘要

Structuralist models of cognition emphasize the role of reasoning principles, invariants, or rules in the organization of thinking and pay littly attention to the culturally developed systems of signs and their impact on thinking. However, complex psychological functions, as pointed out by Vygotsky (1962) and Luria (1979), are always carried out with the mediation of historically developed and culturally transmitted systems of signs. Within this perspective, systems of signs have a major role in thinking because they are central to reasoning processes. This chapter presents research that supports the hypothesis that systems of signs play a structuring role in problem-solving activites as they are used to support skilled action.