Vygotskiy, Luriya. [Studies on behavior history: Monkey, primitive man, child]

Abstract:
The book of 1930 edition contains an analytical psychological essays on behavior of three objects — humanoid monkey, primitive man and child — united by idea of development. The authors sought to comprehend logic of psychological evolution from primacy to Homo Sapiens, based on an analysis of some information resource of scientific knowledge, using behavior as an example. This fundamental study was conceptually based on the work of L. Vygotsky, named «Pedagogic of school age»; with its novelty, lies in an attempt to identify relationships between three lines of development of these objects of analysis, and to describe them. Authors interpret the man psychological evolution (development) as result of passing «point of no return» — the use of tools, along physiological evolution. To a large extent, the development of behavior was both the history of the development of artificial auxiliary «means of behavior» and the history of personal mastery while person`s own behavior. It was already a development, determined mainly not by laws of biological evolution, but by laws of historical development of society.