Quick Facts
- Died:
- June 11, 1934, Moscow (aged 37)
- Subjects Of Study:
- consciousness
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L. S. Vygotsky
Soviet psychologist
Also known as: Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky
L. S. Vygotsky (born Nov. 5, 1896, Orsha, Russia—died June 11, 1934, Moscow) was a Soviet psychologist. He studied linguistics and philosophy at the University of Moscow before becoming involved in psychological research. While working at Moscow’s Institute of Psychology (1924–34), he became a major figure in post-revolutionary Soviet psychology. He studied the role of social and cultural factors in the making of human consciousness; his theory of signs and their relationship to the development of speech influenced psychologists such as A.R. Luria and Jean Piaget. His best-known work, Thought and Language (1934), was briefly suppressed as a threat to Stalinism.
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