As discussed in this book, the Vygotskians view children’s development as a process determined by adult mediation: Adults engage children in age-appropriate activities, and in the context of these activities they promote the development in children of new motives and teach them new psychological tools. The development of new motives leads to children’s engagement in new activities, whereas the acquisition, mastery, and internalization of new psychological tools leads to the conversion of children’s lower mental processes (with which they are born) into specifically human higher mental processes.

Thus, according to the Vygotskians, it is “cultural heredity” (that is, cultural experience provided to a child through mediation) that determines how the child develops. Therefore, from their perspective, no matter what genetic predispositions there are (of course, with the exception of genetically caused developmental delays and other genetically based disorders), their contribution to children’s development is negligible in comparison to the contribution made by mediation.