Internalization

"the internal reconstruction of an external operation" (Vygotsky, p.56)

To take possession of a belief and incorporate it into one's identity.

The definition of internalization depends on which educational viewpoint one takes. Social culturalists view internalization as observing tools and symbols utilized in societies and incorporating them into their own lives. Social cognitivists argue that internalization occurs when an individual observes different tools and symbols in society, but then shapes them into his/her own system of codes.

According to Mind in Society and Vygotsky, internalization is when an external sign that children require has become an internal sign that adults produce in order to remember something. (Vygotsky, 1978)

Also according to Vygotsky (1978), internalization encompasses the transition from object-oriented to person-oriented. Essentially, the way things are remembered by people is such that it will evokes a certain response in another person. We //internalize// something so that multiple people can share the same meaning.

Lave and Wenger (1991) represent a critique of the idea of internalization from the situated perspective, suggesting that the focus on internalization "establishes a sharp dichotomy between inside and outside, suggests that knowledge is largely cerebral, and takes the individual as the nonproblematic unit of analysis" (p 47). They acknowledge Vygotsky's work around internalization, but suggest that the interpretations of the idea of the zone of proximal development have largely been overly focused on the individual level, and point to researchers of activity theory and critical psychology as examples of researchers who have interpreted the ZPD from a more social perspective.

Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. National Research Council.