Object Details
- Description
- This test of concept formation includes twenty-two blocks of various colors (blue, white, yellow, red, and green) and shapes (square, triangle, circle, semicircle, hexagon, cylinder, and trapezoid). Five blocks have LAG written on them, five MUR, six BLK and six CEV. When the marked sides are placed flat, the blocks marked MUR are all 2 cm. high and have relatively small width. The blocks marked LAG have the same height and a larger width. The blocks marked CEV are all .8 cm. high with a relatively small width. The blocks marked BLK also are all .8 cm. high and have a larger width. The blocks fit in a compact wooden box stained brown that has a top that slides off.
- A paper sticker on the lid of the box reads: Vigotsky (/) test. A sticker on the side of the box is stamped: SHAKOW. It also has written in pen: Ach Sakhaw. A pencil mark on the back of the lid reads: Mr. Shaiko (/) Don Bishop.
- This test is associated with the names of Russian psychologiests Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) and his colleague Leonid Solomonovich Sakharov (1900-1928). According to some sources, Vygotsky’s test had thirty-six pieces, a number reduced to twenty-two by Boris Semeonoff in 1937.
- Not all psychologists admired the test. For example, Grace Helen Kent wrote: “The Vigotsky test may keep the subject working many minutes on false leads, and the chances are against a child’s finding the correct lead at all.”
- References:
- Website www.oxfordreferenc.com, accessed January 24, 2020.
- Website http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/, accessed January 24, 2020.
- G.H. Kent, Mental Tests in Clinics for Children, New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1950, p. 119.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- date made
- ca 1940
- Credit Line
- Gift of David Shakow
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 6 cm x 11.5 cm x 9 cm; 2 3/8 in x 4 17/32 in x 3 17/32 in
- Object Name
- Psychological Test
