Abstract
In his essay titled "The Problem of Age," L.S. Vygotsky (2002a) attempted to divide children's developmental changes into some age levels and describe the psychological features of each level. On the surface, this more or less classical approach to developmental change seems inconsistent with contemporary understandings of Vygotsky's theory, because its unit of analysis is too individualistic and culturally general. A close inspection of the essay, however, shows that Vygotsky avoided simple individualism and overemphasis of the culturally general nature of the human mind, by treating the link between personality and the social environment as a partial connection between two relatively independent systems. This unique approach may actually lead to new possibilities for a developmental stage theory in the context of contemporary sociocultural psychology.
