How Culture Transforms Mind: A Process of Internalization

In this article a new definition of internalization is proposed, according to which internalization is a process whereby two different mechanisms of information processing, non-verbal ('sensory') thinking and conventional language, that have been differentiated from the 'natural' processes in the course of development become united within a new mental structure. The result of internalization is the development of semiotically mediated, 'cultural' mental operations. Components of the definition, the concept of a structure, of dynamicity (development), of natural and cultural processes, and of semiotic mediation are discussed in relation to one another. The result allows the conceptualization of what makes human environments specific so that only that environment is sufficient for the development of human mind; and what makes human children specific so that only they take advantage of what the human environment affords in a manner not attainable by other animal species.