ABSTRACT
In the 1920s Vygotsky, one of the founders of a socio-historical approach to developmental psychology, was apprenticed to an experienced clinical psychiatrist. A theoretical framework and an interview instrument were developed to study the dynamics of children's behaviour from their own perspective. The aim was to understand children's inner logic, that is, the connections children make between their actions, the goals and values they pursue, and their emotions and emotion regulation. This chapter begins with some theoretical considerations. It then discusses some methodological remarks about the research group and the methods used. The chapter presents some of the research results which shed light on the inner logic of children in a disciplinary situation. It also presents a story which shows a conflict in which exercising pressure on his parents is a means to get his 'rights'; this type of inner logic is found in a fifth of the own children and in none of the foster children.
