ABSTRACT
Areas of psychology are keen to comprehend how man develops, how he learns, and what the explanatory mechanisms of his particular psyche are, compared to animal behavior. The historical-cultural chain opens up a new way of understanding human relationships with the environment, revealing the fundamental role of history and culture in the formation of higher psychological functions – among which, language stands out by its status in the psyche and its role in the development of consciousness. Vygotsky discusses the origin of human thinking and its social constitution by mediation and symbolic processes, particularly influenced by the philosophical considerations of Marx. The historical-cultural perspective, proposed by Vygotsky and his collaborators, adhered to studying the most sophisticated psychological processes that are typical of human species: language, memory, emotion, among others. Contemporary psychology should not neglect theoretical precepts, because they allow us to understand that human consciousness cannot be separated from the history that we live in.
