The Development of the Concept of Perezhivanie (Emotional Experience) in Vygotsky’s Works / La evolución del concepto de perezhivanie (experiencia emocional) en la obra de Vygotski

The cultural-historical theory of perezhivanie emerges from the psychology of art and the theory of education. Premised on the social nature of human consciousness, Vygotsky studies aesthetic and moral perezhivaniya . He concludes that perezhivanie is an emotion that is shared with others. In infants, consciousness arises from the perezhivanie of joint activities with the mother. Around 1930, Vygotsky’s theory shifted towards affects. In perezhivanie , affect acquires sense meaning ( smysl ), thus forming an alliance with intellect. The later Vygotsky finds the ‘unit’ of consciousness in perezhivanie , which he defines as the internal relationship of the personality to the environment. A psychotherapist can transform pathogenic affects into meaningful perezhivaniya . The article ends with an analysis of the metaphor of perezhivanie as a ‘prism’ refracting environmental influences on personality development.