Genuinely broad in scope, each handbook in this series provides a complete state-of-the-field overview of a major sub-discipline within language study, law, education and psychological science research.
Genuinely broad in scope, each handbook in this series provides a complete state-of-the-field overview of a major sub-discipline within language study, law, education and psychological science research.
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This chapter summarizes theory and research descended from Vygotsky and his followers that takes seriously the idea that practice is essential for testing and improving "cultural-historical activity theory" (CH/AT). It reviews some theoretical principles used in CH/AT-inspired intervention research. As applied to the domain of mathematics, the Elkonin-Davydov curriculum is designed to provide students with the clearest possible understanding of the concept of real number. Davydov's work was initially a key inspiration for the Finnish group of activity theorists who have expanded the use of the theory to the world of work. The work led to an intervention toolkit based on the principle of double stimulation. The chapter also discusses the 5th Dimension idiocultures, which routinely create an institutionalized version of a zone of proximal development for participants. Like the Change Laboratories, those who would use the 5th Dimension to challenge CH/AT theories turn to "real life" measures of effectiveness.
This chapter highlights what cultural-genetic psychology considers to be two pillars of orientation of human species: orientation to objects and orientation to social others, described by Wallon and Vygotsky in their respective socio-genetic approaches. It discusses the role of voice and speech in religious directivity and their essential implication in prayer. The analysis of spoken and written protocols emerges as a strategic method, for the study of both directivity in general and that of religious activity in particular. The consideration of external representational phenomena as linked to the processing of internal mental representations opens a door to the external analysis of mental processes from the cognitive perspective. A psychotechnical resource can provide us with extremely rich information on the external and internal mechanisms of mediation. From a mediational perspective, considering humankind as a family indeed appears to be a good psychotecnics of thinking and of feeling.
This chapter reviews psychological studies of emotion in the broad area of cultural psychology. It presents an analysis of indigenous emotional state prevalent among Koreans as an exemplar of illustrating cultural psychological analysis of emotion. The chapter discusses the indigenous analysis in broader context and the implications it has for psychological research in general. The research tradition that followed the universalist paradigm tried to describe commonalities and differences in emotional experience among different cultures. Psychologists in the field of cultural psychology all seem to agree on this constitutive view of culture and emotion. In order to clarify the cultural emotion of shimcheong, the chapter examines several concepts having similar features to it from existing literature. More important task for cultural psychology of emotion is to show how emotion is lived through for individual members to manage their individuality as well as collectivity.
Language acquisition is seen as having a plurality of functions that are themselves linked to a plurality of contexts beyond language without which its uses could not be understood. This chapter explains how the pragmatic perspective was introduced in early Cognitive development through the acquisition of language. In the study of early infancy, it is very common for objects to be treated as natural signs that lead to "natural and direct interpretations. The chapter discusses the Bruner's work in the 1970s, influenced by the philosophers of the linguistic turn. He introduced the idea of "pragmatic opportunism" which humans use when solving problems. Based on the work on triadic adult-infant-object interaction, the chapter highlights the importance of longitudinal, microgenetic and qualitative research, based on the processes of construction. The Peircien approach, which allows for the inclusion of objects and their uses within a semiotic reading, is also discussed.
This chapter focuses on the historical socio-cultural processes of producing psychological theories, and most specifically theories of a socio-cultural kind. Psychology is a consequence of situated activities and thus the knowledge it offers is subordinated to a process of continuous cultural and historical transformation. The chapter describes how human rationality gets shaped in a socio-historical spiral, focusing on how culture establishes and distributes levels of self-reflection about human action. An analysis of the emergence of psychological theories about the socio-cultural phenomenon follows. The chapter then explains how multidisciplinary heritage produced current psychological approaches to socio-cultural phenomena. The sociocultural network of contents, reasons, and meanings, which shape subjectivity and permit to make sense of human activity is examined. Finally, the chapter argues that human behavior involves an activity oriented towards establishing the meaning of experiencing.
This chapter explores young children's conversations as a unique linguistic, social, and cultural phenomenon, by investigating the relative salience, contexts, affordances, structures, and functions of conversation in preschoolers' peer interactions. It reviews the developmental perspective of child-language study and socio-cultural perspective of sociolinguistics and ethnography. The chapter then draws on both in analyzing naturally occurring peer conversations of young Israeli children. The socio-cultural perspective on children's conversations brings to the fore the culturally filtered nature of conversational skills, emphasizing that the specific definition of the scope of normative conversational performance is culture-sensitive and often reflects or echoes underlying cultural norms and ethos. The chapter focuses on initiation and engagement patterns and on the linguistic and topical characteristics of each segment of the interactions to demonstrate the ways preschoolers gradually move from activity-related talk to independent conversations. Then, it discusses the rare cases of non-activity-related talk in preschool peer interaction.
This chapter attempts a contribution to the development of such a promising theory relating to a dialogical self, in the tradition initiated by Hermans and his collaborators. It clarifies the basic axiomatic assumptions of dialogism, in order to create a tool for a critical analysis of the dialogical self-theory. The chapter discusses with some reflections about the structural elements of a dialogical self-description and its dynamics, especially its hierarchical organization. In order to build a dialogical perspective about psychological phenomena, one should probably take into account that (1) the psychological realm is brought to being through the dialogical properties of our existence, and (2) dialogicality is deeply rooted in a given cultural context. A dialogical self is a difficult task for a science that highly values a disengaged subject with rational properties within a society that is still largely formatted by individualistic values.
This chapter addresses how do language, cognition, and subjectivity relate each other. Language is constitutive of the speaking animal's being-in-the world, or in less philosophical terms, language is constitutive of humans' position or situation in the world. Since the early 20th century, cultural differences between languages have been a major topic of scientific debate in linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. The chapter explains some of the theoretical and methodical domains, which currently set much of social and cultural psychology's agenda. It focuses on the relation between language and culture with respect to discourse analysis, theory of social representations, and metaphor analysis. The chapter provides suggestions for cultural psychology's core research aims and research practice. It argues that cultural psychology, needs to clearly dissociate from an objectivistic-naturalistic, a historical understanding of its objects and of itself in order to value the originality of human creations.
This chapter discusses the relationship between children and money in developmental psychology researches. It summarizes the four maxims of developmental psychology for money. First, it is not predicated on the homo economics as rational economic decision-makers. Second, in analyzing children's understanding and knowledge of money, such understanding and knowledge should be always discussed in association with children's life-world, instead of separating from it. Third, it is not predicated on a neutral money goods exchange system in market economy, but should be analyzed in the social context with its own cultures and histories. Fourth, developmental psychology for money inquires how children would appropriate money as a cultural tool and change their participation in their societies through the appropriation. The chapter explores how they would form new culture through implementation of such activities, instead of inquiring how children would understand money as a neutral tool which functions in a market economy system.
Mediationism extends across two contrasting approaches to theory in psychology, namely, the dominant tradition of individualistic, cognitive theory, and the too loyal "opposition" consisting of various alternative approaches. Within cognitive psychology, mediationism has primarily taken the form of representationalism: the appeal to internal rules and representations as a necessary and sufficient basis for explanation within human psychology. The dualisms of matter and mind and of biology and culture are institutionalized in the very structure of modern academic disciplines. Some of the most influential current approaches within social psychology are frank extensions of individualistic cognitive theory to the interpersonal realm, and so it is hardly surprising that representationalism figures centrally in both. The curious thing about the windowless room of mediationism is that there are so many ways of getting into it. Taking note of those different ways is an important first step towards getting over mediationism.
Language acquisition is seen as having a plurality of functions that are themselves linked to a plurality of contexts beyond language without which its uses could not be understood. This chapter explains how the pragmatic perspective was introduced in early Cognitive development through the acquisition of language. In the study of early infancy, it is very common for objects to be treated as natural signs that lead to "natural and direct interpretations. The chapter discusses the Bruner's work in the 1970s, influenced by the philosophers of the linguistic turn. He introduced the idea of "pragmatic opportunism" which humans use when solving problems. Based on the work on triadic adult-infant-object interaction, the chapter highlights the importance of longitudinal, microgenetic and qualitative research, based on the processes of construction. The Peircien approach, which allows for the inclusion of objects and their uses within a semiotic reading, is also discussed.
This chapter focuses on the historical socio-cultural processes of producing psychological theories, and most specifically theories of a socio-cultural kind. Psychology is a consequence of situated activities and thus the knowledge it offers is subordinated to a process of continuous cultural and historical transformation. The chapter describes how human rationality gets shaped in a socio-historical spiral, focusing on how culture establishes and distributes levels of self-reflection about human action. An analysis of the emergence of psychological theories about the socio-cultural phenomenon follows. The chapter then explains how multidisciplinary heritage produced current psychological approaches to socio-cultural phenomena. The sociocultural network of contents, reasons, and meanings, which shape subjectivity and permit to make sense of human activity is examined. Finally, the chapter argues that human behavior involves an activity oriented towards establishing the meaning of experiencing.