1. Introduction 2. The emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning 3. The zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research 4. The instruments of expansion 5. Toward an expansive methodology 6. Epilogue.

Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research

Part I. Experimental Studies: 2. Experiment in psychology 3. Experiments on perceiving III Experiments on imaging 4-8. Experiments on remembering: (a) The method of description (b) The method of repeated reproduction (c) The method of picture writing (d) The method of serial reproduction (e) The method of serial reproduction picture material 9. Perceiving, recognizing, remembering 10. A theory of remembering 11. Images and their functions 12. Meaning Part II. Remembering as a Study in Social Psychology: 13. Social psychology 14. Social psychology and the matter of recall 15. Social psychology and the manner of recall 16. Conventionalism 17. The notion of a collective unconscious 18. The basis of social recall 19. A summary and some conclusions.

Remembering. A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, Cambridge (University Press) 1964.

From the Publisher:
The old opposition of matter versus mind stubbornly persists in the way we study mind and brain. In treating cognition as problem solving, Andy Clark suggests, we may often abstract too far from the very body and world in which our brains evolved to guide us. Whereas the mental has been treated as a realm that is distinct from the body and the world, Clark forcefully attests that a key to understanding brains is to see them as controllers of embodied activity. From this paradigm shift he advances the construction of a cognitive science of the embodied mind.

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Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again

The measurement of meaning

How we Think

Volume I Contents: J. Valsiner, L.T. Winegar, Introduction: A Cultural- Historical Context for Social "Context." Part I:Contextualizing Context: Philosophical and Theoretical Approaches. P.M. Davidson, The Role of Social Interaction in Cognitive Development: A Propaedeutic. D. Serniak, Epistemic Bravado and the Problem With Objectivity. M.H. Bickhard, How Does the Environment Affect the Person? M.B. Tappan, Texts and Contexts: Language, Culture, and the Development of Moral Functioning. Part II:Specifying Contexts: Approaches to Theoretical Constructions. L.B. Adamson, Variations in the Early Use of Language. E.A. Forman, Discourse, Intersubjectivity, and the Development of Peer Collaboration: A Vygotskian Approach. K. Kreppner, Development in a Developing Context: Rethinking the Family's Role for Children's Development. D. Kritt, The Mass Media as a Symbolic Context for Socioemotional Development. Volume II Contents: Part I:Clarifying Context: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations. M. Cole, Context, Modularity, and the Cultural Constitution of Development. M.A. Bickhard, Scaffolding and Self-Scaffolding: Central Aspects of Development. P.D. Renshaw, Reflecting on the Experimental Context: Parents' Interpretations of the Education Motive During Teaching Episodes. M.J. Packer, B. Scott, The Hermeneutic Investigation of Peer Relations. Part II:Investigating Contexts: Empirical Endeavors. E. Moss, The Socioaffective Context of Joint Cognitive Activity. S. Ellis, M. Gauvain, Social and Cultural Influences on Children's Collaborative Interactions. J.D. Day, J.G. Borkowski, D.L. Dietmeyer, B.A. Howsepian, D.S. Saenz, Possible Selves and Academic Achievement. M.L. Kelley, T.G. Power, Children's Moral Understanding: Developmental and Social Contextual Determinants. C. Lightfoot, Constructing Self and Peer Culture: A Narrative Perspective on Adolescent Risk Taking. Part III:Re-Contextualizing Context: A Discussion. L.T. Winegar, J. Valsiner, Contextualizing Context: Analysis of Metadata and Some Further Elaborations.

Research and methodology

The Saarbrucken Tradition in Cultural Psychology, and Its Legacy:

Sensuality and sense: cultural construction of the human nature

In this article, we present the blueprint for a new class of methods—inter-modal pre-constructive methods—uniting the value of moving across modalities of understanding (poetry, drawing, music, etc.) in a scheme of microgenetic construction of affective fields. For this purpose, the historical roots of this class of methods were reviewed, and two empirical demonstrations are provided. In the demonstration, the possibility of exploring hyper-generalized feelings was opened up by repeatedly producing the feelings while transforming the modality step by step. In addition, it was suggested that the modality of music could be used as the next possibility. The inter-modal pre-constructive methods are ways of triggering and increasing the difficulty of expression of the original feelings. The difficulty of switching the modality is a new synthesis while keeping attention to the feeling once felt. Alternatively, we felt the feeling of “understanding” about others’ poetry. This implied that poetry, like painting, allowed for a new synthesis of the reader’s experiences. The multiplicity of the synthesis through a particular medium can be called “pluri-synthesis.” While such syntheses are unique to each person, we found that this diversity of meaning-making can be a catalyst for pleromatization through the communication of others’ feelings.

The Inter-modal Pre-Construction Method (IMPreC): Exploring Hyper-Generalization

Both the polyvalent notions of culture and development have been central for building psychological theories. In the present paper, both notions are discussed within the framework of general developmental science and thus from a necessarily systemic perspective. Development is surely culturally informed, yet the process of cultivation is largely unknown until today. One reason for this is the fact that a vast amount of empirical work is conducted quite independently from the construction of adequate theoretical models. The present paper aims at working out the basis of a theoretical model of culture-inclusive development. Cultivation takes mainly place in the semiotic sphere of personal sign construction and reconstruction under cultural guidance. Sign construction is dynamically organized and canalized on different related levels of organization: micro-, mesoand ontogenesis. The radical methodological implications for investigating cultural developmental phenomena on the basis of this model are outlined.

Jaan Valsiner

Papers

Research and methodology

The Saarbrucken Tradition in Cultural Psychology, and Its Legacy:

Sensuality and sense: cultural construction of the human nature

The Inter-modal Pre-Construction Method (IMPreC): Exploring Hyper-Generalization

Developmental Science Meets Culture: Cultural Developmental Psychology in the Making