Showing papers by "Jerome S. Bruner published in 2004"

Life as Narrative

Abstract: indeed may not be quite possible But I have no doubt it is worth a try It has to do with the nature of thought and with one of its uses It has been traditional to treat thought, so to speak, as an instrument of reason Good thought is right reason, and its efficacy is measured against the laws of logic or induction Indeed, in its most recent computational form, it is a view of thought that has sped some of its enthusiasts to the belief that all thought is reducible to machine computability But logical thought is not the only or even the most ubiquitous mode of thought For the last several years, I have been looking at another kind of thought (see, eg, Bruner, 1986), one that is quite different in form from reasoning: the form of thought that goes into the construction not of logical or inductive arguments but of stories or narratives What I want to do now is to extend these ideas about narrative to the analysis of the stories we tell about our lives: our "autobiographies" Philosophically speaking, the approach I shall take to narrative is a constructivist one a view that takes as its central premise that "world making" is the principal function of mind, whether in the sciences or in the arts But the moment one applies a constructivist view of narrative to the self-narrative, to the autobiography, one is faced with dilemmas Take, for example, the constructivist view that "stories" do not "happen" in the real world but, rather, are constructed in people's heads Or as Henry James once put it, stories happen to people who know how to tell them Does that mean that our autobiographies are constructed, that they had better be viewed not as a record of what

The Essential Vygotsky

Abstract: Introduction: A Dialogue with Vygotsky Section I: Problems of General Psychology: Thinking and Speech Section introduction Chapter 1: The Problem and the Method of Investigation Chapter 2: The Genetic Roots of Thinking and Speech Chapter 3: Thought and Word Chapter 4: Perception and Its Development in Childhood Chapter 5: Emotions and Their Development in Childhood References and Notes to Section I Section II: The Fundamentals of Defectology (Abnormal Psychology and Learning Disabilities) Section Introduction Chapter 6: Introduction: The Fundamental Problems of Defectology Chapter 7: The Difficult Child Chapter 8: The Dynamics of Child Character Chapter 9: The Collective as a Factor in the Development of the Abnormal Child Section III: Problems of the Theory and History of Psychology: Crisis in Psychology Section Introduction Chapter 10: The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology: A Methodological Investigation Sevtion IV: The History of the Development of High Term Mental Functions: Exegesis of Vygotsky's Text Section Introduction Chapter 11: The Structure of Higher Mental Functions Chapter 12: Mastering Attention Section V: Child Psychology: Vygotsky's Conception of Psychological Development Section Introduction Chapter 13: Development of Thinking and Formation of Concepts in the Adolescent Chapter 14: Dynamics of Structure of the Adolescent's Personality Chapter 15: The Crisis at Age Seven Section VI: Scientific Legacy:Tool and Sign in the Development of the Child Section Introduction Chapter 16: The Problem of Practical Intellect in the Psychology of Animals and the Psychology of the Child Chapter 17: The Function of Signs in the Development of Higher Mental Processes Chapter 18: Sign Operations and Organization of Mental Processes Chapter 19: Analysis of Sign Operations of the Child Bibliography of Works about Vygotsky Index

A short history of psychological theories of learning

Abstract: University, where he teaches principally in the School of Law. With George Miller he founded Harvard's Center for Cognitive Studies in the early 1960s. He has published widely, his work principally focusing on the interaction of mind and culture. His latest book is "Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life" (2002). -L/earning remains an elusive topic, de spite the endless research lavished on it. And what we mean by it, of course, is shaped by how we choose to study it. Concentrate on how children master