Showing papers in "Culture and Psychology in 1996"
TL;DR: The authors argue that culture is not a rigid or static entity, but a dynamic, in constant flux across individuals within cultures, and across time, and use the dimension of individ...
Abstract: We argue that culture is not a rigid or static entity. Instead, it is dynamic, in constant flux across individuals within cultures, and across time. In this article, we use the dimension of individ...
154 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated individual constructions of the concept of human nature by using an adulthood interview and culturally adapted dilemma stories and found that subjects from different cultures conceptualize similar structures of understanding human nature at different levels of complexity.
Abstract: Adopting a constructivist approach, individual constructions of the concept of human nature were investigated by using an 'adulthood interview' and culturally adapted dilemma stories. Subjects were young adults with higher education, including university students and individuals already in work from the US, Indonesia, Japan and Korea. The central hypothesis that subjects from different cultures conceptualize similar structures of understanding human nature at different levels of complexity was clearly confirmed. A second complementary hypothesis assumed that subjects from eastern cultures emphasize a more collective and interdependent identity compared with US subjects. Content analysis revealed that all subjects from eastern cultures elaborated characteristics of interdependency that were viewed as crucial for human nature, while US subjects emphasized aspects of individuality and independence. However, without exception, eastern subjects also simultaneously stressed autonomous identity. Conflict resolutions resulting from contradictions between independent and interdependent identity are described by examples from Indonesia (parent-child conflict) and Japan (self-other conflict). Finally, a combination of universal structural levels and of a culturally shaped conception of identity is suggested, assuming that the interdependent self, more pronounced in eastern cultures, and independent identities, more elaborated in western cultures, are conceived at different structural levels of increasing complexity that show universal characteristics.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that Vygotsky's concept of culture was codetermined by two fundamental traditions in the human sciences: Humboldt's and progressive thought.
Abstract: It is shown that Vygotsky's concept of culture was codetermined by two fundamental traditions in the human sciences. The first tradition was initiated by Humboldt and exerted a powerful influence on Vygotsky's thinking through the works of Potebnya and Shpet. Vygotsky's thinking about linguistic mediation was to a large extent determined by this tradition. The second tradition was that of Marxism and progressive thought and influenced Vygotsky's thinking about such notions as tool-use and social and cultural progress. The way in which Vygotsky combined these different perspectives in his concept of culture is described. It is suggested that this concept of culture was powerful but also limited and biased.
51 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a concept of culture as practical, socially organized human activity is presented, and the manner in which cultural activity organizes psychological functions is explored in detail, and reciprocal influence of psychological functions on culture is also described.
Abstract: This paper articulates a concept of culture as practical, socially organized human activity. Culture is not simply shared conceptual understandings, as many cultural psychologists believe. The manner in which cultural activity organizes psychological functions is explored in detail. The reciprocal influence of psychological functions on culture is also described.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new definition of internalization was proposed, according to which internalization is a process whereby two different mechanisms of information processing, non-verbal ('sensory') thinking and conventional language, that have been differentiated from the 'natural' processes in the course of development become united within a new mental structure.
Abstract: In this article a new definition of internalization is proposed, according to which internalization is a process whereby two different mechanisms of information processing, non-verbal ('sensory') thinking and conventional language, that have been differentiated from the 'natural' processes in the course of development become united within a new mental structure. The result of internalization is the development of semiotically mediated, 'cultural' mental operations. Components of the definition, the concept of a structure, of dynamicity (development), of natural and cultural processes, and of semiotic mediation are discussed in relation to one another. The result allows the conceptualization of what makes human environments specific so that only that environment is sufficient for the development of human mind; and what makes human children specific so that only they take advantage of what the human environment affords in a manner not attainable by other animal species.
49 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that psychology has failed to come to terms with the cultural context within which identities are established, focusing on consumption as a means of identity formation in a 'postmodern' culture.
Abstract: Arguing that psychology has failed to come to terms with the cultural context within which identities are established, this paper focuses on consumption as a means of identity formation in a 'postmodern' culture It is suggested that the impact of consumption upon contemporary identities might be better understood by focusing upon the meanings with which young consumers endow consumer goods In particular, data obtained through a participant observation in a sports shop in a northern English town are used to illustrate some of the misunderstandings that have arisen as a result of conceptualizations of the fragility of postmodern identities The importance of applying theoretical insights (eg Bourdieu, Simmel) alongside innovative methodologies is therefore stressed
41 citations
TL;DR: Bartlett's early articles offer a project for a cultural psychology which also foresees a theory of activity, as well as developing a set of categories which allow a transition from the social to the individual levels of analysis as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the examination of the early production of F.C. Bartlett devoted to the psychological study of an anthropological question: the conventionalization of cultural materials. His early articles offer a project for a cultural psychology which also foresees a theory of activity, as well as developing a set of categories which allow a transition from the social to the individual levels of analysis. His view of how symbols are created, transmitted and changed is also of particular interest, both in individual and in social life, as is his discussion of the role feelings play in semiosis.
40 citations
TL;DR: The presence of different ways of carrying out a socialization activity in families in a particular cultural group raises questions about how ways of acting and cultural identity are represented in the media as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The presence of different ways of carrying out a socialization activity in families in a particular cultural group raises questions about how ways of acting and cultural identity are represented in...
21 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the analytic use of intellectual histories in defining disciplinary issues and discuss Bartlett's use of cultural issues in his presentation of himself in autobiography as a psychologist; they examine continuities of interest in sociocultural issues in Bartlet's work and identify the discursive analysis of remembering as illustrating Bartlett' intellectual legacy to a culturally projected study of psychological functioning.
Abstract: In commenting on Alberto Rosa's paper-'Bartlett's Psycho-anthropological Project' (1996) we examine the analytic use of intellectual histories in defining disciplinary issues and discuss Bartlett's use of cultural issues in his presentation of himself in autobiography as a psychologist; we examine continuities of interest in sociocultural issues in Bartlett's work and identify the discursive analysis of remembering as illustrating Bartlett's intellectual legacy to a culturally projected study of psychological functioning.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the discrepancy between theoretical assumptions of the dynamic nature of culture, and measurement of individualism-collectivism in terms of traditional psychometric scales is pointed out by pointing to the discrepancy.
Abstract: Matsumoto, Kudoh and Takeuchi's (1996) article is challenged in this commentary by pointing to the discrepancy between theoretical assumptions of the dynamic nature of culture, and measurement of individualism-collectivism in terms J of traditional psychometric scales. Data from an Estonian study of a similar kind are provided to add to the complex picture of statements about individualism and collectivism in different countries. The counter-intuitive finding of Matsumoto et al. about collectivism in the United States requires further analysis, which may take the form of considering the hierarchy of the concepts of 'collectivism' and 'individualism' as providing for heterogeneous profiles of individuals' relations with their complex social worlds. If psychometric techniques were to be utilized to study this heterogeneity, they would need to provide at least profiles of individualism and collectivism in different content domains (e.g. family, peers, society), and the actual meanings studied via psychometri...
18 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that every object or behavioural act is a symbol if it has all of the following characteristics: symbol must be an object or phenomenon that can be directly perceived through sense organs; meaning of symbols must be shared by organisms; symbols must refer to objects, events or phenomena; it must be possible to use a symbol differently from its referents; and internalization is possible only by means of symbols with such characteristics.
Abstract: Tomasello disagrees with my position that language is the only human artefact that potentiates internalization. Tomasello's position seems to imply that language can be only verbal. My position is that every object or behavioural act is a symbol if it has all of the following characteristics: symbol must be an object or phenomenon that can be directly perceived through sense organs; meaning of symbols must be shared by organisms; symbols must refer to objects, events or phenomena; it must be possible to use a symbol differently from its referents. Internalization is possible only by means of symbols with such characteristics.
TL;DR: Toomela (1996) has emphasized the psychological dimensions of the process by which human children become participants in cultures as mentioned in this paper and support his arguments with observations of chimpanzees, which ar...
Abstract: Toomela (1996) has emphasized the psychological dimensions of the process by which human children become participants in cultures. I support his arguments with observations of chimpanzees, which ar...
TL;DR: While being productive in its way of counteracting mentalism, Ratner's (1996) activity approach yields many problems that are critically discussed in the present paper as discussed by the authors, where activity theorists' l...
Abstract: While being productive in its way of counteracting mentalism, Ratner's (1996) activity approach yields many problems that are critically discussed in the present paper. First, activity theorists' l...
TL;DR: The Oerter et al. analysis suggests key issues that need to be addressed in the process of studying the concept of human nature, and argues for methodological consistency across comparison cultures.
Abstract: Oerter, Oerter, Agostiani, Kim and Wibowo (1996) present an intriguing framework for studying concepts of human nature, and they offer thought-provoking applications of that framework to culture and to the primary-secondary control model. Their evidence that primary control is more characteristic of American subjects than those in Japan, Korea and Indonesia harmonizes well with our view (see Weisz, Rothbaum, & Blackburn, 1984a, 1984b). The work raises important issues for the assessment of control orientation. In addressing these issues, we (a) argue for methodological consistency across comparison cultures; (b) stress the need to know both an individual's actions and goals for accurate assessment of primary and secondary control; (c) note the need to assess steps or sequences in the pursuit of control; (d) discuss control as it relates to religion, and to individualism-collectivism; and (e) note the potential relevance of primary and secondary control to all stage levels in the Oerter et al. model. Study...
TL;DR: The process of identity formation is approached from the multilevel perspective of symbiotic, distributed units (dyads, groups of consciousness, communities) that follows from a sociocultural interpretation of the issue of identity as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The process of identity formation is approached from the multilevel perspective of symbiotic, distributed units (dyads, groups of consciousness, communities) that follows from a sociocultural interpretation of the issue of identity. According to that view, objects in general, and consumer goods in particular, are seen as psychological tools that are directed towards oneself as much as towards others. The process of socio-economic change that has replaced the socially mediated identification of goods by an instrumental and visual identification seems to be extending to personal identities. The effect of consumption and mass communication processes would seem to point to the fragmentation of the different units into separate and even confronting identities, as well as to the dramatization of objects in the symbolic narratives of postmodern identities constructed through advertising.
TL;DR: Nicolopoulou and Weintraub as discussed by the authors raised doubts about the extent of the relevance of the Humboldtian tradition for Vygotsky's concept of culture, and his semiotic approach in general.
Abstract: Nicolopoulou and Weintraub (1996) raised doubts about the extent of the relevance of the Humboldtian tradition for Vygotsky's concept of culture, and his semiotic approach in general. However, these doubts are unfounded—Vygotsky was in direct contact with the 19th-century German traditions of philosophical analyses of language, as well as with their Russian elaborations. Furthermore, Vygotsky borrowed theoretical notions from two distinct traditions of thought—often contrasted (by Soviet sources) as 'idealist' and 'materialist.' Defying the demand to make such contrasts mutually exclusive, Vygotsky tried to blend productive moments from each of them into his approach. He was not a 'cultural relativist' in the sense of present-day North American social discourse. It is suggested that the concepts of development and relativism are in need of further elaboration, in ways that allow recognition of local progress while avoiding global claims where the bases of comparison are not made explicit.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the uses of the past in intellectual history and in science, borrowing the concept of symbolic market from Pierre Bourdieu, the production of new texts within a discursive formation is pictured as a process of consumption-production whose outcomes are attributed a certain value by the consumers of the text.
Abstract: This paper focuses on an examination of the uses of the past in intellectual history and in science. Borrowing the concept of symbolic market from Pierre Bourdieu, the production of new texts within a discursive formation (a la Michel Foucault) is pictured as a process of consumption-production whose outcomes are attributed a certain value by the consumers of the text. This view can be applied both to scientific and to historical products, which have their own independent-even if relatedepistemic markets with different criteria for attribution of value. Whatever the case, when events or discourses of the past appear in a current discourse it is because they are of some use as a way of providing a narrationality for current and future actions.
TL;DR: In this article, a brief summary of the authors' conceptual framework for cross-cultural comparison is given, and they suggest that the universal levels of conceptualization that the authors claim to exis...
Abstract: After a brief summary of my understanding of the authors' conceptual framework for cross-cultural comparison, I suggest that the universal levels of conceptualization that the authors claim to exis...
TL;DR: Van der Veer's (1996) article brings the inherent tensions in Vygotsky's notion of culture to the attention of a contemporary readership as discussed by the authors, which is not the case with the prevailing ethos on principled equality of cultures that is assumed by many contemporary Anglo-Saxon directions of social thought.
Abstract: Van der Veer's (1996) article brings the inherent tensions in Vygotsky's notion of culture to the attention of a contemporary readership. On the one hand, Vygotsky's intellectual linkages with Continental European language philosophies led him to adopt a hierarchical notion of 'cultural progress', which was also present in the social context of the Soviet Union in the 1920s. On the other hand, such a hierarchical view-of cultures differing qualitatively from each other-does not fit with the prevailing ethos on principled equality of cultures that is assumed by many contemporary Anglo-Saxon directions of social thought. In this respect, appropriation of Vygotskian ideas is complicated by the fact that, since Vygotsky's time, there has been a major shift in the predominant understanding of what it means to be 'progressive'. If 'progressive' in Vvgotsky's context led to efforts to build up a new (and 'higher' or 'more just') form of society (and 'new' kind of personality), then in the prevailing ideology of ...
TL;DR: This article argued that Piaget's emphasis on non-linguistically mediated forms of behavior and his concern to explain what enables individuals to create new meanings and new forms of behaviour can contribute to the overcoming of some of the limitations of Vygotsky's concept of culture.
Abstract: The analysis of the two fundamental traditions that shape Vygotsky's concept of culture is used by Rene van der Veer (1996) to point out both the power and the limitations of this concept in Vygotsky's theory. Two of these limitations-the absence of non-linguistically mediated aspects of culture and the difficulty in explaining innovation by individuals are treated in this commentary from a piagetian point of view. It is argued that Piaget's emphasis on non-linguistically mediated forms of behaviour and his concern to explain what enables individuals to create new meanings and new forms of behaviour can contribute to the overcoming of some of the limitations of Vygotsky's concept of culture.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of culture in stimulating both universal levels of construction and culture-specific shaping of knowledge is discussed, and there is an attempt to answer Minoura's questions with regard to this issue.
Abstract: In response to Minoura (1996) it is argued that a hypothesis-generating orientation has to be followed by a hypothesis-testing approach, a sequence which was also pursued with the structural levels of the concept of human nature. The role of culture in stimulating both universal levels of construction and culture-specific shaping of knowledge is discussed, and there is an attempt to answer Minoura's questions with regard to this issue. In response to the suggestions of Weisz, Eastman and McCarty (1996) it is proposed to extend the concept of control beyond the hitherto existing conceptualization in order to arrive at a universal construct of control.