Rebuilding the ship at sea: The historical and theoretical problems of constructionist epistemologies in psychology.

Argues that constructionist positions may provide important answers to critiques of psychological theories in the twentieth century. Focus is on the mental characterization of psychology and the intentional nature of the mental. The constructionist argument in psychology is drawn by tracing its roots in the sociology of knowledge and antifoundational philosophy. The problems of language bear centrally on the constructionist thesis, particularly the view that psychological phenomena are inherently linguistic and lingual. In recent years, constructionist programs in psychology have begun to reorient and reconstruct understandings of the subject matter in such areas as social, developmental, and cognitive psychology. The charge of relativism remains a serious challenge for the constructionist, although a coherentist interpretation of constructionist justifications may resolve this issue. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support as a focus for integrative research in psychology.

Examines contemporary interest in the nature and health-protective effects of social support in light of the historical evolution of community psychology. Fostering of social support systems offers an avenue toward primary prevention, and the social network as a unit of social structure lends greater meaning and psychological import to the term community. Priorities for research on the topic of social support are discussed, with particular attention given to potential contributions from other branches of psychology, including the personality, social, developmental, and cognitive areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of essay: Critical theories of psychological development.

Reviews the book, Critical theories of psychological development, edited by John M. Broughton (see record 1988-98228-000). This is a collection of essays geared toward both rethinking the nature of mainstream academic developmental psychology and providing alternative directions in which future work might move. For those social scientists—psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and historians—interested both in facing the concept of development head on and expanding their own vision of what developmental psychology is and could be, this collection of essays will provide an excellent opportunity to do so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologies of structure, function, and development.

Reviews E. B. Titchner's 1898 analogy between the anatomical, physiological, and morphogenetic aspects of biological research and the structural, functional, and developmental aspects of psychological research. This analogy is applied to contemporary divisions within psychology. In psychology, structural research tends to be described in the cognitive or mentalist vocabulary, and functional research in the behaviorist vocabulary. However, this correlation is accidental. Structural and functional dimensions of psychological problems and their relation to developmental research are examined. It is concluded that much psychological controversy is caused by concern with different problems, and not by different paradigms for studying the same problems. (45 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prophetic vision of Giambattista Vico: Implications for the state of social psychological theory.

Discusses 3 heuristic themes that emerge in Vico's writings and their implications for social psychology: (a) that human nature and society are in perpetual flux; (b) that there are recursive trends in social behavior influenced by human events; and (c) that it is possible, by transhistorical analysis, to identify these cyclical patterns, as well as their systematic influence upon trends in theories of human nature and society. The question is raised whether some motive explanations and psychological norms or processes that are presumed to be space–time universals may, analogous to Newtonian physics, turn out to be "closed theories," which in the case of social psychology are dependent upon what Vico conceived of as the course and recourse of events. A discussion of current research examples is presented that illustrates the applicability of these themes pursuant to a genetic social psychology, which emphasizes the origins (genesis) and development of social behavior. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflicting perspectives on shamans and shamanism: Points and counterpoints.

Shamans' communities grant them privileged status to attend to those groups' psychological and spiritual needs. Shamans claim to modify their attentional states and engage in activities that enable them to access information not ordinarily attainable by members of the social group that has granted them shamanic status. Western perspectives on shamanism have changed and clashed over the centuries; this address presents points and counterpoints regarding what might be termed the demonic model, the charlatan model, the schizophrenia model, the soul flight model, the degenerative and crude technology model, and the deconstructionist model. Western interpretations of shamanism often reveal more about the observer than they do about the observed; in addressing this challenge, the study of shamanism could make contributions to cognitive neuroscience, social psychology, psychological therapy, and ecological psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evolutionary Psychology From a Developmental Systems Perspective: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003).

Although agreeing with R. Lickliter and H. Honeycutt (2003; see record 2003-09105-001) that evolutionary psychology lacks and should adopt a coherent developmental model to explain how evolved mechanisms become expressed in phenotypes, it is argued that adhering to the principles of developmental systems theory, despite enhancing evolutionary psychology, would not change appreciably its basic focus. The concepts of innateness and modularity, what is inherited and what evolves, as well as the possible role of developmental plasticity in the evolution of human cognition are discussed. It is proposed that evolutionary psychology can incorporate the developmental systems perspective into its theorizing, with the end result being a science that more closely reflects human nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychology of humor: An integrative approach.

Reviews the book, The psychology of humor: An integrative approach by Rod A. Martin (see record 2006-21361-000). This book is not a particularly funny read--though it has its moments--but it is a very well-written, well-organized, comprehensive reference guide to the psychology of humor. The Introductory chapter provides a nice overview of the rest of the book. Here Martin defines what is meant by the broad term humor, discusses the many forms and functions of humor, and provides a concise, informative history of thinking about humor. Martin then includes two chapters that address five theoretical approaches: psychoanalytic, superiority/disparagement, arousal, incongruity, and reversal theory. The second part of the book is organized into different psychological subtopics, which makes it very easy to navigate. This part includes sections on the cognitive, social, psychobiological, personality, and developmental approaches to the study of humor. The book concludes with chapters on the link between humor and both mental and physical health, and presents research on the application of humor in psychotherapy, education, and the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology as a means of promoting human welfare.

Discusses the methods by which psychologists, not psychology as a whole, contribute to social change. The role of the American Psychological Association is presented as a supporting rather than leading factor. It is emphasized "that understanding and prediction are better goals . . . than is control." It is proposed that the adaptive process be changed to achieve these goals. "2 alternative images -are presented= of what the popular conception of human nature might become" as a result of the psychological revolution. It is concluded that a "peaceful revolution based on a new conception of human nature" will result from the instillation of scientific facts in the public consciousness. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new wave of innovations in psychology: High intellectual and creative educational multimedia technologies.

This article describes high intellectual and creative educational multimedia technologies (HICEMTs), which will constitute one of the innovative breakthroughs in science and technology of the 21st century and will lead to a new wave of innovations in psychology. HICEMTs appear at the intersection of many subdisciplines of psychology (including general, cognitive, developmental, educational, personality, media, cyber, and applied), education, and multimedia. The general and specific nature of HICEMTs is considered. The importance of HICEMTs is discussed from technological, economic, societal, educational, and psychological perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some theoretical issues confronting developmental psychologists.

A nagging persistent problem for developmental psychologists has always been the nativism-empiricism controversy. It is still with us today in almost every facet of developmental psychology. This issue is leading to an increasing "ecological" perspective in developmental psychology the end result of which is not clear yet. While Piagetian theory remains the reference point for much of cognitive developmental psychology, there has been a very marked decline in the degree to which many cognitive researchers subscribe to that theory. At the moment there is no grand integrative theory of cognitive development such Piaget's, much less of the field of developmental psychology as a whole. However, this may mean that the field as a whole is more open to different theoretical approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allez jouer dehors! Contributions de l'environnement urbain au développement et au bien-être des enfants.

This article brings together knowledge from environmental, community, developmental and health psychology for two purposes: The first is to examine the influence of the urban environment on children's wellness and on how children benefit from their environment to play and develop. The second objective presents recommendations regarding intervention, research and social policy for psychologists to follow favouring children's development within the urban environment. We focus on two urban environments: Spaces adjoining their residence provide children with stimulation, opportunities to run around, play and explore the physical and social world, develop personal identity, self-esteem and enhance their ability to deal with stress. The second urban environment we focus on are playgrounds, which can also serve children's physical, cognitive and social developmental needs. Physical, cognitive and psychological limitations make children vulnerable to traffic accidents. The article continues with the presentation of an action plan. There are a number of ways to increase place attachment and sense of belonging within the neighborhood so that children can play safely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological study of whole families.

Analysis of whole families is delineated as a field of psychological study. Relevance to psychology of personality and social psychology is shown. Emergence of the field is traced, and major current approaches are examined. A general conceptual framework, growing out of and integrating data from psychology and other behavioral sciences, is shown to be developing. Evidence suggests that a great range of psychological phenomena, including, illustratively, social attitudes, psychosomatic symptoms, cognitive functioning, identity formation, affiliative behavior, can be illuminated by psychological study of whole families. Principal current research methods are briefly discussed. (3-p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

John Dewey and human development.

John Dewey (1859–1952) was an American philosopher-psychologist of international acclaim. Although he did not greatly influence early American psychology, Dewey's relevance to contemporary psychology is manifold. He identified the problem of social psychology as the relationship between human nature and changing social circumstances, proposed means and a rationale to broaden the empiricism of psychology to encompass domains outside of the traditional laboratory setting, suggested that functional rather than structural characteristics differentiate childish from adult reasoning, and proposed a theory of noninevitable child development in which social values and practices play essential roles. Dewey proposed that by elucidating mechanisms for realizing desired values, psychology can be an empirically based instrument for promoting human development and social progress in a democratic society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science.

Although commentators periodically declare that Freud is dead, his repeated burials lie on shaky grounds. Critics typically attack an archaic version of psychodynamic theory that most clinicians similarly consider obsolete. Central to contemporary psychodynamic theory is a series of propositions about (a) unconscious cognitive, affective, and motivational processes; (b) ambivalence and the tendency for affective and motivational dynamics to operate in parallel and produce compromise solutions; (c) the origins of many personality and social dispositions in childhood; (d) mental representations of the self, others, and relationships; and (e) developmental dynamics. An enormous body of research in cognitive, social, developmental, and personality psychology now supports many of these propositions. Freud's scientific legacy has implications for a wide range of domains in psychology, such as integration of affective and motivational constraints into connectionist models in cognitive science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phenomenology depends on human nature.

Comments on the article "Psychology and Phenomenology: A Clarification" by H. H. Kendler (see record 2005-05480-003). Kendler contrasted objective phenomena going on in the mind with phenomenological convictions. He concluded, on the basis of a thoughtful analysis, that scientific psychology cannot validate moral principles, which have to be agreed upon by discussion among educated members of a democratic community. He recommended psychological research on the consequences of social policies that may facilitate humans' decisions. I argue that research on the nature of phenomenological convictions is useful as well, enabling human beings to amend their strategies when reasoning about moral values. Scientific psychology can contribute to moral reasoning not only by examining social consequences of certain policies but also by highlighting the very process, starting from phenomenological convictions and ending in moral values within a community. Thus, psychological research contributes to the reflection of how members of a community exert their freedom and may give them the opportunity to enhance their reasoning and negotiation procedures. Scholars have to be humble and admit that the limit to this enhancement lies in the limitations of human reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A stimulus–response social psychology?

Comments on D. Kipnis's (see record 199707781-001) article that critically analyzes social psychology's assumption that psychological states can explain social behavior. The present author suggests that, essentially, Kipnis is calling for a return to behavioral social psychology, in suggesting that social psychology be solely concerned with explanations of what social behavior arises in response to objective changes in technology. The author continues that it is certainly not the case that humans are merely reactive in response to environmental stimuli (including technology), but, rather, as Dewey and Mead argued, they are equally proactive, causal, influencing agents acting on the environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of science: Review and integration of a nascent discipline.

Disciplines that study science are relatively well established in philosophy, history, and sociology. Psychology of science, by comparison, is a late bloomer but has recently shown signs of codification. The authors further this codification by integrating and reviewing the growing literature in the developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology of science. Only by integrating the findings from each of these perspective can the basic questions in the study of scientific behavior be answered: Who becomes a scientist and what role do biology, family, school, and gender play? Are productivity, scientific reasoning, and theory acceptance influenced by age? What thought processes and heuristics lead to successful discovery? What personality characteristics distinguish scientists from nonscientists and eminent from less eminent scientists? Finally, how do intergroup relations and social forces influence scientific behavior? A model that integrates the consensual empirical findings from the psychology of science is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unraveling the mysteries of anxiety and its disorders from the perspective of emotion theory.

The ascendance of emotion theory, recent advances in cognitive science and neuroscience, and increasingly important findings from developmental psychology and learning make possible an integrative account of the nature and etiology of anxiety and its disorders. This model specifies an integrated set of triple vulnerabilities: a generalized biological (heritable) vulnerability, a generalized psychological vulnerability based on early experiences in developing a sense of control over salient events, and a more specific psychological vulnerability in which one learns to focus anxiety on specific objects or situations. The author recounts the development of anxiety and related disorders based on these triple vulnerabilities and discusses implications for the classification of emotional disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)