[xmca] Common ground as the coordination of MARKED activity

[Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>]

Mike

I'm responding to and reflecting on your musings about common GROUND as a
possible way of linking parallel conversations.
I want to amplify a simple common sense term - "MARKED" - that seems to be
central to many discussions on notions of the emergence of self other and
culture.

1) Herbert Clark's article's description of the intricate synchronicity of a
piano duet captures the MARKED social acts that SIGNAL the joint activity
that must be co-ordinated among the participants. He is describing how the
agentic self intentionally uses one's corporeal body as a material object to
signal "directing TO" and "placing-FOR"  intentionally MANIFESTED joint
activity.

 Herbert Clark states "MANIFESTING an action is the doing of that action IN
A TIME, PLACE, OR MANNER INTENDED TO BE RECOGNIZED AS MARKED OR SPECIAL". In
this way it DIRECTS the observer TO that action for a REASON RECOGNIZABLE in
these circumstances. Manifesting an action is therefore a TYPE of
directing-TO. One advantage of a manifesting action is that it is done in
the course of the action it is INTENDED TO MANIFEST. (p 514)

The central point as I read this statement is that manifesting actions are
MARKED [intentional] actions meant to coordinate joint activity.

2) Fonagey, Gergely, and Target in exploring attachment theory emphasize
that the development of "mentalization" in infants is a direct product of
MARKED ENGAGEMENT in coordinating eye gaze etc. smiles, etc.  They emphasize
this is not a process of imitation because the adults behaviors are
exaggerated in order to signal the infant to direct his/her attention TO a
joint activity.  [the adult is operating from a particular horizon of
understanding]

3)Daniel Stern in his book "The present Moment" points to the MARKED signals
that are jointly co-ordinated in a meaningful moment [that has a definite
temporal arc of a few seconds]

4) Alex Gillespie & Jack Martin's neo-Meadian focus on ACTUAL MATERIAL
social ACTS as the GROUND for the development of co-ordinating psychological
perspectives also emphasizes  directing TO and placing FOR  as MARKED
activities where the partners learn to take BOTH positions in a joint
activity.

Now the centrality of the term "marked" when describing manifesting action
must be put into the larger sociohistorical context that explicates what
particular activity becomes MARKED for intentional amplification.  Also,
Herbert Clark's description of the material co-ordination of geographical
places and spaces in the material world also are signals that manifest joint
activity.  Material objects of activity also coordinate joint activity.
HOWEVER the socio-relational level of MARKED joint activity as an
intersubjective and phenomenological reality is a central level of analysis
to understand the notion of joint activity as a precursor to learning how to
coordinate psychological perspectives, develop pseudoconcepts [externally
mediated as described above] and eventually becoming internalized as true
concepts.

I assume that the development of an emerging sense of self with agentic
capacity also follows from coordinated MARKED joint activities.  Attachment
theory is pointing in this direction of MARKED activity BUT needs to
incorporate an historical, sociocultural explanation to its biological
narrative.

Larry
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