Re: Evolutionary Psychology and Sociocultural Theory

vera p john-steiner (vygotsky who-is-at unm.edu)
Fri, 26 Apr 1996 11:14:33 -0600 (MDT)

Bill,
I think the issue of affect and values is the next major task
for sociocultural theory; could we try to organize a meeting
or symposium dealing with it? In our work on collaboration and my work on
creativity. affect emerges as very important. And I know that many others
are struggling how to broaden our strongly cognitive framework.

Vera
On
Tue, 16 Apr 1996 BPenuel who-is-at aol.com wrote:

> Mark, you write:
>
> "One aspect of sociocultural theory that remains problematic for me is how to
> frame affect, which has typically been construed from an individual
> perspective, and its role in identity formation."
>
> There is some emerging research on this topic, and from a more
> anthropological perspective, I really have enjoyed reading Dorothy Holland's
> work on this issue. She has an article entitled "How cultural systems become
> desire: A case study of American Romance" (In R.G. Andrade & C. Strauss,
> _Human motives and cultural models_) that examines how cultural narratives
> about romance serve to guide the construction of affective responses and
> frame desire for young women in college. (_Educated in Romance_ does this as
> well).
>
> To me, it's quite a challenge to attempt to formulate affect within a
> framework of a semiotic-material practices and in terms of "human action".
> There's a way in which affect has a lot to do with one's
> stance-toward-activity as we've discussed before, and perhaps even toward a
> stance constructed across various activities. And yet the relation is
> perhaps never constant, which is perhaps one reason why many research
> psychologists have been so reluctant to study affect.
>
> Bill Penuel
> _________________________
> PreventionInventions
> PO Box 40692
> Nashville TN 37204
> (615) 297-5923
>
>

---------------------------------
Vera P. John-Steiner
Department of Linguistics
Humanities Bldg. 526
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-6353 or 277-4324
Internet: vygotsky who-is-at triton.unm.edu
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