Yrjo gives me the chance announce a paper which will come out next =
year in Developmental Review in which we expand this "dialectic" from =
the "cultivation principle" as it was introduced by the German =
sociologist Georg Simmel around 1900 and elaborated later in both the =
pragmatistic view by Rochberg-Halton and recently in a more =
developmental view by our research group at the U of Magdeburg. Please =
find below the abstract to the article. If anybody is interested in =
the whole paper, please let me know.
The cultivated mind: From mental mediation to cultivation
Urs Fuhrer & Ingrid E. Josephs
Department of Psychology
Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg,
Germany
To appear in: Developmental Review, 1998, 18(2)
Abstract
Both Piaget and Vygotsky stressed the role of mediation in human =
development. While Piaget, within his cognitive adaptational model of =
developmental constructivism, identified mental mediation as the =
primary mechanism underlying intellectual development, Vygotsky =
emphasized the cultural mediation by tools, signs, and social =
interaction as the core mechanism of higher mental functioning. =
Despite important differences between these two theorists' =
conceptualizations of developmental mediation, they shared the view =
that cognitive structures are built through a process of =
internalization by reconstituting external (inter)actions in a new =
form on an internal plane. Neither Piaget nor Vygotsky, however, paid =
adequate attention to what Simmel has called the cultivation =
principle. According to this principle, the cultivated mind is =
constructed through the ongoing transactions of the person with his or =
her cultural environment, i.e., permanently changing cultural forms, =
such as personal possessions, places, settings, institutions. These =
cultural forms are mostly overlooked in contemporary developmental =
theorizing and research. Simmel's cultural forms result from =
externalizations of former person-culture transactions. In other =
words, a person shapes or creates his or her own developmental =
conditions by a process of transactional constitution between himself =
or herself and his or her culturally structured environment. Thus, =
human development is not as individual biased as, for example, the =
Piagetian model of adaptive constructivism assumes. Instead, based on =
a cultural-mediational model development is structured through =
person-culture transactions as they are created and re-created by =
cultivating one's own culture (external mind) toward cultivating one's =
own mind (internal mind). These transactions can be facilitated, to =
varying degrees, by social co-constructions. Simply put, the internal =
and the external mind (culture) mutually cultivate or co-develop each =
other.
-- =
Prof. Dr. Urs Fuhrer
Otto-von-Guericke-Universit=E4t
Institut f=FCr Psychologie
PF 4120
D-39016 Magdeburg
Phone: +391/6714-800 /802
Fax: +391/6714-807
Email: urs.fuhrer who-is-at gse-w.uni-magdeburg.de
http://comserv.urz.uni-magdeburg.de/~ipsy/uf/uf.htm
http://comserv.urz.uni-magdeburg.de/~ipsy/ip.html