RE: [xmca] Intro to Valsiner's process structure

From: ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
Date: Wed Oct 25 2006 - 10:07:35 PDT


I view Valsiner as being descriptive rather than prescriprtive. He is a
theorist that is very clinical in his explanation of human development this
does come across as possibly punative. As any who have studied Skinner
could well understand.

eric

                                                                                                            
                      "Cunningham,
                      Donald James" To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity"
                      <cunningh who-is-at indian <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
                      a.edu> cc:
                      Sent by: Subject: RE: [xmca] Intro to Valsiner's process structure
                      xmca-bounces who-is-at web
                      er.ucsd.edu
                                                                                                            
                                                                                                            
                      10/25/2006 09:24
                      AM
                      Please respond
                      to "eXtended
                      Mind, Culture,
                      Activity"
                                                                                                            
                                                                                                            

Eric, I have to say that the quote sounds a little like the "Cool Hand
Luke" model of pedagogy/development. If the child does not learn to
behave within the strictures of her/his culture, we have a "failure to
communicate" and we need to get the child's "mind right".

My romantic notion is that education is about expanding choices, to see
those strictures, test them, realize that alternatives are possible, and
then commit to those which you choose. If that is free will, so be it!

But I am bloviating in advance of any real preparation (again), so I
will resist further comment until I am able to read Valsiner.

PS: Cool Hand Luke is a movie starring Paul Newman in the title role.
The movie is famous for the lines quoted above (as well as the hard
boiled egg scene).

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On Behalf Of ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:22 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [xmca] Intro to Valsiner's process structure

Just introductory thoughts that may assist in speedy reading.

Valsiner begins with the assumption that signs (defined as words, both
written and spoken as well as meanings) are mediators in the social
world
as well as the intrapsychological world of the individual. Valsiner
focuses on the regulation process of these signs and lays out a
"hierarchical organizational order" for this mediational process.
Valsiner provides a brief history of his approach and stongly attributes
Pierce's semiotics and Vygotsky's developmental theories as hugely
influential. One aspect of Valsiner's paper that is underdeveloped is
his
discussion of the three models of development. This is done for the
purpose of brevity but the conclusion is that a model to discuss
development should focus on the "future-in-the-making".

Valsiner is most interested in dicussing these "future-in-the-making"
models and how they can focus the theoretic lens on how regulatory
systems
(Valsiner's term for what signs as mediators do) emerge or are
constructed.

Hope there is an interest in this discussion!
eric

Just an aside to provide a bit of insight into my appreciation for
Valsiner's ideas:

This is my favorite quote from Valsiner, "The statement of the goal of
arriving at conscious discipline as a result of education matches
educational and child socialization goals in principle in any culture,
although the particulars of how the socialized person is expected to act
obviously vary. In a way, the common sense concept of independence can
be
viewed as the successful result of cultural socialization within Western
industrialized cultures. That concept has been socialized in conjunction
with Protestant religious belief systems. That belief itself is an
example
of independent dependence ? individuals are socialized within the
culture
(case of dependence) to believe that they are independent of their
environment and "free" to act in any way (idea of independence). The
belief
in one's independence is thus dependent on the culture within which one
is
socialized (Valsiner, 1997, pg. 174)." This quote is from Valsiner's
book
"Culture and the Development of Children's Actions."

                      Ana

                      Marjanovic-Shane To: "eXtended Mind,
Culture, Activity"
                      <ana who-is-at zmajcenter. <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>

                      org> cc:

                      Sent by: Subject: Re: [xmca] split
between objective activity and
                      xmca-bounces who-is-at web self directed activity

                      er.ucsd.edu

                      10/24/2006 03:20

                      PM

                      Please respond

                      to "eXtended

                      Mind, Culture,

                      Activity"

I am all for it, Eric.
Is it possible to get a copy of it?
Ana

ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:
> Anna;
>
> you wrote:
>
> "I would like to better understand this. How are multicellular animals
> connected to the "split" between object oriented activity and self
> directed reflective activity?? Actually, how do you see this split
occur
> phylogenetically and ontogenetically??"
>
> I believe if the XMCA community discusses Valsiner's "Process
structure
of
> semiotic mediation in human development" we may move along the
continuum
> of understanding.
>
> perhaps?
> eric
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
>
>
>

--
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