On the quest for disciplinary unity and the virtues of open concepts

Journal title RIVISTA DI PSICOLOGIA CLINICA
Author/s Brady Wagoner
Publishing Year 2023 Issue 2022/2
Language English Pages 8 P. 103-110 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rpc2-2022oa14745
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

One key strategy for unifying the discipline of psychology is to develop a meta-theoretical framework through the advancement of core concepts.  Rather than having these be strictly defined from the outset, this commentary argues for the utility of open-ended concepts for scientific advancement. This is illustrated with a brief historical review and current status of Prägnanz, assimiliation-accommodation, schema, liminality and mediation, which also show the difficulties on finding core concepts for psychology as a whole. Open-ended concepts may be useful here in that they can help to bring together converging lines of research from different approaches within psychology. Finally, a case is made for mediationas a core concept that is currently converging with notions of extended and distributed cognition. 

Keywords: ; core concepts; disciplinary unity; mediation; social representations; schema

  1. Valsiner, J. (2003). The process structure of semiotic mediation. Human Development, 44, 84-97.
  2. Valsiner, J. (2012). An Invitation to Cultural Psychology. London: Sage.
  3. Wagoner, B. (2013). Bartlett’s concept of schema in reconstruction. Theory & Psychology, 23(5), 553-575. DOI: 10.1177/0959354313500166
  4. Boesch, E. E. (1971). Zwischen zwei Wirklichkeiten. Prolegomena zu einer ökolgischen Psychologie. Bern: Huber.
  5. Danziger, K. (1990). Constructing the Subject. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  6. Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  7. Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago.
  8. Moscovici, S. (1966). L’histoire des sciences et la science des historiens. Archives Européennes Sociologiques, VII, 116-126. DOI: 10.1017/S0003975600001363
  9. Moscovici, S. (1976/2008). Psychoanalysis: Its image and its public. Polity. Moscovici, S. (1984). The phenomenon of social representations. In R. M. Farr, & S. Moscovici (eds.), Social Representations (pp. 101-123). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  10. Newen, A., De Bruin, L. & Gallagher, S. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  11. Polanyi, M. (1962). Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy. London: Routledge.
  12. Riley, D. A. (1962). Memory for form. In L. Postman (ed.), Psychology in the making. New York, NY: Knopf.
  13. Salvatore, S., Andò, A., Ruggieri, R. A., Bucci, F., Cordella, B., Freda, M.F., Lombardo, C., Coco, G. L., Novara, C., Petito, A., Schimmenti, A., Vegni, E., Venuleo, C., Zagaria, A. & Zennaro, A. (2022). Compartmentalization and unity of professional psychology. A road map for the future of the discipline. Rivista di Psicologia Clinica/Journal of Clinical Psychology (1), 7-33.
  14. Shweder, R. (1991). Thinking through culture: Expediations in cultural psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  15. Stenner, P. Greco, M. & Motzkau, J. F. (2017). Special issue on liminal hotspots. Theory & Psychology, 27(2), 141-289. DOI: 10.1177/09593543166878
  16. Turner, V. (1967). The Forest of Symbols. Ithica: Cornell University Press.
  17. Van Gennep, A. (1960). Rites of Passage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  18. Vygotsky, L. (1987). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Vol. 4. The history of the development of higher mental functions. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
  19. Wagoner, B. (2017a). What makes memory constructive? A study in the serial reproduction of Bartlett’s experiments. Culture & Psychology, 23(2), 186-207. DOI: 10.1177/1354067X17695759
  20. Wagoner, B. (2017b). The constructive mind: Bartlett’s psychology in reconstruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  21. Wagoner, B. & Zittoun, T. (eds.) (2021). Experience on the Edge: Theorizing Liminality. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
  22. Wundt, W. (1890/2009). Outlines of psychology. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library.

Brady Wagoner, On the quest for disciplinary unity and the virtues of open concepts in "RIVISTA DI PSICOLOGIA CLINICA" 2/2022, pp 103-110, DOI: 10.3280/rpc2-2022oa14745