The Critique of Regression

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 1097-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory S. Rizzolo

The term regression refers to the idea that a person can return to earlier phases of mental development and the primitive modes of functioning associated with them. A core concept in both conflict and deficit models of development, the idea has nonetheless come under increasing scrutiny from critics who argue that it misleads us into a genetic fallacy whereby we reduce the issues of adolescent and adult development to their childhood precursors. Inderbitzen and Levy (2000) suggest that we focus on transformations, or shifts, in mental organization, instead of on regressions. But discarding the concept of regression has theoretical implications: to adopt instead a focus on shifts in mental organization we must (1) consider our object of study to be the meaning-making person, not isolated instincts or needs; (2) understand conscious and unconscious mental life to be embedded in the here-and-now relational field; and (3) adopt a lifespan model of development. The aim here is to outline a theoretical framework in which we can more fully explore the possibility of discarding “regression” in favor of a focus on transformations in the developmental present.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Taves ◽  
Egil Asprem ◽  
Elliott Daniel Ihm

To get beyond the solely negative identities signaled by atheism and agnosticism, we have to conceptualize an object of study that includes religions and non-religions. We advocate a shift from “religions” to “worldviews” and define worldviews in terms of the human ability to ask and reflect on “big questions” ([BQs], e.g., what exists? how should we live?). From a worldviews perspective, atheism, agnosticism, and theism are competing claims about one feature of reality and can be combined with various answers to the BQs to generate a wide range of worldviews. To lay a foundation for the multidisciplinary study of worldviews that includes psychology and other sciences, we ground them in humans’ evolved world-making capacities. Conceptualizing worldviews in this way allows us to identify, refine, and connect concepts that are appropriate to different levels of analysis. We argue that the language of enacted and articulated worldviews (for humans) and world-making and ways of life (for humans and other animals) is appropriate at the level of persons or organisms and the language of sense making, schemas, and meaning frameworks is appropriate at the cognitive level (for humans and other animals). Viewing the meaning making processes that enable humans to generate worldviews from an evolutionary perspective allows us to raise news questions for psychology with particular relevance for the study of nonreligious worldviews.


Author(s):  
Giuliana Dettori

It is widely recognized that learners are empowered by interacting with peers on relevant, content-related matters, and are encouraged to feel involved in their own educational process. In order to really support learning, however, interactions need to be structured and organized by means of some suitable pedagogical approach. In this chapter, the author argues that narratives (in the form of both fictional stories and narrations of experiences related to the object of study) can provide a pedagogical framework suitable to exploit the educational potential of interactions. The narrative is an expressive form which is natural and familiar to both children and adults and validly supports meaning-making as well as personal engagement. Moreover, it is an inherently social activity, which makes it particularly suitable to support collaborative activities. This chapter analyzes several examples of narrative activities carried out in different collaborative contexts in order to exemplify how they can be organized to efficaciously support learner interaction.


2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Quennerstedt

A theoretical framework for analyzing and discussing subject content in physical education that takes both learning content and teaching content into consideration is presented. For this purpose, John Dewey’s transactional approach on meaning making (Altman & Rogoff, 1987; Bentley & Dewey, 1991) as well as a discourse theoretical position (Foucault, 1988, 2002; Wetherell, Taylor & Yates, 2001) are used. On the one hand, this makes it possible to analyze the institutional content and conditions of meaning making in physical education, and on the other to discuss the content offered as one aspect of pupils’ meaning making. An empirical example of the outlined approach is also given from a previous study of local curriculum documents in Swedish physical education (Quennerstedt, 2006a, 2006b). The example illustrates how we can understand aspects of meaning making in physical education and also the research claims made possible using a transactional approach.


Author(s):  
Julio César Tovar-Gálvez

Resumen:El artículo se ubica en el campo de la formación investigativa de docentes, para luego centrarse en el proceso de definición del problema de investigación en proyectos educativos; para lo cual plantea la investigación educativa desde la escuela como un proceso emergente del contexto, y a la problematización como proceso de construcción del objeto de estudio. En lo experimental el objetivo es estudiar el proceso de problematización que realizan 15 estudiantes de un programa de maestría en didáctica de las ciencias, a través del análisis de sus proyectos en versión previa y final al curso de investigación educativa. Metodológicamente se definen cuatro categorías de análisis: a) objeto de estudio, b) procesos y contexto, c) soporte teórico, y d) estado del arte. Los resultados muestran que inicialmente la mayoría de los profesores conceptualizan al problema como algo a resolver, pero no como un proceso; posteriormente se identifica que varios logran fundamentar el problema desde procesos de reconocimiento de la comunidad y el contexto. En conclusión se identifica una conceptualización del problema cada vez más próximo a un proceso que se construye en contexto, con soporte en teorías educativas, pero con falencia en cuanto al uso de otras investigaciones que en el campo de investigación pueden aportar a comprender mejor el problema o identificar posibles soluciones. Abstract:The paper is placed in the field of teachers' research training, and then focus on the process of defining the research problem of the projects. In this way here is raised that the educational research from school is a contextual emerging process, and the problematization is a process for building the object of study. Experimentally, the objective is to study the problematization process of 15 students making a master's program in science education, by analyzing theirprojects before and after of an educational research course. Methodologically four analysis categories are defined: a) object of study, b) processes and context, c) theoretical framework, and, d) state of the art. The results show that initially most teachers conceptualize the problem as something to be solved, but not as a process; subsequently at the end of the course, most of teachers achieve to support theoretically the research problem and define it from the community and context. In conclusion the teachers have got a conceptualization of the research problem closer to a building process in context, with support from educational theories, but flaw in the use of other research in the field which could contribute them with a better understand of the problem and to identify possible solutions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 617-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Kjellström ◽  
Ann-Christine Andersson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address how adult development (AD) theories can contribute to quality improvement (QI). Design/methodology/approach A theoretical analysis and discussion on how personal development empirical findings can relate to QI and Deming’s four improvement knowledge domains. Findings AD research shows that professionals have qualitatively diverse ways of meaning-making and ways to approach possibilities in improvement efforts. Therefore, professionals with more complex meaning-making capacities are needed to create successful transformational changes and learning, with the recognition that system knowledge is a developmental capacity. Practical implications In QI and improvement science there is an assumption that professionals have the skills and competence needed for improvement efforts, but AD theories show that this is not always the case, which suggests a need for facilitating improvement initiatives, so that everyone can contribute based on their capacity. Originality/value This study illustrates that some competences in QI efforts are a developmental challenge to professionals, and should be considered in practice and research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Cologon ◽  
Timothy Cologon ◽  
Zinnia Mevawalla ◽  
Amanda Niland

While the importance of inclusive approaches to research has been identified, much childhood research is still done ‘to’ not ‘with’ young children, with research focusing on the experiences of children who experience disability commonly involving data from parents/families/practitioners, rather than from children themselves. In this article, we explore the development of an arts-based research project involving young children who experience disability as active participants in an exploration of their perspectives on inclusive education. Accordingly, we ruminate on questions about how we can genuinely ‘listen’ to children who experience disability in an aesthetic and ethical manner, and how we can use artistic ways of knowing to engage in meaning-making with children. Using arts-based research as an aesthetic framework alongside insights from critical pedagogy as a theoretical framework, we explore ‘aesthetic’ approaches to being, teaching, researching and knowing. As a team of researchers who do and do not experience disability, we share reflections on arts-based methodologies informed by critical approaches to conceptualising disability and research. As artistic modes of expression are central to young children’s everyday lives and play and can create enjoyable and safe communicative spaces, we share dialogues, artwork and methodological reflections on opportunities for children to choose ways of interacting and communicating, allowing possibilities for agency, expression and creativity. Specifically, we conceptualise and concentrate on possibilities for using arts to foster ‘listening’, meaning-making and generative or transformative praxis, in order to explore how arts-based research can be a powerful, authentic, ethical and meaningful provocateur for listening ‘generatively’ to young children who experience disability in research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Wojtkowiak

Rituals are argued to be transformative in the literature. However, a psychological understanding of transformative ritual has been lacking. Moreover, in contemporary society, meaning-making processes are more complex and uncertain, and the practice of ritualising leads to more individualised and dynamic rituals. This article explores the question how to understand ritual transformation from a psychological perspective. In this theoretical review, insights from ritual studies are combined with psychological theories to build a theoretical framework on ritual transformation. Ritual is found to be transformative in terms of (1) aesthetic distance, (2) structured performance and (3) social collaboration. Ritual is considered in this article to be a culturally scripted event that cultivates emotions and thoughts through symbolic action in a social setting. The article ends with suggestions on how to study this framework in future empirical research.


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