On Methodology and Method in Acmeist Psychology

This article asks what kind of science psychology should be and what new readings of Vygotsky can contribute to answering this question. Methodology and method are key to constituting psychology as a science. Hence, the focus is on three major methodologic-methodic approaches to what Vygotsky referred to in his Notebooks towards the end of his life as his and his colleagues’ “acmeist psychology” – the objective-analytical, the method of double stimulation and the semic method. Each will be discussed in its own right, followed by a discussion of the interrelatedness of the three in order to provide stimulation for future possibilities. These possibilities – it will be argued – lie in decisively re-orienting psychology as a science that brings single cases and complex semiotic analyses to the fore and thereby also rethinks psychology’s relation towards the arts, especially literature.

Evaluation of neutrophil functional activity for rhinosinusitis diagnosis

Bacterial rhinosinusitis (BRS) is a complicated form of rhinosinusitis, characterized by its acute course and tendency to chronicity. A significant role in pathogenetic mechanisms of HRS is played by functional state of neutrophils responsible for inflammation development at HRS. Investigation of neutrophils metabolic activity on external stimuli by chemiluminescence method in patients with acute and chronic forms of the disease will enable to develop method of differential diagnostics of BRS forms. The examination of 65 patients with BRS which were divided into patients with acute form (n=35) and chronic form of the disease (n=30) was carried out. The control group consisted of 30 healthy subjects. Functional activity of neutrophils was studied in whole blood by chemiluminescence with double stimulation (phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) and N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). In patients with the acute form of BRS we found an increase in parameters of specific maximum intensity of neutrophils luminescence, light sum of spontaneous and stimulated luminol-dependent chemiluminescence and a decrease in time to maximum output. Patients with the chronic form of BRS revealed a decrease in the luminescence of spontaneous, stimulated neutrophil production and maximum luminescence intensity. On the basis of significant differences in chemiluminescence indices of neutrophils, a method of differential diagnosis of the BRS forms was developed. The results obtained testify to increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by neutrophils in the process of killing in patients with acute form of LRS and depletion of cell function and reserve in patients with the chronic form. Developed on the basis of the studied indicators method of diagnosing the forms of BRS by chemiluminescence will allow to differentiate acute and chronic forms of the disease, which will increase the effectiveness of treatment of patients.

The dialogic nature of double consciousness and double stimulation: Implications from Peirce and Vygotsky

The objective in this paper is to demonstrate the indispensability of Peirce’s double consciousness to foster abductive reasoning, so that internal/external dialogue inform the worthiness of hunches. These forms of dialogue establish a mental give-and-take forum in which novel meanings/effects are particularly highlighted and noticed. Such attentional shifts are compelled by surprising states of affairs within the beholder’s internal, interpretive competencies, or from external factors (pictures, gestural or linguistic performatives). The dialogic nature of these signs pre-forms operations not possible non-dialogically; they command, interrogate, or suggest alterations to established conduct/beliefs in contexts in which propositional/argumentative conflicts are obviated. This inquiry proposes experimental methodologies to measure when double consciousness (via private/inner speech) mediates hypothesis-making. Vygotsky’s conflict of motive at four distinct developmental stages constitutes the foundation for the proposed experiments. Designs draw upon Vygotsky’s ‘double stimulation’ paradigms that force decision-making processes when conflicts of motive surface. Paradigms include forced imitation of one model while ignoring another (imitating bear, not dragon), and altering a visual array to depict logical sequencing accurately (the “Cycles Test”; “The Odd One Out”). These conflicts require children to change their conduct/beliefs to accommodate to atypical states of affairs.