Chapter 3- History of Sociocultural Ideas Flashcards
Key Points of Historicism
16th-17th Century: Giambattista Vico emphasized knowing something “through causes,” stating full understanding requires knowing why it is as it is, not just its attributes.
Application: Historicism is used to study the emergence of ideas on sociocultural regulation of human behavior. Analysis is done geographically and chronologically, revealing the communal influence on individual actions.
Historicism
A central tool in the sociocultural approach, historicism underscores the importance of history in interpreting social and cultural phenomena. It involves exploring factors like emergence, transformation, ideas, scholars, and socio-political influences when understanding a phenomenon.
Sociocultural Models
Theories underlying the sociocultural approach positing that human actions and experiences are not solely individual endeavors but shaped by communities. Explores socialization, guidance, and control as significant factors in understanding behavior.
Key Points of Sociocultural Models
Rooted in Historicism: Sociocultural models theory is grounded in historicism, emphasizing the role of history in shaping communal influences on individual behavior.
Analysis: Ideas of sociocultural models are examined geographically and chronologically by philosophers and scholars, revealing the communal nature of human actions and experiences.
Why is historicism critical in sociocultural psychology?
Historicizing sociocultural phenomena is crucial for several reasons:
1. Human-Made Nature: Sociocultural occurrences are human-made products, unlike natural entities produced by evolution. Communities react to ecological conditions, shaping diverse forms of social living and institutions.
- Understanding Essence: Historical analysis reveals the essence of institutions and phenomena, providing insight into their origins, evolution, and modern forms. Understanding their history grants power over their functioning.
- Antidote to Reification: Historicism counters the reification of sociocultural events, emphasizing that Culture is a human-made phenomenon. It demonstrates that everything sociocultural is constructed by human communities.
- Identification of Causes: The historical approach identifies conditions and factors contributing to the emergence and evolution of ideas, institutions, or sociocultural forms. It emphasizes that these changes are not random but result from specific configurations of economic, political, intellectual, and technological developments.
- Knowledge Validation (Consilience): Analyzing the history of ideas about social phenomena and finding congruence across diverse sources validates the credibility of these ideas. Consilience involves converging facts and concepts from independent sources into a valid theory, aiding in testing the truth of viewpoints.
Why is the historical approach crucial for understanding the sociocultural regulation of human behavior?
The historical approach aims to uncover intellectual developments about societies and communities’ role in regulating human activities and mental functioning. It justifies and validates sociocultural ideas in psychology and the social sciences by tracing their rich conceptual and theoretical background. Applying historicism to the emergence of a sociocultural approach emphasizes the importance of examining its historical roots, providing validation for modern social and psychological science scholars.
Key Points
Objective: Uncover intellectual developments about societies and communities’ role in regulating human behavior and mental functioning.
Justification: Validates sociocultural ideas in psychology and social sciences by highlighting their forerunners and rich conceptual background.
Essential Examination: Emphasizes the importance of examining historical roots for a comprehensive understanding of the sociocultural approach.
Validation for Scholars: Provides validation and justification for modern social and psychological science scholars.
What is the primary postulate of the sociocultural approach regarding people’s behavior?
The sociocultural approach posits that people’s behaviors and accompanying mental processes are not individual creations. Goals, motivation, emotions, cognition, and the self are shaped by communal prescriptions that existed before individuals were born. Sociocultural scholars attribute these prescriptions to Culture, emphasizing the mutually constitutive relationship between social interactions and cultural meanings.
The term “sociocultural” underscores the mutually constitutive relationship between social interactions and cultural meanings.
Key Points
Communal Regulation: Behaviors and mental processes are not individual creations but are regulated by communal prescriptions.
Pre-existing Knowledge: Sociocultural scholars attribute pre-existing knowledge, scripts, and practices to Culture or sociocultural communities.
Mutually Constitutive: The term “sociocultural” underscores the mutually constitutive relationship between social interactions and cultural meanings.
Meaning Assignment: Culture assigns meanings to social acts, making them meaningful for individuals. These meanings exist and function through repeated enactment in social interactions.
What does the sociocultural approach propose for psychologists deciphering codes of human behavior?
The sociocultural approach suggests starting by analyzing the rules, norms, scripts, and values developed by communities, termed sociocultural models. According to the theory of sociocultural models, psychologists use these arrangements as starting points and guidelines to understand why people behave as they do. This approach emphasizes that humans act within specific contexts at particular times. Sociocultural psychologists engage in historical, economic, political, and other analyses of the current context to connect the past with the present, providing a comprehensive framework for analyzing behaviors and mentalities.
Key Points:
Analyzing Sociocultural Models: Sociocultural psychologists begin by analyzing rules, norms, scripts, and values developed by communities, referred to as sociocultural models.
Guidelines for Understanding: Sociocultural models serve as starting points and guidelines for understanding the reasons behind human behavior.
Contextual Emphasis: The sociocultural approach stresses that humans act within specific contexts, necessitating analyses of historical, economic, political, and other factors in the present context.
Connecting Past and Present: Analyzing the past alongside current contexts provides a comprehensive framework for understanding behaviors and mentalities
What does the sociocultural approach entail regarding the analysis of people’s subjectivities?
The sociocultural approach requires scholars to conduct a thorough analysis of people’s subjectivities, shaped by forces such as sociocultural models, the present configuration of social, political, economic, and cultural factors, along with individuals’ interpretations, understandings of their situations, and reflections on encountered forces and powers.
How do sociocultural psychologists approach methodology?
Sociocultural psychologists employ methodological pluralism, utilizing diverse methods relevant to the problem and object of inquiry. This includes econometric analysis for economic situations, demographic research for demographics, and cultural psychological analysis for communal sociocultural models. In psychological examination, both quantitative methods (statistical regularities) and qualitative methods (investigating subjectivities) are employed. The overarching goals are to understand the connections between sociocultural prescriptions and mentalities/actions, ultimately revealing the sociocultural nature of the human mind and behaviors in different contexts.
Key Points:
Forces Shaping Subjectivities: Sociocultural models and the current socio-political-economic-cultural context influence people’s subjectivities.
Comprehensive Analysis: Scholars must perform an in-depth analysis, considering individuals’ interpretations, understandings, and reflections on encountered forces.
Multifaceted Influences: Subjectivities are products of various forces, requiring scholars to explore a range of factors in their analysis.
Key Points
Methodological Pluralism: Sociocultural psychologists use diverse methods relevant to the problem and object of inquiry.
Examples: Methods may include econometric analysis, demographic research, and cultural psychological analysis.
Psychological Examination: Quantitative methods uncover statistical regularities, while qualitative methods investigate people’s subjectivities and understanding of their situations.
Ultimate Goals: Understand connections between sociocultural prescriptions/conditions and mentalities/actions, uncovering the sociocultural nature of the human mind and behaviors in diverse contexts.
