In Western psychology, autonomy is very often seen as in contradiction with relatedness, due to the ideology of individualism. In cross-cultural psychology, some asserted that the very nature of a so-called collectivistic culture suppresses personal autonomy whereas individualistic culture espouses and supports autonomy. Kagitcibasi offered a new model having interpersonal distance and agency as seperate dimensions, contrary to the idea that interdependencies, close bonds and connectedness hamper agentic and volitional actions. Autonomy and relatedness are two skills that satisfy human’s needs and their incompatibility is superficial. Drawing from this formulation, I will deconstruct the world-view behind individualism and discuss how we should address these needs within socioeconomic and cultural context.
Themenstrang: »Einführung«
Referent_in: Eileen Wengemuth
Tag/Zeit: Freitag, 14.9.2018, 10:00–12:00 Uhr
Critical psychology states that humans‘ emotions, cognitons and behaviour always take place in certain social, economic and cultural conditions. Humans are by nature social or rather “societal” beings. Thus in order to understand people’s actions and their reasons for these actions we must first have an understanding of the society they live in. In this workshop I will first try to explain how this natural sociality could, according to Critical Psychology, have developed in human phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
Hopefully we can then discuss examples of how in academic psychology and in everyday life social conditions are often personalized. Additionally we speak about why critical psychology criticizes the “nature vs. nurture” debate of mainstream psychology and how most social psychology-approaches don’t grasp society but only immediate social interactions.
Themenstrang: »Gesellschaft«
Referent_in: Marina Minor
Tag/Zeit: Donnerstag, 13.9.2018, 13:00–15:00 Uhr
Who is motivating whom, why and wherefore? – A historical materialistic analysis and critique of current motivation research and application of psychological interventions
Recently Richard W. Thaler was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his conception of nudging and its contributions to behavioral economics. Nudging is not only used in particular psychological interventions to motivate people or initiate a behavioral change but also by several governments to save expenses through influence on the behavior of the populace. Another current popular technique applied for motivating people and increase productivity is gamification: the application of game-design elements in ‘non-game’ contexts. Nudging and gamification will be discussed as examples for motivational techniques within psychological research. To understand their meaning, implications and problems in relation to the current society, they will be discussed against the background of motivation theory and the societal-historical development of motivation as a research object. Weiterlesen »
Themenstrang: »Gesellschaft«
Referent_innen: Morten Nissen, Marina Minor
Tag/Zeit: Mittwoch, 12.9.2018, 15:30–17:30 Uhr
When do individuals act in a (genuinely) motivated manner, and when under constraints?
In a talk from the 14th July 2017, Morus Markard raised the following question: In view of the complexity and contradictoriness of social conditions and their interpretations – are individuals able to determine their own decisions and actions and to be reasonably certain that these are in line with their own life interests, or at least do not contradict them? This question emerges from the problem of motivated acting within an antagonistic class society: The actual producers are virtually excluded from participation in the planning of production and reality control but still have to adopt to societal requirements and goals as well as to obey societal obligations. The individual may not strive for their own goals but, instead, internalize those of societal authorities. So, what does Marxist Subject Science or Critical Psychology contribute to the understanding of humane motivation? Under which circumstances do individuals tend to engage in motivated acting (in terms of critical-psychological conception) within an antagonistic class society; that is, to stand up for an augmentation of control over their own living conditions or to gain a generalized human agency (German: ‘verallgemeinerte Handlungsfähigkeit’)?
The current digitalization of higher education fundamentally transforms the practice of learning. The workshop addresses these transformations and is engaged in refining our understanding of critique, learning and digitalization. Incorporating recent critiques of the language of learning including the pitfalls of subjectivistic, »student-centered learning« concepts just reproducing instrumental and neo-liberal ideology, it unfolds a critical, situated, dialogical and participatory concept of learning. Learning is understood as a process integrated in the learners’ conduct of everyday life, initiated by questions, problems and concerns, taking place not only in the classroom but in the various contexts of the everyday world, and as an activity of getting access to and discovering the world. Weiterlesen »
In Osterkamp’s (as later in Danziger’s) reconstruction, the history of motivation reveals that the concept hides a power issue – a clash of wills – in the form of a scientific object. On the background of the rise of standardized practices in industry and education, what people are supposed to do is decided before the question arises whether and why they want to do it. The Vygotskians criticized the search for drives within the subject, and instead proposed the acquisition of socially formed motives. This reestablished a social subjectivity, but in a functionalist way that once again ignored relations of power. Weiterlesen »
Themenstrang: »Einführung«
Referent_in: Ingar Solty
Tag/Zeit: Donnerstag, 13.9.2018, 13:00–15:00 Uhr
Karl Marx turned 200 years old this year. And everyone is talking about him. Not just on the political left, but also in the bourgeois press. »Was Marx right after all?,« DIE ZEIT asked on the occasion of his birthday, and referred to him as »the prophet of crises.« Meanwhile, DER SPIEGEL rand the headline: »A spectre has returned.« And the leading bourgeois newspapers in the anglo-Saxon world went even further. The Financial Times‘ Marx anniversary article ran under the headline »Why Marx is more relevant than ever«, and the New York Times headlined: »Happy Birthday, Karl Marx! You Were Right«.
The session will introduce Marxism as the foundation of Critical Psychology. Weiterlesen »
Themenstrang: »Forschung«
Referent_in: Fernando González Rey
Tag/Zeit: Freitag, 14.9.2018, 13:00–15:00 Uhr
The appropriation of Marxism by Soviet psychology was heterogeneous and characterized by different stages. In the Soviet context, official versions, such as Reflexology (Bechterev), Reactology (Kornilov) and finally Activity Theory (Leontiev), identified the Marxist character of psychology as being natural, behavioral and object-based. Other authors, such as Rubinstein, advanced the concept of activity as an alternative to the concept of behavior, emphasizing a dialectical principle of the unity between activity and consciousness. Holzkamp transcended the mechanical appropriation of Marxism, overcoming the social determinism and the passive character of individuals, which was mainly promoted by the Kornilov-Leontiev axis, including Vygotsky between 1927 and 1931. Paradoxically, Holzkamp integrated Leontiev’s concept of activity within his work. The reasons for this option will be discussed in depth in this presentation, as well as other differences between Holzkamp and Soviet psychology in their appropriation of Marxism.
Themenstrang: »Forschung«
Referent_in: Fernando González Rey
Tag/Zeit: Freitag, 14.9.2018, 18:30–20:00 Uhr
Holzkamp’s proposal remained relatively unknown within the critical psychologies developed in Latin America, of which the stronger movements resulted from the dissidence of the Argentinian Psychoanalytic Association in the 1960s. This movement was inspired by the theoretical works and critique of Pichon Riviere and Jose Bleger. Another movement was the critical social psychology developed in the 1980s, of which the most well-known figure is Ignacio Martin Baró. This second movement integrated psychologists from different countries of Latin America, with its main sponsors being Jose Miguel Salazar and Maritza Montero of the Central University of Caracas. Nonetheless, Holzkamp’s proposal and the main positions sustained by Latin American movements have interesting points of contact. Weiterlesen »
Themenstrang: »Forschung«
Referent_in: Fernando González Rey
Tag/Zeit: Donnerstag, 13.9.2018, 10:00–12:00 Uhr
Theoretical, epistemological, methodological and practical unfoldings
The topic of subjectivity has not been central to philosophy, nor to social sciences in general. This, to some extent, can be explained by its association with the modern philosophy of consciousness. Subjectivity has been treated by philosophy, but attached to other phenomena, without specifying its ontological nature, such as intersubjectivity, the place of the Other in the emergence of self, consciousness and so on. Within the modern philosophy of consciousness, the topic of subjectivity has never appeared at the center of philosophical discussion. The topic of subjectivity, as discussed in this presentation, represents a theoretical avenue that departed from the legacy of some of the theoretical principles advanced by Soviet psychology, which remained in shadow for decades, both in Russian and Western psychology. Weiterlesen »