From Methodology to Methods in Human Psychology (eBook)

Jaan Valsiner is Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He is the founding editor (1995) of the Sage journal, Culture & Psychology.  And of The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology (2012). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Sciences  (Springer, from 2007) and the Springer Briefs seriesTheoretical Advances in Psychology. In 1995 he was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Prize in Germany for his interdisciplinary work on human development, and Senior Fulbright Lecturing Award in Brazil 1995-1997. He is the winner of the Hans-Kilian-Award of 2017 for his interdisciplinary work uniting social sciences.  He has been a visiting professor in Brazil, Japan, Australia, Estonia. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Preface 6
Contents 8
About the Author 11
Chapter 1: Methodology as Foundation for Discovery 12
The Goal: Search for Universal Principles 13
The “Blind Spots” in Psychological Epistemology 14
A Methodological Need: Preserving the Whole 16
Basic Axiomatics for Human Psychology 16
The Principle of Parsimony 18
Chapter 2: General Epistemology of Open Systems 20
Organisms Exist Only as Open Systems 21
Making Sense of Living Organisms Without Vitalist Assumptions 23
The Borrowed Concept—Equifinality 24
The Steady State (Fliessgleichgewicht) 24
General Idea of Development: Hierarchical Reorganization in Time 25
What Would Be Different in Open-System Methodology 27
The Meaning of Objectivity 29
The Meaning of “the Data” 30
Conclusion: What Is Needed for Methodology? 30
Chapter 3: Methodology in the New Key: The Methodology Cycle 31
The Role of Intuition in Science 38
Chapter 4: Frames of Reference 41
Summary: Psychology Has Been Using Inadequate Reference Frames 46
The Individual-Ecological Reference Frame 46
The Individual-Socioecological Reference Frame 47
Example: The SELF as an Open System (elaborating George Herbert Mead) 48
Conclusion: Needed—Consistency Between Basic Assumptions and Reference Frames 49
Chapter 5: The Role of Methods in the Methodology Cycle 50
Studying Personality: Relocating Focus from Responses to Responding Processes 50
Taking a Dynamic View on Seemingly Static Methods: What Is a “Personality Test” Item? 51
Conditional-Genetic Analysis 55
Methods of Re- and Pre-construction (Post-factum and Pre-factum) 57
How Do We Cover the Four Infinities? 57
Method Construction in Open-Systemic World: Exploring Relations Between Infinities 58
Externalizing the Flow of Thinking: “Thinking Aloud” and “Walking Along” 60
The Trajectory Equifinality Approach (TEA/TEM) 63
Conclusion: Methodology as Movement 66
Chapter 6: Introspection as the Basic Method in Psychological Science 67
Methods Capitalizing on Process Orientation 67
Introspection as a Method to Link Proactive and Retroactive Movements 69
Rating Scales: Trivialized Introspection 70
Conclusion: Why Is Introspection the Central Method for Psychology? 72
Chapter 7: Methods of Extrospection: Interview, Questionnaire, Experiment 73
Three Techniques in Extrospection: Interview, Questionnaire, Experiment 73
Intention to Enter into Research Relation: “Contacting Participants” 74
Interview as a Method: Coordinating Perspectives 75
Interview Delegated to Fixed Messages: A Questionnaire 76
Experiment as Guided Observation 77
Process-Focused Methods: Utilizing the Guidance of the Mind 82
Reconstructive Memory and Conversational Reconstruction Techniques 83
Directing the Extrospective Process: Story Completion Methods 85
Conclusion: From Outcome-Focused to Process-Analytic Methods 87
Chapter 8: Generalization from Single Instances 88
The Base: Generalization Through Abduction 89
Fictional Characters as Data 90
The Real Nature of Fictions 91
Chapter 9: General Conclusion: Research as Knowledge-­Constrained Semiosis 93
Scientific Knowledge as Strategically Constrained Semiosis 94
Research as Knowledge-Constrained and Knowledge-­Constraining Activity 95
References 96
Commentary 1 Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: How Decontextualized Research Obscures the Very Phenomena They Aim to Study 102
An Example 102
The “Magic” of Measurement 104
Images of Reality 105
Dynamic Process Methodology 107
The Science of Single Cases 108
References 109
Commentary 2 Toward a Renewal of Methodology – The Contribution of Psychoanalysis 110
1 110
2 111
3 113
4 114
5 115
6 116
References 116
Index 118