Where is semiotic-cultural constructivism in psychology heading? Contemporary reflections on the trajectory of an approach to cultural psychology

Bibliographic Data

ID19002040
AuthorsDanilo Silva Guimarães (0000-0002-0583-2979, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume27
Issue4
Pages523-538
Publication date2021-05-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-067X • E-ISSN: 1461-7056
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1354067x211017300
OpenAlexW3160454003
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited10

This article aims to discuss the relationship between personal cultural experience and knowledge construction in psychology, from the perspective of the Semiotic-Cultural Constructivism. The thoughts here presented are, at the same time, from within psychology and about psychology. The researcher is culturally situated and science is a field of production of cultural works that aims to create perspectives of knowledge about the world. Researchers can and must create some detachment from their field of study to be able to understand the course of their own knowledge constructions. This detachment is achieved through a historical–philosophical view on the theoretical–methodological propositions of their field of research. As a case study, we selected for analysis the field’s pioneer productions, from the years 1982 to 2004. The material showed that the rationality that characterizes scientific research is directed, in this field, to creating semiotic resources for further developing reflexivity in psychology, as a recursive and open-ended process. The theoretical–methodological work of the researcher concerns its own personal cultural experience and the tradition of the already constructed knowledge, selected to a dialogue about the ethical implications of human action. Therefore, advances in psychological knowledge construction cannot be addressed from an external, allegedly neutral point of view, focused on the efficacy of the instruments resulting from the said “scientific progress.”

Cultural analysis · Cultural psychology · Epistemology · Ethnomethodology · Rationality · Reflexivity · Semiotics · Situated · Social science · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Computer Science · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychology · Social Representations and Identity