Constructionism

Psicología del objeto

by Baltasar Fernández-Ramírez

Draft

El construccionismo es una síntesis de orden psicosocial que lleva a conclusiones que niegan la existencia de la... more El construccionismo es una síntesis de orden psicosocial que lleva a conclusiones que niegan la existencia de la realidad tal como se concibe tradicionalmente. No es una consecuencia necesaria, pero tampoco es eludible. Si no queremos pensar en un mundo poblado por fantasmas que se resuelven únicamente en las interioridades del sujeto, necesitamos elaborar una teoría del objeto que sea capaz de incluir y al mismo tiempo de trascender las bases conceptuales del propio construccionismo. La discusión sobre el objeto es una ontología. Este texto, sin embargo, es una reflexión sobre las personas, o más bien, sobre las implicaciones del construccionismo para caracterizar el mundo de los objetos en el que las personas enmarcan su vida. Dejaré a un lado las alternativas que tienen que ver con una filosofía del lenguaje, es decir, argumentos provenientes de las ciencias del discurso, si bien es imposible sustraernos a ellas por completo, puesto que el construccionismo recibe un importante aporte de ideas desde este origen. El resultado final de mi reflexión es débil, lo reconozco, aunque prefiero considerarlo un punto de partida apto para defender un elogio de la diferencia y para matizar los riesgos solipsistas implícitos en la argumentación construccionista menos avisada.

Construccionismo. Ontología. Objetos. Personas. Nihilismo.

History and Foundations of Systems Thinking

by Emanuele Serrelli

From 2009 to 2011 Emanuele Serrelli was researcher in a project of Centro Panta Rei - counselling and training for human systems, Milano, Italy. Emanuele worked in collaboration with the Director Dr. Antonio Caruso and the staff with the aim of producing a historical, epistemological and technical account of the systemic socio-constructionist approach to human systems. The account - written down in a document mainly by Emanuele - was also intended as a scientific report to be submitted to the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research in order to obtain permission to open a psychotherapy school at Centro Panta Rei. The school was approved in August 2011, and opened in December 2011.

Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento... more Caruso A, Serrelli E (2011). Indirizzo metodologico e teorico-culturale, scuola di psicoterapia a orientamento sistemico e socio-costruzionista. Unpublished manuscript.
The first part features a reconstruction of the teoretical and cultural tradition beginning with the systemic model introduced in 1950s in the context of family therapy (1.1.1). Such historical-epistemological treatment is not precisely the cronological course of maturization of the systemic model as a whole: it rather describes the progessive declination of the model towards a particular "branching" characterized mainly by integration with socio-constructionism (1.2). Branching means embracing and developing some elements of the tradition.

The systemic model is relational, supraindividual (1.1.1). In that it resembles other models originated from family therapy and today developed in new forms and configurations, no longer in opposition to psychoanalysis. Classical concepts of the systemic model come from the analogy between human-social and natural-artificial systems (1.1.2), from thinking groups as cybernetic systems governed by rules, whose cohesive and dynamic substrate is communication. Non wonder that many of the conceptual and operational contributions by the systemic model to psychotherapy focus on the analysis and employment of communication (1.1.3) as the substrate of relationships among individuals within systems. The approach was initially much influenced by American behaviorism, and then became - with theoretical advancements mostly due to the "Milan approach" - more and more watchful to relating behavior with the subjective, semantic, interpretive, intentional dimensions of relation and dynamical co-construction of contexts (1.1.3). The whole landscape of approaches stemming from the systemic model cannot pass over the encounter in 1980s with Second-Order Cybernetics, also defined "theory of the observer", whose fundamental premises point out that every observer is part of the observed system, the latter being modified by the observation process (1.1.4).
The constructivist emphasis resulting from such encounter has the merit of stressing the therapist's epistemological responsibility, with related methodological and auto-reflexive suggestions, but - we argue - does not necessarily bring to an individualist and cognitivist perspective (radical constructivism): rather, several theoretical-epistemological elaborations of the systemic model bring to a dynamical integration between the two different perspectives, the constructivist and the cybernetic. Such elaborations, together with other epistemological and methodological choices (section 2), are the base for the further integration with social constructionism (1.2), implying to outdistance the subjectivistic extremizations of, on the one hand, constructivism (in its radical individual-centered, e.g. Von Glasersfeld, cf. 1.1.4), and, on the other hand, socio-constructionism (narrativism and “not knowing approach to therapy”, e.g. White & Epston). Socio-costructionism, emphasizes "reality effects" of language and criticizes psychotherapic knowledge as potentially functional to the maintainance of social status quo. That is, radicalizes some instances which were already present in the systemic model after Second-Order Cybernetics. First and Second Cybernetics - the most traditional model - are recontextualized as the position of a specific observer. In this way, they act as fundamental map and compass for the therapist who interacts in situations that are open to search and change (1.2).

The second part (section 2) illustrates the main elements of a clinical method, consisting in building a care setting, i.e. a context "inhabited" by resources that are useful for the client or patient (1.2). The methodology is systemic in that it locates the "system in therapy", and it sees and involves the "system of resources". It comes also from constructionist reflections on the importance of the linguistic and pragmatic choices we operate in defining the problem. Fundamental elements of the systemic and socio-constructionist clinical methodology are, thus: negotiation of the definition of the relation, context (2.1.1), and defined time (duration and frequency, 2.1.3) of the therapy; recursive connection between semantic and behavioral ("action") dimensions, inside and outside the therapy (2.1.2); guidelines for the therapy (2.1.4) that decline operationally the coexistence of strategic and collaborative attitudes in the socio-constructionist systemic model (as exemplified by other methodologies around Europe, 2.2); construction, multiplication, and "management" of a plurality of contexts (2.1.5) in which the system-in-therapy can move with the therapeutic equipe in search for the maximum healing effect. As for scientific evidence of validity and effectiveness of the systemic socio-constructionist model, it must be noticed that some clinicians reject the empiricist epistemology of randomized clinical trials as a legitimate method to assess therapies. Nonetheless, the last part of the document (section 3) accounts for an attention to research and evaluation (through some ongoing researches), and many references are cited about systemic and socio-constructionist models.

Los nombres del obeso. Estigma e identidad de las personas obesas a través del discurso público

by Baltasar Fernández-Ramírez

con Enrique Baleriola Escudero

La obesidad es uno de los principales temas que protagonizan las discusiones públicas en los últimos años. Las... more La obesidad es uno de los principales temas que protagonizan las discusiones públicas en los últimos años. Las personas obesas han quedado caracterizadas a través de un conjunto de estereotipos y argumentos negativos, que encuentran apoyo en la legitimidad social de los discursos médicos y de la moda. Podemos hablar con total propiedad de un estigma social de la obesidad, y focalizar nuestra atención sobre él como fenómeno social de discriminación. Mediante el análisis de algunos elementos de la sintaxis de un conjunto de opiniones remitidas al foro público de una noticia de prensa digital, reflexionamos sobre la imagen resultante de las personas obesas en términos de posicionamiento. El valor relativo de los términos con que los identificamos, el tratamiento impersonal, el reducido número de acciones relevantes con las cuales quedan vinculados, y el sentido inespecífico de las acciones, son las principales cuestiones objeto de reflexión final que componen un argumentario crítico totalitario que obliga a mantener el debate dentro de los términos estigmatizadores con que es planteado en el discurso dominante.

Dolor crónico y construccionismo

by Lupicinio Iñiguez-Rueda

Adriana Gil Juárez, Beatriz Layunta Maurel y Lupicinio Íñiguez Rueda

El dolor es un problema multidimensional que requiere ser enfocado por encima de las divisiones disciplinares... more El dolor es un problema multidimensional que requiere ser enfocado por encima de las divisiones disciplinares tradicionales. En este artículo abogaremos por un punto de vista que considera que la dimensión so-cial y subjetiva del dolor no es únicamente una dimensión complementa-ria al resto, sino que debe ser tenida en cuenta al enfocar cada una de las dimensiones que se consideren. Por poner un ejemplo, la fisiológica como una dimensión necesaria del dolor (aunque no suficiente), merece también atención en tanto que construida mediante las prácticas científi-cas y médicas de una sociedad dada. De lo que se desprende que nin-guna comprensión de lo fisiológico puede ser completa sin una reflexión sobre las prácticas que lo constituyen como cuerpo de conocimiento legítimo sobre el que contrastar las versiones de los enfermos y de su entorno. De la misma manera se opta por considerar que ni lo psicológi-co, ni la práctica clínica, ni la investigadora, pueden ser comprendidos por separado de lo social.

Using Greenfoot and games to teach rising 9th and 10th grade novice programmers

by Rafael Fajardo

Using game creation for teaching computer programming to high school students and teachers

by Rafael Fajardo

Where Constructionism and Critical Realism Converge: Interrogating the Domain of Epistemological Relativism

by Ismael Al-Amoudi

Co-authored with Hugh Willmott.

The paper interrogates the status, nature and significance of epistemological relativism as a key element of... more The paper interrogates the status, nature and significance of epistemological relativism as a key element of constructionism and critical realism. It finds that epistemological relativism is espoused by authorities in critical realism and marginalised or displaced in the field of management and organisation studies, resulting in forms of analysis that are empirically, but not fully critically, realist. This evaluation prompts reflection on the question of whether, how and with what implications, epistemological relativism might be recast at the heart of critical realist studies of management and organisation.

On relativism in constructivist psychology

by Jonathan Raskin

Published in "Journal of Constructivist Psychology" (2001)

Many scholars criticize constructivist approaches to psychology for culminating in a nihilistic relativism. This... more Many scholars criticize constructivist approaches to psychology for culminating in a nihilistic relativism. This article reviews the problem of relativism within personal construct psychology and social constructionism. It argues that labeling constructivist approaches to psychology as essentially relativist or nonrelativist simplifies the debate by assigning indisputable characteristics to a family of theories. Both relativist and nonrelativist interpretations of personal constructivism and social constructionism are presented in suggesting that the current terms of the relativism debate often hinder constructivists, who are forced to defend themselves against charges of relativism using objectivist terminology. Some common arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of constructivist relativism are outlined and discussed. Further, the implications of relativism for constructivist ethics and action are contemplated, with particular attention paid to the roles of commitment and hermeneutic understanding. The article concludes that, while constructivist psychologists may not agree on whether to endorse or reject relativism, in order to maintain the viability of the constructivist viewpoint, they need to be able to formulate thoughtful responses to those accusing them of relativism.

Constructivism in psychology: Personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism

by Jonathan Raskin

Published in "American Communication Journal" (2002)

This paper attempts to clarify similarities and differences among three key constructivist psychologies. I describe... more This paper attempts to clarify similarities and differences among three key constructivist psychologies. I describe “personal construct psychology,” “radical constructivism,” and “social constructionism.” I suggest—as has Lyddon (1995)—that the commonalities among these approaches outweigh the points of divergence. Highlighting this common ground should be useful to both psychologists and non-psychologists. I contend that all three approaches center on human meaning making as psychology’s primary focus of inquiry. In comparing and contrasting these approaches, I try to overcome some of the convoluted jargon that has inhibited communication about the larger meaning of the constructivist movement.