Abstract

GUITART, Moises Esteban. AN INTERPRETATION ON CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY: SOME THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS. Suma Psicol. [online]. 2011, vol.18, n.2, pp.65-88. ISSN 0121-4381.

The aim of this paper is to discuss a particular view on cultural psychology focused on "lived experience" and "vital geography" terms. It is provided some theoretical principles and applications of this perspective. According to this view, human development is the result of participation in educational practices through which people appropriate the "signs", "cultural technology" or explicit and implicit forms of shared life. It is postulated two assumptions and three features. The assumptions are: the lived experienced should be studied in the context or situation where it is expressed and constructed, and the "cultural diet" is the food of our psyche (our memories, fears, perceptions, feelings, thoughts). The features remind us to consider the human experience as the unit of analysis, both situated and distributed, and finally, as a product of participation in particular vital geographies. Applications are outlined in the field of clinical psychology and rehabilitation, socioeducative field and in the field of social psychology of organizations, as examples of practices according to a culturally oriented psychology. Finally, it is emphasized the need to take into account the subjective, social and political sides of culture in order to develop an ecological understanding of mind and human behavior.

Keywords : Cultural psychology; mind; culture; identity; lived experience; vital geography.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )