Over the past few years, the language of interpersonal "boundaries" has migrated from the clinical to the public domain, and many young people in particular are familiar with the concept of boundaries in relationships with others. Not only do boundaries help to define relationships with others, but they also clarify one's unique sense of self.…

Compares Piaget's and Vygotsky's interpretations of transmission and transformation. Notes that differences are apparent in the preformation of knowledge, availability of a third alternative to nature and culture, and unity and identity in social interaction. Vygotsky was concerned about the novel transformation of the learner; Piaget, with the…

Examines the black female's role in U.S. society, particularly with regard to working outside the home, and argues that one cannot understand what African American women are today without having a historical perspective for what their ancestors and their ancestors' roles, functions, and responsibilities were. An Afrocentric perspective is…

Some feel that a persistent shortcoming of the collective views of human action is that they often advocate a view of the individual as merely a bearer or token for the group to which he or she belongs. These theories do not account for individual choice. This project attempts to arrive at a general critique of individualism, drawing on a number…

Managerial problem-sensing includes the macroprocesses of noticing, interpreting, and incorporating stimuli. Each process is composed of micro-social-cognition processes. Analysis using three social cognition theories (social perception, information processing, and social motivation) illustrates how managerial problem-sensing errors can occur and…

What is meant by saying that reality is socially constructed or that writing is a social process must be thought about carefully. Advocates of a social constructivist view of writing have been able to challenge dominant cognitivist and expressionist paradigms surprisingly quickly. However, such a swift victory needs to be examined. When tested in…

Provides perspectives on the process of perceiving another person while interacting with that person. Offers a social interaction approach in contrast to previous approaches that treat the perceiver as a passive information processor. Proposes that each person constructs a significant part of the social reality that one confronts. (ML)

This article maintains that "social role valorization" is not an adequate reformulation and replacement for the principle of normalization in services for people with mental retardation. The term "social valorization," in which the person and role are valued, is offered as a possibly more coherent replacement for the term…

Considers the mind of the epistemic psychologist, a constructivist knowledge creator within a scientific framework, guided by the social world of scientific institutions. Suggests that Piaget and Vygotsky shared respect for complexity of phenomena and were consistently developmental in their theories. A reconsideration of their common heritage…

Communal character, the ratio of credibility between a person's capacity in society for influencing others and the susceptibility to domination, is developed through continuous social discourse, and reflects an individual's or group's rhetorical status (the range of influence available through symbols within particular social standings and…

Examines two prominent positions in the epistemological foundations of psychology--Piaget's causal explanatory claims and Vygotsky's interpretive understanding; contends that they need to be placed in their wider philosophical contexts. Argues that the danger of causally explaining cultural practices through which human beings construct and…

Proposes a new conceptual framework, based on the fundamental values of personal appearance and individual autonomy, for assessing the "aesthetic" and "existential" anxiety aroused by persons with disabilities. Investigations using this perspective might contribute to determining the attitudinal foundations of the competing…

Although most speech communication writers view coercion as negative, coercion is a legitimate form of influence used as often in open societies--and more often within organizations--as persuasion. Where coercion is the influence means of habit or choice, a clear conception of its nature will increase its effectiveness; and a clear conception will…