Handling power-asymmetry in interactions with infants:A comparative socio-cultural perspective

Interaction between adults and infants by nature constitutes a strong powerasymmetry relationship. Based on the assumption that communicative practices with infants are inseparably intertwined with broader cultural ideologies of good child care, this paper will contrast how parents in two distinct socio-cultural communities deal with power asymmetry in interactions with 3-months old infants. The study consists of a microanalysis of videotaped free play mother-infant interactions from 20 middle class families in Muenster, Germany and 20 traditional farming Nso families in Kikaikelaki, Cameroon. Analysis followed a discursive psychology approach. The focus of analysis is on how mothers handle and negotiate power-distance in these interactions and what discursive strategies they draw on. Mothers in both groups used various forms of directives and control strategies. The Muenster mothers, however, mainly used mitigated directives that can be seen as strategies to reduce the competence gap between mother and child, while the Nso mothers mainly used upgraded directives to stress the hierarchical discrepancy between mother and child. The different strategies are discussed in light of the prevailing broader cultural ideologies and the normative orientations that they reflect. Finally, the findings are discussed with regard to possible developmental consequences of these distinct cultural practices for the child. Keywords: power-asymmetry; mother-infant interaction; discursive psychology; culture; Nso farmers; Muenster middle class families</jats:p

Ensuring Rigor in Qualitative Research Within the Field of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Within recent years, there has been an increasing call for qualitative research in cross-cultural psychology. Despite this general openness, there seems to be some confusion about how to evaluate the quality of such research. This has been partly due to the heterogeneity of the field and the epistemological underpinnings of qualitative research that do not allow for standard criteria of rigor as in the traditional psychological research. Nevertheless, there is an emerging canon of recognized standards of good practice in qualitative research which the present paper will briefly discuss. The paper aims at motivating cross-cultural psychologists to produce high quality qualitative research that will contribute to the further advancement of the field

Comparative qualitative research in Cultural Psychology:Challenges und Potentials

The present paper aims to provide an approach that allows to study the interplay of culture and psychological human functioning in comparative study designs. Starting out with a brief overview of how qualitative, cultural, and comparative research is addressed in the field of psychology we will take a Cultural Psychology approach to suggest that the unit of analysis for comparative research needs to be situated social interaction. We will then suggest an integrative approach that allows us to study social interaction both on a micro- and on a macro-level by combining discourse analysis of situated social interaction with ethnographic procedures that address the sociocultural embeddedness of these interactional practices. We illustrate this approach by examining analyses drawn on a comparative study program conducted on middle class families in Los Angeles and Rome. Finally, we will discuss some criteria of validity that particularly apply to the field of comparative research in Cultural Psychology

Comparative qualitative research in cultural psychology: challenges and potentials

"The present paper aims to provide an approach that allows to study the interplay of culture and psychological human functioning in comparative study designs. Starting out with a brief overview of how qualitative, cultural, and comparative research is addressed in the field of psychology we will take a Cultural Psychology approach to suggest that the unit of analysis for comparative research needs to be situated social interaction. We will then suggest an integrative approach that allows us to study social interaction both on a microand on a macro-level by combining discourse analysis of situated social interaction with ethnographic procedures that address the sociocultural embeddedness of these interactional practices. We illustrate this approach by examining analyses drawn on a comparative study program conducted on middle class families in Los Angeles and Rome. Finally, we will discuss some criteria of validity that particularly apply to the field of comparative research in Cultural Psychology." (author's abstract)"Dieser Beitrag stellt ein methodisches Vorgehen vor, das auf die Untersuchung des Zusammenspiels von Kultur und menschlicher Psyche in einem komparativen Design abzielt. Wir geben zunächst einem kurzen Überblick darüber, wie Qualitative Forschung, Kultur und hier insbesondere vergleichende Studien in der Psychologie diskutiert werden und argumentieren, dass eine vergleichende kulturpsychologische Forschung möglich ist, wenn die zu untersuchende Forschungseinheit soziale Interaktion darstellt. Wir werden dann wir für einen integrativen Ansatz plädieren, der es erlaubt, soziale Interaktion sowohl mikro- als auch makroanalytisch zu untersuchen, indem eine diskursanalytische Analyse situierter sozialer Interaktion mit ethnographischen Verfahren kombiniert wird, die es erlauben, deren soziokulturelle Einbettung systematisch in die Analyse miteinzubeziehen. Um einen solchen Ansatz zu veranschaulichen, stellen wir beispielhaft eine komparative Studie mit Mittelschichtsfamilien in Rom und Los Angeles vor. Abschließend werden Gütekriterien, die spezifisch in der vergleichenden Kulturpsychologie von Relevanz sind." (Autorenreferat

Social Constructionist Psychology

This interview is a slightly modified transcript from the third Psyche Talk, hosted at the Department of Communication and Psychology at Aalborg University, November 08, 2024. Psyche Talks are hosted as biannual events, where prominent psychological researchers are invited to discuss fundamental questions about the nature and subject matter of psychology through an interview-based format. The focus of this interview is on Social Constructionist Psychology and its development over the past decades. In this interview, Kenneth J. Gergen (emeritus Professor in Psychology at Swarthmore College) is interviewed by Carolin Demuth (Associate Professor of Cultural and Developmental Psychology, Aalborg University)