Constructivist Models of Mind, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the Development of Culture Theory

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Researchers in a number of fields, including contemporary psychoanalysis, are contributing to the development of a dynamic model of mind that acknowledges the contributions of biology and social experience to the construction of human consciousness and subjectivity. In this paper, I examine this emerging model of mind and I discuss its implications for the development of Culture theory. I argue that theories of culture must reflect the fluidity and complexity of the psychological states that underlie the culture process, and I suggest that even highly conventional models of action, thought, and feeling are rarely, if ever, internalized, appropriated, or reproduced without some degree of modification, refashioning, and personalization. I propose person‐centered ethnography as one of the methods by which we can explore the complex relations among culture, mind, and behavior,[constructivist models of mind, contemporary psychoanalysis, culture theory, self and subjectivity, person‐centered ethnography]