Ideology obscured: Political uses of the self in Daniel Stern's infant.

Abstract

Daniel Stern's (1985) respected theory of infant development is critiqued from a social-constructionist perspective in order to demonstrate how decontextualized psychology theories inadvertantly perpetuate the political status quo. Self-invariants in the core-self phase are discussed as reflections of the current configuration of self rather than a discovery of universal elements of human development. The parental attunement response is reinterpreted as a way by which Western interiority and subjectivity are socially constructed. Language as the fundamental cause of alienation and dividedness is disputed. In Stern's theory, universal qualities of the self and the processes of language acquisition are responsible for several psychological ills characteristic of the 20th century. By exonerating political structures as causal factors, decontextualized theories legitimize, justify, and perpetuate current arrangements of power and privilege.

Self and Identity in Career Development: Implications for Theory and Practice

“…In fact, a number of scholars have noted how conceptions of the self have changed over the course of history in accordance with intellectual and social movements, thus affecting how the self is construed and defined (see, for example, Cushman, 1990Cushman, , 1991Cushman, , 1995Gergen, 1991;Levin, 1992;Westen, 1991).…”

Cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict: Interpretations of conflict episodes in the United States and Japan.

“…It is notable that such traditions are grounded in a non-Cartesian epistemology, wherein the self is not fully distinguishable from the environment and wherein dichotomies of subject-object and intellect-affect are not at all natural (Cushman, 1995;Markus et al, 1997). Indeed, although conflict frames have not been investigated in Japan, consistent with a view of the interdependent self, Ting-Toomey (1994) theorized that conflict events in this system take on a "face maintenance model," in which parties focus on the relational and affective aspects of the conflict as indistinguishable from the task and intellectual aspects of conflict itself.…”

White clinical psychology trainees' views on racial equity within programme selection in South Africa

“…Anna-Marie, for instance, recommended adaptations to curricula, reminiscent of the introduction of community psychology, rather than increasing 'the equity of the selection'. In accordance with literature, these adaptations have been accepted as professional psychology training tends to emphasise white norms (Cushmen 1995;Duncan, Stevens, and Bowman 2004;Ratele 2004;Stevens 2001;Suffla and Seedat 2004).…”