Human Development in the Life Course

Abstract

Drawing on philosophy, the history of psychology and the natural sciences, this book proposes a new theoretical foundation for the psychology of the life course. It features the study of unique individual life courses in their social and cultural environment, combining the perspectives of developmental and sociocultural psychology, psychotherapy, learning sciences and geronto-psychology. In particular, the book highlights semiotic processes, specific to human development, that allow us to draw upon past experiences, to choose among alternatives and to plan our futures. Imagination is an important outcome of semiotic processes and enables us to deal with daily constraints and transitions, and promotes the transformation of social representation and symbolic systemsgiving each person a unique style, or 'melody', of living. The book concludes by questioning the methodology and epistemology of current life course studies.

Counseling for Work and Relationship: A Practice-Driven Theoretical Approach

“…A richly textured discussion of research on how one might proceed to study the ways in which prevailing narratives can constrain forward movement in lives is available in Zittoun et al (2013).…”

“…Practices so derived are considered theorydriven practices and are highly regarded. In following through on these steps, SCCT is an outstanding example of the traditional empiricist understanding of science, referred to as paradigmatic knowledge by , by seeking to understand behavior from the stance of an objective observer (Zittoun et al, 2013).…”

“…In contrast to SCCT, CWR is different in its logic, values, and scientific tradition, focusing instead on understanding human development and behavior from within the ongoing subjective stream of human experience (Gergen, 2014;Gergen, Josselson, & Freeman, 2015, Zittoun et al, 2013. Within this subjective or qualitative tradition, the pragmatic usefulness of theory upstages its truth value (Gergen, in press), and can be viewed primarily through the prism of its relationship to practice.…”

Ideational Pathways: Toward a New Approach for Studying the Life of Ideas

“…This includes exploring discontinuities, breaks or ruptures (Zittoun, Valsiner, Vedeler, Salgado, Gonçalves & Ferring, 2013) in the interaction amongst participants and ideas and how these "micromoments" (Beghetto, 2013) might lead to new and meaningful adjustments, resolutions or resting points in the trajectory of ideas.…”

The Role of Culture in Social Development Over the Lifespan: An Interpersonal Relations Approach

“…An integrative approach should, thus, not only account for differences between individuals of different cultural groups, but it should also consider the uniqueness of each individual's developmental pathway and biography within a culture (Zittoun et al, 2013). To summarize, one may see social development and context as being related to each other in ways that optimize the respective "goodness-of-fit" in a life-long process for each individual.…”