On the Alert in an Unpredictable Environment

Abstract

A fundamental tenet of much sociological, psychological and educational literature assumes that the creation of a predictable environment is crucial for nurturing a sense of well-being, as well as for generating a sense of trust in the wider social order. Still, the ways in which the environment is structured, and the very importance attached to the notion of predictability, will vary in different cultural contexts. Findings from an ethnography of daily life at an Israeli kindergarten over the 2001 school year show how the teacher, albeit unwittingly, shaped an environment that was inherently unpredictable. This unpredictability, in turn, served to mobilize personal resources and social practices among the children as a means not only of coping with the unpredictability, but of turning it to their advantage. Studies of Israeli Jewish youth reveal that the resources that are appropriate for successfully managing in an unpredictable environment are indeed salient and positively valued also at later stages in life. It is argued that socialization into an unpredictable environment at an early age reflects an enduring and characteristic facet of Israeli culture with regards to child-rearing.

Environmental Disorder Leads to Self-Regulatory Failure

“…Humans have a fundamental need to control their environment (Kelly 1963;White 1959). Such a desire (i.e., the sense of personal control) can be satisfied in a number of ways, such as through the perceived contingency between action and outcome (Gurin and Brim 1984;Weisz and Stipek 1980), the perceived predictability of events (Affleck et al 1987;Golden and Mayseless 2008;Heckhausen 1977), and the perceived ability to alter one's environment (Burger 1992;Glass, Singer, and Friedman 1969). However, when one of these conditions is not met, individuals can experience threats to their personal control.…”

Cultural Psychology Today: Innovations and Oversights

“…New authors have entered the field, and new topics have become emphasized-ruptures as central for new developments (Hale, 2008;Zittoun, 2004Zittoun, , 2006Zittoun, , 2007, actuations as a new way to unite actions and meanings (Rosa, 2007), generalized significant symbols (Gillespie, 2006) as well as a search for the self through looking at the other (Rabinovich, 2008;Simão & Valsiner, 2007) and finding that other in the contexts of social interdependence (Chaudhary, 2004(Chaudhary, , 2007. At the same time we see continuous interest in the cultural nature of subjectivity (Boesch, 2005(Boesch, , 2008Cornejo, 2007;Sullivan, 2007) and the unpredictability of environments (Abbey, 2007;Golden & Mayseless, 2008). The topic of multi-voicedness of the self as it relates with the world has emerged as a productive theme (Bertau, 2008;Joerchel, 2007;Salgado & Gonçalves, 2007;Sullivan, 2007), including the move to consider the opposites of polyphony ('intensified nothingness '-Mladenov, 1997).…”

“…At the same time, many cultural-psychological phenomena are better fitted with models using imaginary numbers (Valsiner & Rudolph, 2008) and topological models (Rudolph, 2008a(Rudolph, , 2008b(Rudolph, , 2009). Such number systems may be better fitted for dealing with the phenomena of the uncertainty of living (Abbey, 2004(Abbey, , 2007Golden & Mayseless, 2008), and with dynamic boundary-making (and unmaking) in human social Culture & Psychology 15(1) 20 lives (Madureira, 2007a(Madureira, , 2007bTsoulakas, 2007). Tsoukalas (2007) has brought the issue of religiosities-differentiating doctrinal and imagistic types-back to our focus of attention.…”

“…It is here-at the unity of various parts within the whole-that cultural-psychological processes make stability out of instability: parents operate at the intersection of various cultural models (Keller, Demuth, & Yovsi, 2008); kindergarten teachers evoke danger scenarios for children in the middle of mundane everyday activities (Golden & Mayseless, 2008). The cultural-psychological worlds are relational worlds, yet that recognition leads us to inquire into what relational could mean.…”

Cross‐National Comparisons of Complex Problem‐Solving Strategies in Two Microworlds

“…Another psychological determinant of planning is the feeling of control (Golden & Mayseless, 2008; Wehmeyer, 2002). Nurmi (2008) showed that extent of planning is related to internal control and estimation of the likelihood that goals can be reached.…”