On the Building of Each Psychologist’s Approach

Abstract

Psychology is divided in different systems, each a tradition with its own postulates, assumptions, methodology, themes and ethics. This division, not being purely theoretical, is built into the institutionalisation of psychology, shaping career paths and identities within this eld. For the individual psychologist, positioning herself in relation to those dividing lines is a practical imposition. But the experience of what those divisions are, what they represent, and how such choices are made, varies greatly from one psychologist to another, and we are not fully self-conscious of the process. In this research, developed in the framework of semiotic cultural constructivism, we interviewed two acting psychologists on their own experiences, and, through the dialogue with what they and other authors brought, propose a few processes and dimensions to conceptualise our qualitative understanding of how psychologists build their own theoretical positioning within psychology, as a process that happens both in individual and collective dimensions. Finally, we bring considerations on what our standpoint implicates for the learning, the institutionalisation and the theoretical negotiation of psychology. 1-IntroductionThis paper is based on research on the positioning of the psychologist in relation to the theoretical branches of psychology, conducted at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. A resulting product of this research, however, was that while we progressed, our understanding of the very de nition of our object underwent through changes, and consequently, also the questions we asked about it and the results we were reaching. This points to one of the main features of our approach as qualitative research, meaning we never expected strictly predictable answers to our questions, which were never a "yes/no" kind, and this change in perspective is part of the achieved results (see, for instance, Taylor, 2002). What we'll try to convey in the next pages is the process leading to a few of those changes and how we think they can enrich the topic on a broader framework.