The decay of signs’ semiotic value: A cultural psychology interpretation of the contemporary social scenario

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of the affective polarization of the public sphere, namely, the increasing momentum gained by affective sensemaking in the current socio-institutional scenario (e.g. raise of populism, distrust in democracy and spreading xenophobia). To this end, the Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory (SCPT) is outlined. The SCPT focuses on the embodied micro-mechanisms bridging the intra- and inter-psychological levels of analysis of the semiotic dynamics. The article is composed of two parts. First, the SCPT is outlined in terms of its nine underlying tenets. Then, SCPT is used to frame an interpretation of the psycho-social dynamics underpinning the current socio-political scenario. Based on the SCPT model, the spread of affective sensemaking in current societal dynamics is interpreted as being due to the capacity of affects to work as semiotic stabilizers, enabling people to face the deep uncertainty fostered by the economic and political turmoil associated with globalization.

How socio-institutional contexts and cultural worldviews relate to COVID-19 acceptance rates: A representative study in Italy

“…In brief, the situation generated by the pandemic was very critical, yet evident, and interpretable in perfectly acceptable ways. Now, insofar as one assumes that the pandemic crisis has reduced the contextual uncertainty, the decrease in negative (i.e., fatalist, pessimist, distrusting) worldviews can be understood through the lens of the SCPT argument that this kind of worldview is an emotional buffer against uncertainty – rather than being a reaction to the negative social conditions in themselves ( Cremaschi et al, 2021 ; Salvatore et al, 2021b ). Thus, the lower the uncertainty, the lower the incidence of negative worldviews.…”

“…It is important to mention another SCPT tenet. The theory assumes that the capacity of the symbolic universes to constrain access and moderate the salience of domain meanings varies, both within and between subjects ( Salvatore et al, 2021b ). Thus, meaning-making can be fully controlled by symbolic universes.…”

“…The variability can depend on several factors that the SCPT is still investigating – for example, the content and structure of the symbolic universes, the characteristics of the meaning-maker, as well as the social context ( Salvatore et al, 2019a ). One of these factors is the contextual uncertainty associated with meaning-making: the higher the uncertainty, the stronger the salience of the symbolic universe over the domain meaning ( Cremaschi et al, 2021 ; Salvatore et al, 2021b ).…”

The harmonium model and its unified system view of psychopathology: a validation study by means of a convolutional neural network

“…A relevant characteristic of the way the PSM has been conceptualized 44 is worth highlighting. Authors distinguish between primary and secondary dimensions of the PSM 10 , 41 , 45 .…”

“…Basic, in the sense that they comprise the core of any PSM—namely, they are the first to be activated in order to provide the global affective interpretation of the context of the experience. Invariant, in the sense that they are a few primitive (in the sense of foundational) classes of affect-laden meaning that work as a kind of universal embodied language at the boundary between biology and culture 44 . Thus, at the level of primary dimensions, PSMs are quite similar both within and between individuals.…”