Saturday 25 July 11:25 - 12:55

Hall: 20 - Room 17 SPT

Chair and Discussant: Marsico Giuseppina

Division: Division 3: Psychology and Societal Development

Throughout the history of the world, people have attempted to arbitrate in the lives of other groups as well as individuals. The interventions have ranged between benevolent exchanges to powerful influences as well as military domination. Although interpersonal and group influence has been an important domain of study in Social Psychology, we propose to take a fresh look at these phenomena from the specific orientations provided by the discipline of Cultural Psychology.
Meaning making processes are becoming in Cultural Psychology the key for understanding the everyday experiences of the receivers and agents of intervention. Cultural Psychology approach meaning making as highly abstract semiotic or symbolic enterprise inseparable from peoples' immediate affective experiences, bodily sensations and concrete negotiations in everyday life
In this symposium, we see how attending to meaning-making processes becomes crucial when researching or intervening within cultural encounters and global everyday life. This will bring a renewal understanding of this issue that fits the scope of the Congress.
The first contributor Nandita Chaudhary, will critically discuss research and fieldwork in Indian settings and the universalizing tendencies of family intervention programmes.
The second author, Sergio Salvatore, will point out to the scientific and methodological foundations in contemporary psychology to respond the emerging challenges.
The third contributor, Jaan Valsiner, will focus the attention on the relational feature of any intervention process is and the overlooked role of resistance to intervention efforts.
The last contributor, Vladimer Lado Gamsakhurdia, will discuss the bidirectional nature of any socio-cultural and psychological intervention.