Part of an assignment.

Discursive approach in psychology

The Discursive approach in psychology is a qualitative method that investigates the modes of communication people use, which includes speech and text writing but also includes interactions such as non verbal communication, repetitions and pausing (Lester 2011, p 283) with the understanding that these modes of communication contain strategies and methods to perform particular actions (Potter & Hepburn 2005, p339). This approach can be understood as an approach within the traditions of Discourse analysis (Potter & Hepburn 2005, p 338) which was developed as a way of examining the sociology of scientific knowledge (Wooffitt 2005, p 18). Important early work in what is described as Discursive psychology was published by Potter and Edwards in the 1990's (Edwards & Potter 1992) and their influences are described as Ethnmethodology, Conversation Analysis developed by Harvey Sacks and Willigs Rhetorical analysis among other influences (Tuffin 2005, p 81).

There is a recognition that the challenge of Wittgenstein's postulation in 1958 that mental concepts are grounded in communicated actions to the Cartesian model of mind and body and to the view of language only being a behaviour produced by cognition (Lester 2011, p 281) may have been an early influence in the development of Discourse analysis (Lester 2001, p 283). As a qualititative method it is suited for investigating experience imbedded in real life contexts and intentional actions (Marecek 2003, p 55) and facilitating research with an ends that can be potentially lost in quantitative research methods. Qualititative methods when used in conjunction with reflexive methods are potentially more honest in representing the subjective aspects of the research process facilitating an understanding of the context of the research as a historical process (Marecek 2003, p 63).

Significant theoretical approaches in Discourse analysis are that communication is a medium of human action and interaction that is part of greater set of practices that are situated in a context of previous communication, can be situated within institutions and can have rhetorical functions (Potter 2003, p 76). Discourse analysis approaches various modes of conversation as constructed by language resources but also holds that they construct the way people experience events and actions and their interpretations of events and actions, thus peoples phenomenological worlds are constructed and stabilized in modes of conversation containing action orientations (Potter 2003, p 76).

As an approach Discursive analysis can be differentiated from other forms of Discourse analysis by its focus on specific modes of conversation, its focus on data from specific social practices that are placed in context instead of approaching discourse as an abstract object (Potter 2003, p 75) and understanding construction as a process that is not abstract (Potter 2003, p 75).

When the Discursive approach describes modes of communication being constructive while carrying out rhetorical functions as action orientations it holds that language use is a primary social activity that is constructed to meet the requirements of the situation. It posits that emotion, attitudes and memories are constituted in and through the way they are talked and written about (Tuffin 2005, p 88), thus discursive constructions are constructed by and constructing of self and identity. It suggests that emotion is produced in the context of interaction and thus psychological knowledge should be studied in the context of conversation & interaction. This philosophy is associated with a methodology derived from Harvey Sacks Conversation Analysis that has a utility in recording and analysing the interaction of people and their accounts (Tuffin 2005, p 80). Initially the data of discursive analysis was of conversational interviews but recent work focuses on natural institutional interactions such as therapy, helpline talk and case conferences so long records are available (Potter 2003, p 74).

The ideas of the Discursive approach used for analysis are that conversations and interactions are constructed of statements that are composed of linguistic resources and invokes packages of ideas, the interpretive repertoire of individuals (Tuffin 2005, p 85). The interpretive repertoires that individuals have are systematically related sets of terms, that have a stylistic and grammatical coherence that are organised around central metaphors (Tuffin 2005, p 85). Thus modes of conversations involve working with these resources to achieve action orientations.

References

Antaki, Charles: Billig, Michael, Edwards & Potter, Jonathan. (2003). Discourse analysis means doing analysis : A critique of six analytic shortcomings. In Discourse Analysis Online (2003). pages 1 -9.

Edwards, Derek & Potter, Jonathan. (1992). Discursive Psychology. Published by SAGE Publications. Pg 1 -196.

Hutchby, Ian & Wooffitt. (1998). Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications. Published by Polity. (Source of Assignment Conversation Extract).

Lester, Jessica. (2011). Exploring the Borders of Cognitive and Discursive Psychology: A Methodological Reconceptualization of Cognition and Discourse. In the Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology. Volume 10, Number 3, 2011. Pages 281, 282 & 283.

Marecek, Jeanne. (2003). Dancing through minefields: Towards a qualititative stance in Psychology. From Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design. Editors Camic, Paul M; Rhodes, Jean E & Yardley, Lucy. Published by the American Psychological Association. Pages 55.

Potter, Jonathan. (2003). Discourse analysis and discursive psychology. From Qualitative research in psychology: Expanding perspectives in methodology and design. Editors Camic, Paul M; Rhodes, Jean E & Yardley, Lucy. Published by the American Psychological Association. Pages 73 to 94.

Tuffin, Keith. (2005). Understanding Critical Social Psychology. Published by Sage, London. Pages 80, 81, 85 & 88.

Woffitt, Robin. (2005). Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis: A Comparative and Critical Introduction. Published by Sage. Printed in Great Britain. Pages 13 & 18.

Notes

Importance of interaction, specific kinds of actions are appropriate or expected.. Interactions have a shape and form as a series of connected actions (Wooffitt 2005: 8). Conversation analysis seeks to make sense of those events of which the transcription is a representation.

Look for core phases.

Introduction, reciprocated questions, 1^st point of conversation.

Negotiate an exit. Preclosing the reciprocated farewells.

Types of utterances

Constantive- report and Performative “suggest action”. Promises, warnings, declarations. Utterances are speech acts (Sacks). Amongst strangers names are exchanged. Intuition cannot anticipate the diversity of content.

Laughter acts as a form of alignment and affilitation with the on going talk.

Statements about abnormal events tend to have “at first I thought but then” statements by sane people. Schizophrenic individuals tend to not present their observations in a mundane to abnormal format, sane people tend to first ground their experience in the mundane to diffuse criticism.

Recycled components : repeated word or phrases following  the overlap of someone else's speech act.

Construction unit, transition relevance place.

Turn taking can be indicated by intonational completion as compared to syntactic & pragmatic completion (From Ford & Thompson (1996) Interaction and Grammar. Published by Cambridge University Press. Pages 147- 151.)

Issues to do with variability.

• Obtain statements by interview or by observation in a natural setting
• Look for broad similarities between statements
• If there are similarities occurring frequently, take statements at face value, they equal what is going on. This is flawed and the circumstances of its production needs to be investigated.
• Construct a generalized version of participants accounts of what is going on, present this as ones own analytic conclusions (Gilbert & Mulkay 1984: 5)
  CA

(From Opening Pandora's Box: A Sociological Analysis of Scientists' Discourse
 By G. Nigel Gilbert, Michael Joseph Mulkay. Published by Cambridge University Press)

Notes about Villages during the  Byzantine period of Palestine 4^th to 7^th century AD.

Site of Bir an Sobah had fifteen to twenty dwellings, a cult site, water cisterns, industrial installations, burial caves, paths and farmland. Village on slope facing southeast, avoiding cold winds blowing from north & northwest. Houses scattered average distance 10 m between dwellings. Dwellings simple one room structures, rectangular & square average 40m2 in size. Walls built of large stone courses, containing no binding materials (Hirschfeld 1997 : 40).

Industrial installations were oil press and furnace for production of metal. Cult site had small shrine (naiskos) at highest point. Villages main sources livelihood were farming (including olive culture), goat herding and mining metal (lead) and kohl production (for cosmetic and medicinal purposes) (Hirschfeld 1997 : 40)

In rural villages the houses are built relatively close together with narrow alleys (2-3m) seperating them, without a proper street, larger villages such as Chorazin & Khirbert Susiya in Judea had a main unpaved thoroughfare. Lack of a street network indicates a lack of planning, thus an absence of public market squares and thus no rows of shops. Commercial activity appears to have taken place in private dwellings. Commerical connections were maintained between villages and cities by travelling salesmen or peddlers, in rabbinic literature “vendors who circulate in the villages = ”ayyarot” (Hirschfeld 1997 : 64).

Villagers would defend their villages against local bandits or attacks of nomads (razzias), Rabbinic sources describe villages whose house roofs would form a wall, an “introverted” village where the outermost houses are attached to each other creating a section of continuous defense wall. Excavations at Khirbet Susiya yeilded a 200m long continuous section of outermost dwellings (Hirschfeld 1997 : 62).

Hirschfeld, Yizhar. (1997). Farms and Villages in Byzantine Palestine.


From Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Volume 51 (1997). Pages 33 to 71.

Sketch for RPG, historical fiction.

Skoutai with ChiRho themed sheilds (Skoutos)

Character studies Page #1

Character studies & drawings. Really typical guy stuff...

The Kitty Genovese "incident", parts of an essay not used.

The 1964 Kitty Genovese incident is understood as an event of strangers failing to lend assistance to a victim in an emergency situation, as an instructional narrative it is found in introductory textbooks and media which feature the description of 38 Bystanders watching the murder of Kitty Genoese by Winston Moseley (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 : 555). Explaining this narrative was a significant motivation in the social psychological research of Bibb Latane & John Darley which established the “Bystander Effect” (Cherry 1995 : 271). It has subsequently become a modern day secular parable, part of popular culture that extols the virtue of individuality (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :556). The reality of the Kitty Genovese incident is different from this common narrative.

The murder which took place in Kew Gardens district of Queens, New York around 3am on March 13, 1964 (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :556) consisted of 2 seperate attacks, the second fatal attack occurring inside the stairwell of 92-96 Austin Street (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :558) where she was raped as she lay dying (Cherry 1995 : 273). It was initially reported in the Long Island Press, with the title “Woman,28, Knifed to Death” (1964) and then developed into a story covered by two journalists, Martin Gansberg & A.M. Rosenthal. Gansberg published his article on March 27^th with the headline “37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police. Apathy at Stabbing of Queens Woman Shocks Inspector”(Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :556). This article established the main elements of the predominant Kitty Genoese murder story, 38 individuals watching her murder that involved 3 seperate attacks by Winston Moseley, for more than over half an hour (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :556).

Mosely & Genovese.

Although this account simplifies the incident, the number of witnesses stated in the article cannot be verified and misses the fact that only some were eye witnesses, while others only heard the 2 attacks, all the witnesses only saw moments of the attacks and the second and final attack occurred within the stairwell with only a small number of potential witnesses. There are also claims that the police were called immediately after the first attack by witnesses (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :557) . This incident is seen as a signal crime, seen by many as saying something about the wider culture (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :556) and much of the immediate discussion in the media tended to approach the story from this approach, of course it has dubious utility.



Historically before this signal event, as described in the Gansberg article (Gansberg 1964), crowds were seen to be “deindividuating” facilitating active threat behaviour excitation through collective action as compared to inaction, a passive threat (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :560) and thus the Kitty Genovese incident indicated something counter intuitive up to that point, that being part of a group can inhibit individuals responding to an emergency situation. Latane & Darley 1964 suggested the cause of the inaction was due to the presence of other bystanders, a diffusion of responsibility and the need for social proof, people when surrounded by strangers will look around at others for cues on how to react, to define wether or not the situation is an emergency or not. It was defined in terms of immediate situational factors (Cheery 1995: 271).

In watching the television documentary “Bystanders” (TV1 18/3/98), which in the context of this essay I use as providing first hand narratives from victims and witnesses of violence I was struck what the stated motivations and cognitions the Bystander Effect was able to account for and what it did not accommodate. Of the 10 narratives on the documentary I am focusing on the narrative of the old lady telling a group of youths not to smoke on the train and the subsequent abuse she experienced, threats, cigarettes and beer being pour over her while other people in the carriaged watched because it has both narratives of the victim and a witness. Her description as she left the train was “ Humiliated (TV1 18/3/98 @ 21:11 minutes) did not want to look like a fool in front of everyone else (TV1 18/3/98 @ 21:41 minutes)” which is an indication of the victim taking cues from people, the need to maintain social identity, which every one else, the witnesses are doing . The witness interviewed described the bystanders to this event as “Carrying on in true British style.” (TV1 18/3/98 @ 13:10 minutes) which also supports the need to maintain social identity, evincing calm and thus by the principle of social proof the situation is understood as a non emergency. He also stated that it “Appeared to be non violent & non physical, may have happened” (TV1 18/3/98 @ 23:10 minutes) and thus indicated a degree of uncertainty about the nature of the situation which is an aspect of the Bystander Effect (Cialdini 1998 : 200).

The witness also indicates that “interviening” may have presented a “real possibility of danger to self & escalating situation” (TV1 18/3/98 @ 23:10 minutes) and these aspects of the situation are not efficiently taken into account by the Bystander Effect model. Many of the narratives of the documentary describe the potential and actual cost of intervening, “destroy ones life”. The narrative of Shaun Haldane stopping Anthony Kirkwells robbery of a nightclub resulted in Shaun's death (TV1 18/3/98 @ 37:15 minutes). The research conducted by Latane & Darley 1964 presented emergency situations that did not present the threat of violence, possibly and understandably due to ethical issues in the experimental conditions necessary for this type of research.

The context of the emergency situation is significant, whether it is violence, the context of violence and whether intervention involves the risk of harm. In an early account recorded by Rosentahal 1964 an onlooker indicated a reluctance to intervene in a “lovers quarrel” and Latane & Darley's 1964 experiments did not account for the influence of gender (Cheery 1995 : 273).

Later studies conducted in 1976 by Shotland & Straw have attempted to examine the Genovese attack in context by staging assaults. They found that intervention was more likely when the attacker and victim were perceived by onlookers as being strangers 65%. When the attacker and victim were perceived as married intervention dropped to 19% . Thus it became possible to examine the Kitty Genovese incident in terms of social violence towards women (Cherry 1998 : 276). From there it is also possible to examine it in terms of race and social class.

“Until we address the reality of the poor, they will remain locked in the same hermetic and unbroken cycle of rage and sometimes they will kill each other.”

If we theorize on the level of community, there have been near prescient aspects of research conducted on this topic

Solutions proposed to this situation over time were to inoculate bystanders to make them aware of the effect (Mannig, Levine & Collins 2007 :560), knowing ones neighbours, to reduce faulty inferences and facilitating social control in the community also indicated issues of bystanders with violence within families

Bibliography

Cialdini, R.B. (1998). Cause of death:Uncertainty. In M.H. Davis (Ed), Annual Editions-Social Psychology 98/99 (pp 197- 201). Guilford Dushkin/ McGraw-Hill. Pages 197 to 201.

Cheery F. (1995). Kitty Genovese and culturally embedded theorising. In The Stubborn Particulars of Social Psychology (pp 16-29). London Routledge. Pages 16 to 29).

Clark, Russel D & Word, Larry E. (1972). Why don't Bystanders Help? Because of Ambiguity?. In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 24, Number 3. Pages 392 to 400.

Clark, Russel D & Word, Larry, E. (1974). Where is the Apathetic Bystander? Situational Characteristics of the Emergency. In the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Volume 29, Number 3. Pages 279 to 287.

Manning R. Levine & M Collins A. (2007) The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping. In the American Psychologist, Volume 62, (6). Pages 555 to 562.

Tuffin, Keith. (2005). Understanding Critical Social Psychology. Published by Sage, London. Pages 13, 18, 19, 36 & 71.

Notes made on Essay on Rongoa Maori.
Something that i'm probably not going to be able to use elsewhere.

The topic of maori health includes traditional healing practices Rongoa Maori, its practioners Tohonga, its history and the political process that have effected its perceived validity, its current issues and the issues faced by Maori population, past, present and future.

The traditional healing system of the Maori is described as Rongoa Maori () and it incorporates herbal remedies, physical therapy, spiritual healing and a focus on the oral transmission of knowledge. Tohunga, the discipline and practitioners of traditional Maori healing have a diversity of practice that features ideas of harmony with nature in many aspects of life and controlling spirits.

There is a pragmatic aspect to this in that much like early greek physicians, Tohunga many aspects of ordinary life meant to maintain and enhance physical health and fitness and provides meaning to the experiences of patients and the community as a whole.

1890

The practice of Tohunga was outlawed in 1907 by the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, it was implimented in the context of an increasing confidence in western medicine based on scientific principles and in practice was used for the suppression of Tohunga who lacked integrity and training. Tohunga and the practice of Rongoa were transmitted within Maori communities in a underground fashion and with the repeal of the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 in 1962. This can be argued as part of a recognition of plurality in human culture and more contemporaneous critiques of the western ideology of “modernism” that occurred post world war two.

Bibliography

Anonymous. (May 2008). “Demystifying Rongoa Maori: Traditional Maori Healing”. From Best Practice Journal. Issue 13, May 2008 Pages 32 to 36.

Essays, Documents that sort of thing

Recently Byzantine RPG using Gurps...

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