Mahoney J. (2004) What is constructivism and why is it growing? Review of the book Studies in Meaning: Exploring Constructivist Psychology. edited by J. D. Raskin & S. K. Bridges. Contemporary Psychology 49(3): 360–363.
Mahoney J.
(
2004)
What is constructivism and why is it growing? Review of the book Studies in Meaning: Exploring Constructivist Psychology. edited by J. D. Raskin & S. K. Bridges.
Contemporary Psychology 49(3): 360–363.
This book attempts to clarify the meanings of constructivism and its variations. The reviewer notes that being a collection of papers presented at a North American gathering of specialists in personal construct psychology, the volume is uneven in its emphasis on the contributions of George Kelly and its relative neglect of such constructivists as Adler, Frankl, Hayek, and Piaget. Raskin touches on the insiders’ distinction made between constructivism and social constructionism. Social constructionists like Gergen have criticized radical forms of constructivism as being too “interiorized” and enamored with the self. McNamee offers a cogent critique of psychology’s penchant for classification and diagnosis, and Szasz reiterates the polemics he has now been offering for decades. Arvay makes a strong statement on the need to “put the heart back in constructivist research” (p. 201), and Hoskins elaborates that theme in a well-argued proposal for the use of synthetic and relational inquiry methods in such research. Shotter extends that invitation with a scholarly discussion of hermeneutics and Goethe’s delicate empiricism.