Striving for the new: Cultural psychology as a developmental science

Abstract

Cultural psychology is a developmental science in its nature because it assumes that all the humans beings (as well as groups, social institutions, communities) are developing dynamic systems constantly striving for the new. The focus of investigation is, thus, the circumstances under which novel organizational forms emerge. Any attempt to focus on a complex issue like culture in psychology requires an interdisciplinary integration between social sciences and a general historical orientation (that is, de facto, developmental) on culture. From the outset, Culture & Psychology has promoted linkages between theory and empirical work. For exploring the complex role of the culture in psychology, mere demonstrations of the effect of the culture on a variable do not produce any theoretical advancement, neither it does a pure theoretical speculation. It is only by looking for both the theoretical and empirical elaboration (as a unity) that a breakthrough in the intellectual machinery of a given science is possible. What we need is a consistency between theory, methods, and empirical phenomena. Thus, the question is what kinds of scientific concepts and methodology are adequate for creating theories of dynamic and meaningful phenomena.