[Ailist] The Centrality of Relationship

[Lionel Boxer]

Hello Harry

Harre and Gillet, The Discursive Mind p.15-16 discusses the difference between behaviouralist and discursive psychology.  A few years after this book was published, Harre developed poistioning theory.  Garfinkle and Goffman provide a foundation to Harre's positioning theory, and more indirectly foucault through feminist traditions.

My take on this is that behaviouralist psychology relies on a foundation where the mind is perceived to be a series of mechanisms that function reliably like an industrial processing plant - hence the behaviouralist will measure the mind like any other machine.  My take on discursive psychology is that is relies on a very different foundation of thought; the mind is a receptor and processor of external stimulus that forms patterns so that each person develops expectations on how the world should be and how the various people they come in contact with should behave.  >From this it follows that if enough people have similar expectations then there is a homogenous culture.

Behaviouralists tend to be positivists, who prefer the quantitative clarity that is provided by the traceability that is evident from numerical data through statistical processing to a numerical result.  Realists, on the other hand are able to accept that truth comes from qualitative data and are not inclinded to reduce this truth - and hence lose the sensitivity of the data.  By this I mean that behaviouralists - when they encounter qualitative data - tend to reduce qualitative data to broad categories that can be attributed a numerical value and then subjected to the same statistics.

Please bear in mind that I have been an engineer since 1982 and only got into discursive psychology in 1999, when I started my PhD.


Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
"I like action - moral courage is much less common than intelligence"
Prof Major Charles Boxer, Lincolnshire Regiment
The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw
>>> Harry Bury <HBury at bw.edu> 18/08/08 12:09 AM >>>
Dear Lionel,

I agree with you that nothing gets done in community until people engage in dialogue.

It would help me if you would briefly explain the difference in your mind between
discursive psychology and behaviouralist psychology.

Gratefully Yours,

Harry J. Bury
Chair, Doctoral Program in Business Administration (DBA)
Graduate School of Commerce, Burapha University
Silom, Bangkok 10500 Thailand
AND
Professor Emeritus
Baldwin Wallace College
Berea, OH  44017 USA
440-826-2395 Office
440-336-2801 Mobile
Explore Dr. Bury's website http://homepages.bw.edu/~hbury
________________________________________
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu [ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Lionel Boxer [lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au]
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 10:03 PM
To: msands at dccnet.com; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] The Centrality of Relationship

Nothing to do with community gets done until people engage in discourse.  Discouse is two-way and the effect on comminity is cumulative.  My current way of looking at organisations is that the aggregate of all relationships is the culture of the community.  So, indeed relationship is central to all progress and our understanding of society.

So, to study psychology in terms of discursive psychology is far more important than to study psychology in terms of a behaviouralist approach (which most psychologists and organisational behaviouralists tend to do - they just do not get it).  As Rom Harre says, "I have met behaviouralists - they are nice people".  He also went on to explain that even when behaviouralists attempt to frame their work in terms of discourse, they can tend to revert to behaviouralism to frame their inquiry and articulation, because they just do not get it.

Here is a challenge of appreciative inquiry - to confront and disrupt (change) the behaviouralist paradigm.

Philip Crosby opened his 1983 The Quality Man video with this line (which turns up later in the video in context of an anecdote), "It took me a long time to realise that management is there to help you.  I always thought management was a punishment from God."  You can buy this video from Crosby & Associates (goodle them) - I asked them to convert The Quality Man video to DVD it is a wonderful short filmed on St Andrews Golf Course, where the late Philip Crosby explains his absolutes of quality at draws on his golf game and the course to illustrate these.  A lot of fun - I think AI folk would find it illustrative of their principles with many amusing stories to draw on.

Any thoughts?

Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256