“Views of Context”. An instrument for the analysis of the cultural milieu. A first validation study.

Abstract

The View of Context (VOC) is a survey instrument designed to detect the content of generalized affect-laden meanings embedded within large-scale cultural milieus. Generalized affect-laden meanings work as basic embodied system of assumptions channelling the way of feeling, thinking, making de- cision. The paper outlines the theoretical and methodological framework of VOC Semiotic Cultural Psychology - and reports a first study of validation, aimed at analysing the VOCs construct validity. The study tests 5 hypotheses, each of them focused on a characteristic of the generalized affect-laden meanings that the instrument is designed to map: their a-semantic (HP1) and affective (HP2) valence; the regulative function (HP3) they exercise on the sensemaking; the assumption that these meanings are transversal to different domains of experience (HP4); the assumption that there is a plurality of these meanings embedded in a certain cultural milieu (HP5). In order to test these hypotheses, a combination of a multidimensional procedure of data analysis and a Path Modeling has been applied on a survey responses obtained from a UK representative sample (n=765). Results are consistent with hypotheses, in that providing evidence of the VOCs construct validity.