Everyday Action Research Articles

Racism in the Structure of Everyday Worlds: A Cultural-Psychological Perspective

Theory and research in cultural psychology highlight the need to examine racism not only “in the head” but also “in the world.” Racism is often defined as individual prejudice, but racism is also systemic, existing in the advantages and disadvantages imprinted in cultural artifacts, ideological discourse, and institutional realities that work together with individual biases. In this review, we highlight examples of historically derived ideas and cultural patterns that maintain present-day racial inequalities. We discuss three key insights on the psychology of racism derived from utilizing a cultural-psychology framework. First, one can find racism embedded in our everyday worlds. Second, through our preferences and selections, we maintain racialized contexts in everyday action. Third, we inhabit cultural worlds that, in turn, promote racialized ways of seeing, being in, and acting in the world. This perspective directs attempts at intervention away from individual tendencies and instead focuses on changing the structures of mind in context that reflect and reproduce racial domination.

Children’s multidimensional agency: Insights into the structuration of choice

The structuration of agency that lies behind children’s accounts of their well-being in Australia is highlighted. The three forms of agency that are evidenced from the data – agency as competence, agency as self-determination and agency as practical action in everyday contexts – provide insights regarding the characteristics of social structure. The multidimensionality of agency appears in practical achievements, individual choices and everyday action that are all constituted intersubjectively. Theories dealing with the complex links between choice and reflexive monitoring allow better understanding of agency.

Fenomenologiczna kategoria świata życia codziennego jako przesłanka eksplikacji sensów edukacji

Sformułowany problem opiera się na próbie przybliżenia trzech zasadniczych zagadnień, wyrażonych w trzech pytaniach i przynależnych im perspektywach problemowych: 1. Jakie są podstawowe przesłanki fenomenologicznych nastawień badawczych?; 2. Jak jest rozumiana fenomenologiczna kategoria świata życia codziennego?; 3. W jaki sposób fenomenologiczna kategoria świata życia codziennego pozwala na ujmowanie i rozjaśnianie sensów edukacji? Fenomenologia świata życia codziennego, rozwijana przez Edmunda Husserla w ostatnim okresie jego twórczości, opiera się na założeniu, że ów świat przeżywany jest właściwym i nieredukowalnym punktem wyjścia dla nauk humanistycznych i społecznych. Jest to bowiem wspólny świat codziennych sytuacji i praktycznego działania.W tym też kontekście odnoszę się do fenomenu edukacyjnych preliminariów i imponderabiliów oraz rozpatruję kwestie sensotwórczości doświadczenia paradoksalności, aporetyczności i dialektyczności rozwoju człowieka. To zaś daje to podstawę do ujmowania tytułowych sensów edukacji jako swoistego egzystencjalnego doświadczenia odysei.

The perceptual dimensions of natural dynamic flow.

We measured perceptual judgments of category, material attributes, affordances, and similarity to investigate the perceptual dimensions underlying the visual representation of a broad class of natural dynamic flows (sea waves, smoke, and windblown foliage). The dynamic flows were looped 3-s movies windowed with circular apertures of two sizes to manipulate the level of spatial context. In low levels of spatial context (smaller apertures), human observers' judgments of material attributes and affordances were inaccurate, with estimates biased toward assumptions that the flows resulted from objects that were rigid, "pick-up-able," and not penetrable. The similarity arrangements showed dynamic flow clusters based partly on material, but dominated by color appearance. In high levels of spatial context (large apertures), observers reliably estimated material categories and their attributes. The similarity arrangements were based primarily on categories related to external, physical causes. Representational similarity analysis suggests that while shallow dimensions like color sometimes account for inferences of physical causes in the low-context condition, shallow dimensions cannot fully account for these inferences in the high-context condition. For the current broad data set of dynamic flows, the perceptual dimensions that best account for the similarity arrangements in the high-context condition are related to the intermolecular bond strength of a material's underlying physical structure. These arrangements are also best related to affordances that underlie common motor activities. Thus, the visual system appears to use an efficient strategy to resolve flow ambiguity; vision will sometimes rely on local, image-based, statistical properties that can support reliable inference of external physical causes, and other times it uses deeper causal knowledge to interpret and use flow information to the extent that it is useful for everyday action decisions.

Everyday task knowledge and everyday function in dementia.

Tests of everyday action semantics were developed and piloted in a group of healthy adults (n=53) and then administered to individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD; n=17) or Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD; n=20). Relations between everyday action knowledge and everyday function were explored. Three action semantic tests were developed: Probe Test - 45 forced-choice questions regarding task sequences, objects, and steps; PictureSequencing Test - sequential ordering of 4-5 cards depicting task steps; Script Test - open-ended verbal description of the steps required to complete everyday tasks. Cognitive tests, informant reports of functioning, and the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT), a performance-based test of function, also were administered to AD and PDD participants. NAT performance was scored for omission (failure to complete steps) and commission (inaccurate performance of step) errors. The AD and PDD groups performed worse than healthy participants on all action semantic tasks. AD and PDD groups significantly differed on only the Script Test - AD participants generated fewer correct steps. Performance on each of the action semantic tests significantly correlated with NAT omission errors. Only the Sequencing Test significantly predicted omissions, commissions, and informant report of everyday functioning. In sum, task knowledge is associated with omissions in everyday tasks and is impaired in both AD and PDD. The ability to accurately sequence task steps is associated with multiple aspects of everyday function and may be easily assessed with picture arrangement.

Small-p politics: how pleasurable, convivial and pragmatic political ideals influence engagement ineat-local initiatives.

Non-confrontational engagement practices like ethical consumption are a popular form of everyday politics. Existing research into these practices offers positive evaluations (highlighting the value of everyday engagement in public life) and critical perspectives (questioning whether myriad small acts can address structural barriers to equity and sustainability). Meanwhile, less emphasis has been placed on understanding the underlying ideals and motivations for political action that seeks to avoid traditional politics. In order to advance such understanding, this case study uses participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 57 individuals whose daily paid or unpaid leadership roles shape eat-local initiatives. We find that in the local food realm, participants idealize pleasurable, convivial and pragmatic engagement and these ideals culminate in a particular form of everyday action we term 'small-p politics'. The paper offers a theoretically and empirically informed investigation of non-traditional political engagement in eat-local movements, concluding that it emerges from a site where: (a) cultural change is prioritized above contentious politics; (b) rejecting traditional political activity is linked with achieving tangible outcomes; and (c) consumers are deemed the ideal agents of change. Non-traditional politics play a prominent role in the landscape of contemporary civic engagement. This research advances our existing knowledge of such practices by providing a thick description of the political ideals that endorse consumption-based approaches to change in the realm of local food.

Factor analysis of the everyday memory questionnaire in persons with traumatic brain injury

Objectives: To investigate the factor structure of the Everyday Memory Questionnaire (EMQ) in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: This was a secondary analysis of baseline data from two clinical trials targeting memory impairment after TBI. Participants were 169 persons with complicated mild, moderate, or severe TBI at an average of 41 months post-injury. They completed the EMQ via clinical interview. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using a three-factor principal axis factoring estimation method with a polychoric correlation matrix and oblique rotation. Results: The three factors accounted for 49.2% of the variance, with moderate correlations observed among the factors. The three factors appeared to represent general everyday memory (prospective and episodic), conversational memory, and spatial or action memory. The three factors added significantly to the variance in age-corrected objective learning test scores predicted by injury severity, education, and sex. Conclusions: The three factors of the EMQ are consistent with the heterogeneity of memory impairments observed after TBI. The factor scores may be used to target treatments for impaired memory and to evaluate their effectiveness.

Intentional binding of two effects

An action that produced an effect is perceived later in time compared to an action that did not produce an effect. Likewise, the effect of an action is perceived earlier in time compared to a stimulus that was not produced by an action. Despite numerous studies on this phenomenon-referred to as Intentional Binding effect (IB)-the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. Typically, IB is investigated in settings where the action produces just one single effect, whereas in everyday action contexts, it rather causes a sequence of effects before leading to the desired outcome. Therefore, we investigated IB of two consecutive effects. We observed substantially more IB of a first effect tone compared to a second tone. This pattern was observed for second tones that were temporally predictable (Exp. 1) or not (Exp. 2 and 3). Interestingly, the second tone yielded stronger IB when it was less delayed (Exp. 4). Thus, also an event occurring later in an unfolding action-effect sequence can be bound to its causing action, but it might be less bound to the action than a first effect. Instead of the fact that it is the second of two consecutive effects, this, however, rather seems to be influenced by the longer delay of a second and, therefore, later occurring effect.

Desfases del archivo, o Cómo construir la imagen desde la memoria (y no a la inversa). Tres casos de estudio

«Desfases del archivo, o cómo construir la imagen desde la memoria (y no a la inversa). Tres casos de estudio», recoge las ideas en las que Mela Dávila basó su aportación al seminario Memoria y desacuerdo: políticas del archivo, registro y álbum familiar (Huesca, 20-22 de octubre de 2016). Mela Dávila, a través de tres casos de estudio: Crónicas Mecas; Territorio archivo y Sammlung Mina Menz, de la artista alemana Gesa Lange, se plantea cómo las nociones de identidad, archivo y la fotografía se ven afectadas por la práctica fotográfica doméstica. El primero es un proyecto social de álbum familiar que, de manera pública, la comunidad de O Grobe en Pontevedra, hace para facebook. El segundo trabajo se inició en Cerezales del Condado, León y es un proyecto web de archivo, compuesto por imágenes de álbumes familiares agrupadas por temas. Este archivo incorpora las voces de los propios protagonistas de las imágenes o sus familiares, explicando las fotografías que han aportado al proyecto. El último trabajo no es un archivo en sentido estricto, se trata de un libro de artista que plantea una reflexión sobre el paso del tiempo en la que las expectativas sobre las formas clásicas de documentar el pasado (el dibujo y la fotografía) se subvierten. Una crónica personal fotográfica, abstracta y centrada en la ausencia de los personajes que poblaron la escena que se contempla. Los tres proyectos comparten la interacción de campos, disciplinas y prácticas epistemológicas que permiten aproximar fotografía, antropología, sociología y memoria personal.

Book Review: Mark Hughes and Michael Wearing Organisations and Management in Social Work: Everyday Action for Change

Book Review: Mark Hughes and Michael Wearing <i>Organisations and Management in Social Work: Everyday Action for Change</i>

Resilience From a Virtue Perspective

Resilience refers to one’s ability to adapt and navigate through challenges in the face of a chronic illness and disability (CID). Originally reported in posttraumatic stress literature, resilience has been studied in various contexts; however, very few studies have been conducted from a virtue perspective. Virtue, in psychological terms, is consistent, everyday action toward a worthwhile pursuit, based on one’s values. From a virtue perspective, resilience is defined as a positive by-product of having endured adversities while transforming them into insightful opportunities for renewal. This article introduces the virtue-based psychosocial adaptation model (V-PAM) and its applicability to the study of resilience. College students with CID ( N = 256) were recruited, and their resilience was empirically examined based on the proposed model.

Sensitive performance-based assessment of everyday action in older and younger adults

ABSTRACTEveryday function is compromised by mild cognitive changes in aging. These changes predict risk for future decline and dementia but remain poorly characterized, largely due to a scarcity of sensitive, objective measures.Twenty-seven younger adults and 25 non-demented older adults completed the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT), a performance-based measure of everyday action involving simple and complex tasks. Performance was coded for overt errors and subtle inefficiencies. Participants also completed self-report functional measures and cognitive tests. Mixed ANOVAs revealed that older adults made more subtle NAT errors with high task demands; groups did not differ in overt errors. Correlations did not reveal significant relations between self-report and NAT errors, but NAT performance was correlated with learning and recall.The NAT provides a promising tool for detecting subtle age-related changes and examining decline across levels of impairment. Self-report may lack sensitivity to subtle changes, and episodic memory changes underlie early functional disruption.

A cognitive framework for the categorisation of auditory objects in urban soundscapes

Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive process that plays a central role in everyday behaviour and action. Whereas previous studies have investigated the categorisation of isolated everyday sounds, this paper presents an experiment to investigate the cognitive categorisation of everyday sounds within their original context. A group of eighteen expert and non-expert listeners took part in a free sorting task using 110 sounds identified within ambisonic reproductions of urban soundscapes. The participants were asked to sort the objects into groups of sounds that served a similar purpose in the overall perception of the soundscape. Following this, the participants were asked to provide descriptive labels for the groups they had formed. The results were analysed using hierarchical agglomerative clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) to explore both the structure and dimensionality of the data. The resulting hierarchical clustering of objects show three top level categories relating to transient sounds, continuous sounds, and speech and vocalisations. Sub-categories were identified in each of the top level categories which included harmonic and non-harmonic continuous sounds, clear speech, unintelligible speech, vocalisations, transient sounds that indicate actions, and non-salient transient sounds. The first two dimensions revealed by the MDS analysis relate to temporal extent and intelligibility respectively. Interpretation of the third dimension is less clear, but may be related to harmonic content.

Everything is skimped now: Food in war times through the eyes of women

The aim of this paper is not to present critical dystopias as traditionally understood, views of a post-apocalyptic future world where there is a glimmer of hope and a possibility of change amidst a seemingly irreversible chaos. Rather, I intend to consider representations of reality itself as dystopia through diaries, memoirs, reports or works of “faction” written by women enduring or revisiting war times. Through the reading of these multiple texts, I hope to find common ground and identify the role food plays in the lives of people trying to cope with the inevitable scarcity of resources an armed conflict brings. I also attempt to determine whether there is a cultural ideal behind the everyday action that is the sharing of food and, thus, find in Utopian Foodways a tool of resistance which counteracts the fragmentation of society, but also a means to denounce and expose the hypocrisy of those who wage war.

Man not a machine: Models, minds, and mental labor, c.1980.

This essay is concerned with the fate of the so-called "computer metaphor" of the mind in the age of mass computing. As such, it is concerned with the ways the mighty metaphor of the rational, rule-based, and serial "information processor," which dominated neurological and psychological theorizing in the early post-WW2 era, came apart during the 1970s and 1980s; and how it was, step by step, replaced by a set of model entities more closely in tune with the significance that was now discerned in certain kinds of "everyday practical action" as the ultimate manifestation of the human mind. By taking a closer look at the ailments and promises of the so-called postindustrial age and more specifically, at the "hazards" associated with the introduction of computers into the workplace, it is shown how models and visions of the mind responded to this new state of affairs. It was in this context-the transformations of mental labor, c.1980-my argument goes, that the minds of men and women revealed themselves to be not so much like computing machines, as the "classic" computer metaphor of the mind, which had birthed the "cognitive revolution" of the 1950s and 1960s, once had it; they were positively unlike them. Instead of "rules" or "symbol manipulation," the minds of computer-equipped brainworkers thus evoked a different set of metaphors: at stake in postindustrial cognition, as this essay argues, was something "parallel," "tacit," and "embodied and embedded."

Working Toward Everyday Social Justice Action: Exploring Liquid Modernity, Material Feminisms, Care of the Self, and Parrhesia

The purpose of this paper is to explore the difficulty many critically prepared educators and leaders experience when wanting to translate their social justice knowledge into everyday social justice practices. Even though these individuals are critically conscious and want to critically act, many become overwhelmed with the enormity of the neoliberal crisis, tend to fear actually acting against or speaking up in the face of injustice, and may become cynical in terms of even believing in the possibility of any type of educational and social transformation. To address this reticence, the postmodern and posthuman concepts of liquid modernity (Bauman, 2006, 2007) material feminisms (Barad, 2007,2008), care of the self and parrhesia (Foucault, 2001, 2005, 2011) were presented to educational leadership doctoral students as ideas to explicitly challenge their issues of fear and cynicism. Findings suggest these are important concepts that may assist critical educators in extending their critical knowledge into everyday social justice action.

'Struck' in the midst of action: incident commanders from Denmark handling everyday emergencies

This paper investigates micro-sociological events which affect the construction and negotiation of sense in the handling of emergency situations. Through participatory observation and action-cameras attached to fire brigade incident commanders, critical events are identified and condensed. The effects of these critical events upon the incident commanders are analysed in dialogical sessions. The dialogical sessions reveal vulnerability when critical events affect them cognitively, but especially when affected emotionally and physically. Acknowledging and understanding the effect of these striking moments is the baseline from which incident commanders and researchers can gain insight into the realities of practice. This paper argues that in order to gain insight into the actual practice conducted in the midst of everyday action we need to shift our view of incident commanders from privileged sense-makers to privileged sense-facilitators.

Relational Leadership, Storytelling, and Narratives: Practices of Local Government Chief Executives

AbstractThis article examines the storytelling and narrative practices of an elite group of public administrators in the United Kingdom: local government chief executives. The authors do so through the lens of relationality, exploring the collective dimensions of leadership. The focus on leadership and stories embraces the narrative turn in public administration scholarship. It responds to calls for research examining the distinctive settings of everyday leadership action. The contribution to theory is a qualitative understanding of the relational ways in which stories and narratives are used in the practices of public administration leaders. The article analyzes four ways in which such leadership is accomplished: inviting an emotional connection and commitment to public service, making sense of organizational realities, provoking reflections on practices and assumptions, and managing relations with politicians. The authors offer an appreciation of how relational leadership influence can be generated by expressive narratives and storytelling rather than stemming from bureaucratic authority.

Is it ok to care? How compassion falters and is courageously accomplished in the midst of uncertainty

This article elaborates the organizational literature’s process theory of compassion – an empathic response to suffering – which falls short of adequately explaining why and how compassion unfolds readily in some workplace situations or settings but not in others. We address this shortcoming by calling attention to the basic uncertainty of suffering and compassion, demonstrating that this uncertainty tends to be particularly pronounced in organizational settings, and presenting propositions that explain how such uncertainty inhibits the compassion process. We then argue that understanding the accomplishment of compassion in the midst of uncertainty necessitates regarding compassion as an enactment of courage, and we incorporate insights from the organizational literature on everyday courageous action into compassion theory. We conclude with a discussion of implications in which we underscore the importance of organizational support for the expression of suffering and the doing of compassion, and we also consider directions for future research.

'It definitely should… if you had kind of an ideal service'

It has been suggested that reflective practice is a fundamentally ethical process (Bolton, 2014). Intuitively, this statement seems convincing. However, the author was interested in exploring this issue empirically in the context of the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) identity. Data was gathered during focus groups with SLTs and also during one to one interviews with SLTs and speech and language therapy educators. During these focus groups and interviews, participants were facilitated in reflecting on some of their professional (i.e. clinical and educational) practices. Transcripts were then analysed, focusing in particular on modality (Palmer, 2001; Rocci, 2009) and footing (Goffman, 1981), with a view to exploring both reflection and ethics in relation to SLT identity. Ethical talk was found to be embedded within the reflective discourse studied. Analysis uncovered ethical facets of institutional identities emergent during the reflective talk of SLTs and educators. Reflection, as a discursive activity, is a complex and multi-layered process. While reflecting on their professional practice members of the speech and language therapy community also ‘do’ identity work. This analysis suggests that ethical facets of professional identity are, in part, constructed and maintained vis-à-vis reflective talk. The potential for reflection to be used as a tool for supporting healthcare professionals, such as SLTs, to nurture ethical identities deserves further investigation. The importance of infusing ethics into everyday clinical thinking and action is also discussed.