Constraints of Agency: Explorations of Theory in Everyday Life

280 Pages·2015·4.61 MB·English

by  Craig W. Gruber

Constraints of Agency
Annals of Theoretical Psychology
Series Editors:
Craig W. Gruber, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
Jaan Valsiner, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Matthew G. Clark, United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, USA
Sven Hroar Klempe, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim,
Norway
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Craig W. Gruber • Matthew G. Clark
Sven Hroar Klempe • Jaan Valsiner
Editors
Constraints of Agency
Explorations of Theory in Everyday Life
1 3
Editors
Craig W. Gruber Sven Hroar Klempe
Department of Psychology Department of Psychology
Northeastern University NTNU
Boston Trondheim
Massachusetts Norway
USA
Matthew G. Clark Jaan Valsiner
United States Military Academy Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology
Westpoint Department of Communication and
New York Psychology
USA Aalborg University
Aalborg
Denmark
ISBN 978-3-319-10129-3 ISBN 978-3-319-10130-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-10130-9
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014950146
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Introduction
While sitting on a train with my friend and colleague Hroar Klempe, we began
discussing the role of agency and agentic behavior in an individual. Our discussion
included items such as: what is the nature of the Agency, the neuroscience behind it,
and how does psychological thought inform and be informed by agentic processes.
As the train picked up speed along the tracks, we came to the conclusion that true
agency comes from constraints that are put on agency. In the absence of constraints,
individuals can become overwhelmed, with truly unlimited options from which
they can choose. As the train shifted tracks and shunted along the rails, our conver-
sation continued and ranged on to assess why this was so.
This seeming incongruous conclusion led to a discussion of the differing ways in
which that might be felt or experienced by people. As we continued along the rails,
we began to explore these situations and circumstances. As an historian of psychol-
ogy, Hroar began asking the questions and exploring through a myriad of thought
experiments that how agency was and might have been explored and discussed in
psychology’s evolution. While he and I have some quite definitive thoughts on the
matter, we believe that Roger Smith has addressed them from a truly unique per-
spective and are quite happy about the ensuing dialogue.
Subsequently, we also discussed the role of neuroscience in agentic behavior.
Our discussion led further to conversations which I had with Matthew Clark. He
and I have spent countless hours discussing, arguing, and then agreeing to explore
further the nature of the neuroscience of agency. In our discussions, Matt took the
lead in addressing this area of inquiry. While reviewing our discussions (which
were both passionate and good natured), I came to see that the viewpoints and top-
ics we discussed are quite well presented in the section led by William Klemm. I
believe that this section allows us to look into the neuroscience of agency in a way
in which we have not looked, as a discipline, before. It is exciting for me, as a psy-
chologist and one of the editors of the Annals project, to see this discussion taking
place among academics of varying views.
The editorial help by Lauren Takakjian and Dakota Snyder for all of this volume is acknowledged
with great gratitude.
v
vi Introduction
Lastly, as the train continued toward the end of the line, Hroar and I took our
discussion to the role of agency in the psychology of religious thought. It was a
fascinating conversation in which we discussed the role of psychology in religion,
regardless of one’s religiosity. The concept of agency in religion is one which has
been intriguing me for quite some time. Free will, agency, psychology, are all terms
which have varying levels of acceptance and applicability to individuals depending
on their faith background, or a lack of faith background at all. To lead the discus-
sion, Phil Helsel brings an opening point to the discourse which I believe is both
thought provoking and discerning. The commentaries that follow, I believe, help to
take the conversation of agency in religion to a place from which further research,
writing, and discourse may easily flow.
As our train reached its terminus, Hroar and I ended our discussion of the mo-
ment, promising to continue it via dialogue and writing. We enlisted the help of
Matt Clark and Jaan Valsiner to make it happen, and the four of us present it to you
here.
I believe it is a testament to surround ourselves by those who will inform our
conversation, provoke our thoughts, and stretch our cognitive skills that we have
assembled as the authors and contributors you see in this 12th edition of the Annals
of Theoretical Psychology. As we wrote in Volume 11, we strongly believe that the
place for discussion and theory in psychology is here, and the time for these discus-
sions is now, as we strive to build and recognize theoretical psychology as a disci-
pline which does not negate the theories which have brought psychology to where it
is today, but rather to rely upon the theories and theoreticians who have gone ahead
of us to develop the next generation of psychologists. This next generation will
only be able to move forward by standing on the shoulders of the psychologists and
theoreticians who have come before us to lay the groundwork for new thoughts, as
they did for the generation of psychologists before them.
Please, join the conversation.
June 2014 Craig Gruber
Contents
Part I Historical backgrounds on agency
1 A gency: A Historical Perspective .............................................................. 3
Roger Smith
2 T he Providence of Associated Minds: Agency in the Thought
of Giambattista Vico and the Origins of Social and
Cultural Psychology ................................................................................... 31
Luca Tateo
3 Historical Leads for Theory Construction in Psychology ...................... 45
Jaan Valsiner
Part II Neurosciences look at Agency
4 Neurobiological Perspectives on Agency: Ten Axioms and
Ten Propositions ......................................................................................... 51
William R. Klemm
5 A gency in Life ............................................................................................. 89
Jing Zhu
6 A Grand Synthesis: Aided by Considering Systems 1 and 2
and Incentive Motivation ........................................................................... 95
Frederick Toates
7 The Neuroscience of Agency and Free Will ............................................. 113
Markus E. Schlosser
8 Starting Points for Agency Research ........................................................ 125
William R. Klemm
vii
viii Contents
9 Neurobiology of Agency: “Conatograms” and the Ghost in
the Machine? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 129
Matthew G� Clark
Part III Looking at agency from the top
10 T he Relational Basis of Agency: An Integrated
Psychological/Theological Approach ������������������������������������������������������ 143
Philip Browning Helsel
11 Agency and Self-Experience: The Religious Function of the Psyche ������ 163
Robert Childs
12 P sychology’s Purgatory: Situating the Theoretical
Construction of Agency ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 171
Jaan Valsiner
Part IV Socio-ecological perspectives on agency
13 A gency enabled by the Psyche: Explorations using the
Transdisciplinary Philosophy-of-Science Paradigm for
Research on Individuals �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177
Jana Uher
14 A gency and Creativity in the Midst of Social Change �������������������������� 229
Sarah H� Awad and Brady Wagoner
15 From Individual Agency to Co-agency��������������������������������������������������� 245
Vlad Petre Glăveanu
16 The Explanatory Power of Agency ��������������������������������������������������������� 267
Sven Hroar Klempe
Index ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 275
Contributors
Sarah H. Awad Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Robert Childs Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, Newton, MA,
USA
Matthew G. Clark United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, USA
Vlad Petre Glăveanu Aalborg Universitet, Aalborg, Denmark
Craig W Gruber Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Philip Browning Helsel Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
William R. Klemm Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
Sven Hroar Klempe Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
Trondheim, Norway
Markus E. Schlosser University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
Roger Smith Moscow, Russia
Luca Tateo Niels Bohr Centre for Cultural Psychology, Aalborg University, Aal-
borg, Denmark
Frederick Toates Open University, Buckinghamshire, UK
Jana Uher Department of Psychology, London School of Economics and Political
Science, London, UK
Comparative Differential and Personality Psychology, Free University Berlin,
Berlin, Deutschland
Jaan Valsiner Niels Bohr Professor of Cultural Psychology, Department of Com-
munication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Brady Wagoner Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Jing Zhu Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
ix