Psychosocial Processes in Argumentation
This chapter examines argumentation as a psychosocial practice, embedded in institutional, historical, and cultural contexts. Even though they are in reality interwoven, several dimensions (cognitive, interactive, and cultural) will be distinguished. At t
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Abstract This chapter examines argumentation as a psychosocial practice, embedded in institutional, historical, and cultural contexts. Even though they are in reality interwoven, several dimensions (cognitive, interactive, and cultural) will be distinguished. At the cognitive and individual level, the questions comprise the following ones: what are the cognitive prerequisites for engaging into an argumentative interaction? How is the development of argumentative skills taking place in children? But focusing only on the individual level would not take into consideration other dimensions that are important such as the relational and dialogical aspects of argumentation, the status of the partners and characteristic of the “audience.” The specific demands of the cultural context in which argumentation takes place are also examined. Keywords Social interaction, Argumentation, Cognition, Emotion, Dialogue, Learning, Mediation, Context, Meaning, Culture, Developmental psychology, Social psychology, Cultural psychology
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Introduction: A Psychosocial Approach to Argumentation
In daily life, everyone has to face situations of uncertainty in which decisions have to be taken. In such contexts reasoning is not based on demonstrations, proofs, deductions, etc. Trying to take the best decision, carry out the right action or find a solution to a problem involves processes related to argumentation, such as formulating a position, or producing justifications and refutations. Argumentation – whether with another person, an audience or with oneself – is a discursive practice which forms part of everyday experience: “To argue is a form of discursive move
N. Muller Mirza (), A.-N. Perret-Clermont, V. Tartas, and A. Iannaccone Department of Psychology, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected]
N. Muller Mirza and A.-N. Perret-Clermont (eds.), Argumentation and Education: Theoretical Foundations and Practices, DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-98125-3_3, © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
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in which we do not limit ourselves to expressing or communicating ideas, opinions, proposals, wishes, projects, etc., but we want to justify them, prove them by reasoning. In other words, we commit ourselves to maintaining a critical attitude towards ourselves and the others” (Rigotti and Greco 2005). Argumentation is a complex subject which has been studied for a very long time by researchers from many disciplines such as philosophy, logic, linguistics, argumentation theory and others. The ubiquity of argumentation and its importance in both thinking and learning, have made it a subject of research within the field of psychology. Areas that have been studied within this field include the skills required for arguing, and how they develop; whether people can learn to argue, and if so, how; whether argumentation has a role in cognitive development; whether adults and children, girls, and boys argue in the same way; whether people argue
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