Post by marianne24 on Dec 7, 2017 3:56:10 GMT
People as texts
Butt is giving us (and Psychologists, in general) advice about how to understand people. One possibility he suggests is that we try to interpret people in the same way that we interpret texts. He cautions, however, "If we want to appreciate a text, we will never do it by learning the alphabet" (p. 88). Explain what you think his comment means about how Psychologists should go about studying people.
In understanding a book or text, we encounter some difficulties. one way to fully understand it is seeing how that certain word is used in a sentence. We look into the context of how it's used. Likewise, in understanding people, we must also use the mechanism of understanding in a way that you analyze and consider the context and the structures. For example, in an interaction which is a joint-action, we can construct and assess not only ourselves through reflecting, but we can also assess the other person in context of the gestures, expressions and actions he/she shows.