Memetics

The Construction Metaphor frames learning in terms of individuals assembling their knowledge from bits of information received from the outside world. In its most trivial and common usage, it is a Folk Theory that is only a slight elaboration of the Acquisition Metaphor, retaining separations of inside from outside and mental from physical. More radical uses of the metaphor are encountered among Embodiment Discourses.

“Learning as acquisition” – the Acquisition Metaphor – is probably the most commonly invoked learning metaphor in English. It is evident in such phrases as “grasping the point,” “taking things in,” “getting it,” “picking things up,” “hard to swallow,” “remember this stuff,” and “cramming for the test.” It is not theoretically sophisticated, relying on the assumption that knowledge comprises externalized objects, and asserting that learning is a process of moving those objects from the outside to the inside.

The Attainment Metaphor is prominent in current discussions of formal education. It frames knowledge as existing in discrete regions (e.g., fields, areas) to be traversed, and learning is typically framed as progressing across (and sometimes dwelling in) those regions. Learning is cast in movement-based sensibilities –e.g., as “getting there.”

Cultural Psychology is founded on the tenet that mind and culture are inseparable. It thus focuses on how cultures reflect and shape individuals’ psychologies, and how individuals’ psychologies reflect and shape cultures. It is motivated in part by the relatively recent popular realization that most psychological research has been W.E.I.R.D. – that is, based on Western, Education, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic populations.

Folk Theories exist within every realm of human engagement. They are, in effect, uncritical and often-indefensible principles of action and interpretation that are woven through everyday language and broad cultural sensibilities. In effect, most of the past 150 years of research into learning has been focused on exposing Folk Theories and exploring more conscious and scientifically robust alternatives.

Semiotics is concerned with the role of signs in making meaning. Semiotics assumes that individuals cannot have direct knowledge of things and events, and so “sign” is posited as a sort of mediator between one’s mind and an object or event. That is, a sign is a stand-in that represents something else. Most signs are arbitrary (i.e., inherently meaningless), and may be icons (images), pointers (that direct attentions), or symbols (e.g., numbers, words, gestures).