Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living.

Psychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why "happiness maximization" might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction-the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology-involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level.

Reconsidering the "Uznadze Effect" and psychology of set (Gantskoba) from a systemic cultural psychological perspective.

This article aims to (re)introduce and further develop Dimitri Uznadze's theory of psychological "set" from the perspective of contemporary cultural psychology. His ideas are prominent in Georgia and other post-Soviet countries; however, they might be totally new for psychologists from other parts of the world. Uznadze, unlike Vygotksy, still awaits to be rediscovered. I discuss the main theoretical premises and features of the formation of a psychological "set," according to Uznadze, which were based on his interpretations of his rich experimental data. Uznadze conceived the psychological "set" as a holistic phenomenon determining human conduct and strongly opposed reductionist, vitalist, and behavioristic approaches. Subsequently, a more person-centered and systemic view of set formation and its relation to human conduct is briefly considered. Further directions for Uznadze's experimental data's theoretical consideration are also identified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Human Life Course as Constructive Migration.

In this paper, I discuss the systemic features of the life-span development approach which was initially elaborated by Baltes (1989) and more recently considered by Greve (Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 1-21, 2023). I argue that the life-span development approach should recognize the agentivity of people as they not only passively react to changes inside and around themselves but rather imaginatively co-construct their selves (and, their environment) through aging. The irreversibility of human development is highlighted in this paper simultaneously with the recognition of the significance of past phenomenological experiences for self-construction. People are considered as historical agents who evolve through gradual qualitative transformations instead of jumping from one discrete (age) category to another. I consider "migration" as a metaphor for "development" (aging) as both imply movement from one temporal position to another as well as moving from one social position to another. The changes related to aging put an adult in a position similar to immigrants who occur abroad and need to make sense of their new positions in relation to their personal and cultural background and the immediate reality/context they live in. Migration and aging both lead to the innovative mixture of the meaning of old and new experiences/knowledge and the creation of new forms of selfhood and personal understanding at different temporal positions.

Need for approval from others and face concerns as predictors of interpersonal conflict outcome in 29 cultural groups.

The extent to which culture moderates the effects of need for approval from others on a person's handling of interpersonal conflict was investigated. Students from 24 nations rated how they handled a recent interpersonal conflict, using measures derived from face-negotiation theory. Samples varied in the extent to which they were perceived as characterised by the cultural logics of dignity, honour, or face. It was hypothesised that the emphasis on harmony within face cultures would reduce the relevance of need for approval from others to face-negotiation concerns. Respondents rated their need for approval from others and how much they sought to preserve their own face and the face of the other party during the conflict. Need for approval was associated with concerns for both self-face and other-face. However, as predicted, the association between need for approval from others and concern for self-face was weaker where face logic was prevalent. Favourable conflict outcome was positively related to other-face and negatively related to self-face and to need for approval from others, but there were no significant interactions related to prevailing cultural logics. The results illustrate how particular face-threatening factors can moderate the distinctive face-concerns earlier found to characterise individualistic and collectivistic cultural groups.

Self-Construction in Immigration - I-Positioning through Tensional Dialogues to Powerful Foreign and Native Voices.

This paper explores proculturative semiotic dynamics underlying self-construction in emigration that reveals various forms of the self's positioning through the processes of relating to the native and foreign socio-cultural environments. The self is conceptualised as the heterogeneous entirety of voices and self-related positions which are hierarchically organised. Hierarchical organisation implies the dominance of certain voices and I-positions at the expense of silencing others. Moreover, external societal voices promote hegemonic social representations which are represented as promoter I-positions/signs in the self-structures and have the power to regulate individuals' mental activity. Therefore, it is argued that selves' relations to the environment are not always symmetrically dialogical. The compelling power of hierarchically ordered external meaning systems that are conceptualised as "objective culture" is illustrated in the best manner when a person occurs in emigration where the native organisation of voices and I-positions is being semiotically ruptured due to the meeting with a foreign configuration of a hierarchy of external I-positions and gets "attacked" by alien promoter signs. External promoter voices and I-positions have the power to take the dominant position and establish asymmetric relations with other self-related elements. They can significantly influence intra-psychological negotiations by vocalising hegemonic social representations which exist in any community. The case study of a Georgian emigrant's living in Germany vividly reveals the wave of self-transformations which she undergoes after the liberation from the pressure of native promoter signs and engagement with the German ones. Specific microgenetic experiences leading to the transformations at the ontogenetic level are highlighted. Symmetric and asymmetric forms of communication are conceived as particular instances of relating. This paper vividly reveals the significance of the exploration of the forms of dynamic relations between various components of the self and socio-cultural environment and entailing intra-psychic and external negotiations for better understanding of the nature of humans' epigenetic development.

"Systematic Semiotic Organisation and Anthropologisation of the Science of Soul - Towards Cultural Psychology".

Zagaria et al. identified fundamental issues and inconsistencies in the understanding of the fundamentals of psychological science. This paper attempts to trace the roots of the inconsistency and incompleteness of definitions of basic psychological concepts in the historical development of psychological science that led to the fragmentation of psychology into the various reductionistic and monological "schools of thoughts". A systematic approach is proposed as a way for a reconsideration of the understanding of mental processes in a holistic way that could serve as the starting point for the proper theoretical reflection of the catalytic interplay between subjective (intentionality), situational and cultural factors. It is argued that the anthropologisation of psychology and bringing back the focus on phenomenological aspects of experiencing which are characterised by intra-individual, cross-situational and inter-cultural variety is especially significant for the rebuilding of the integrity of psychology. The principle of "organic selection" is proposed as the basis for individual subjectivity and innovations throughout the irreversible ontogenetic developmental dynamics that allows individuals to jump beyond the phylogenetically prescribed schemata.

Towards the Systematic Theory of Imagination : "Old Melody in a New Song: Aesthetics and Art of Psychology", by: Tateo, Luca (Ed.).

"An old melody in a new song: aesthetics and the art of psychology" provides comprehensive analysis of the history of 'psychological aesthetics' and considers ways of its future growth. Jovanovic (2018) and Allesch (2018) trace the process of the conception of Aesthetics by Baumgartner, who related aesthetic experiences with sensual and cognitive processes. Subsequently, studies on aesthetic experiences developed predominantly either in objectivist or subjectivist directions, rejecting systematic approaches. Reductionist views prevailed till the appearance of the theory of imagination in cultural psychology. Imagination is considered as a higher mental process. It is the process of exploration through and by means of systematically organized thinking-feeling-acting processes, beyond what is already known, available, achieved or typical. Imagination is activated occasionally, when existing conditions aren't satisfactory in some way or new challenges arise. Imagination is the synthesis of top-down and bottom up processes (Tateo 2018b) and has a transformative power for individuals and sociocultural systems. Particular case studies of the role of music (Klempe 2018), participatory art and the exploration of the meaning of pilgrimage to Ikea (Kristensen 2018) illustrate the work of imagination in terms of systematic interrelatedness of sociocultural factors with individual meaning-making and affective processes. This paper provides the review of inspirational theoretical and empirical material which could serve as a foundation for further advancement of culturally and psychologically informed theory of aesthetics and imaginative processes. It aims to contribute in building ground for moving beyond the reductionist limits and in the construction of systematic approach to human mind.

"Constructive Urge for Self-Presentation-Mediating between the Past and the Future".

I further develop the dialogical self theory (DST) by elaborating on temporal dimensions, emphasizing the human need for self-presentation. The self is seen as the subjective center of a multicentered semiotic net, one that mediates between the past and future. A person is an operational entity that occasionally reconstructs him- or herself through the negotiation of internal and external "I-positions." The conceptual differentiation of a future time zone is proposed by means of elaborating on the zone of distant development (ZDD). The ZDD, along with the zone of proximal development (ZPD), constitutes the future. The ZDD is distanced from the ZPD by an undefined time gap, and the former constructs and involves space around, and even beyond, the semiotic horizon. Major aspirations projected to the ZDD provide a general sense to life in the present time. Future-directedness is revealed in the constructive urge for self-presentation. Humans want to matter and to leave a trace of themselves behind, especially in other people's lives. The strive for self-presentation is considered one of the most significant urges for people; it is expressed in taking care of others, spreading ideas, creating art, craftsmanship, and so forth. People desire to be signified in a surrounding semiotic system, even after death. So they insert their legacy-signs in the external environment, forming their representatives. The strive for self-presentation emanates from the bilateral nature of interaction between the self and one's surrounding environment. Also, this strive reveals another semiotic visible field of the indissoluble connection between personal and social identities. In essence, the urge for self-presentation drives procreative thinking and actions.