Browsing by Subject "figured world"

Objectives. Group skills are being promoted more and more in job applications as well as in the national curriculum. The understanding of the nature of these skills is however a vast and complex. Furthermore, the tools for how to develop these skills are often difficult to come across. The goal of this research is to assess the reciprocity of a group and an individual in it, with the approach of theoretically oriented empirical analysis. The theoretical background of the study is based on the theoretical idea by Holland, Lachicotte, Cain and Skinner (1998), where an individual is seen acting in different kinds of figured worlds, which are shaping and affecting ones identity and conducting behavior. The ways of behaving in figured worlds are negotiated together with the group members based on the individuals own identity and other figured worlds acting in the background. An individual can be seen as a constructer of the group based on of his/her own background. However, at the same time the group can be seen as shaping and constructing the individual. Methods. The research was carried out as a qualitative research and its research material was collected by theme interviews. The subjects of the research were students at Helsinki University studying in a program that utilizes group phenomena in the pedagogy of professional identity development. The interview consisted of eight subjects whom were interviewed twice. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed with content analysis. The study analyses how the concept of figured world is shown in the research material on one hand as a negotiation of figured world between its members and on the other hand as a constructer of identity. Based on these, a model about the phenomenon was constructed. Results and discussion. Results suggest that the negotiation of figured world in group is ambiguous and affected by several factors. Explaining through culture models clarifies group’s figured world to its members and enhances group’s development. The identity of individual develops as part of group, which counteracts and develops also the group. The importance of reflection is crucial for this process, evoking the development. Based on the results a theoretical model is suggested in which reflection is seen as the combining element in the continual heuristic development of identity and group functioning.