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Psychosocial Processes in Argumentation

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Argumentation and Education

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.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    With regard to the operations of support or backing up, Golder and Coirier (1994) propose five levels of structural organisation: absence of explicit position taking, adoption of a position not backed up, adoption of a position backed up by one argument only, adoption of a position backed up by two arguments, adoption of a position supported by two arguments connected to each other (Dolz 1996, p. 230)

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to Peppa Standford for her work with most of the translation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    N. Muller Mirza (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences), A.-N. Perret-Clermont (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences), V. Tartas (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences) & A. Iannaccone (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences)

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  1. N. Muller Mirza
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  2. A.-N. Perret-Clermont
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  3. V. Tartas
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  4. A. Iannaccone
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Correspondence to N. Muller Mirza .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Psychologie, Quartier UNIL-Dorigny, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

    Nathalie Muller Mirza

  2. Seminaire Psychologie, Universite Neuchatel, quai R. Comtesse 2, Neuchatel, 2000, Switzerland

    Anne-Nelly Perret-Clermont

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Muller Mirza, N., Perret-Clermont, AN., Tartas, V., Iannaccone, A. (2009). Psychosocial Processes in Argumentation. In: Muller Mirza, N., Perret-Clermont, AN. (eds) Argumentation and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-98125-3_3

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