Acts of Meaning: Four Lectures on Mind and Culture (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) [Paperback]

Jerome Bruner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0674003616 | ISBN-13: 978-0674003613

Jerome Bruner argues that the cognitive revolution, with its current fixation on mind as "information processor; " has led psychology away from the deeper objective of understanding mind as a creator of meanings. Only by breaking out of the limitations imposed by a computational model of mind can we grasp the special interaction through which mind both constitutes and is constituted by culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The failure of the cognitive revolution to unravel the mysteries of the workings of the human mind as the creator of meanings is the starting point for Jerome Bruner's Acts of Meaning. He argues that psychology should return to human concerns, especially the role of culture in shaping our thoughts and the language we use to express them...[He] seems to have read and assimilated everyone else's ideas on the topics he discusses. He can--and does--allude to them in context, so that we are constantly rubbing elbows with the giants on whose shoulders he stands. Erudite and recondite, the text glistens with Bruner's bold style.
--Dava Sobel (New York Times Book Review )

[Bruner] argues that psychology should return to human concerns, especially the role of culture in shaping our thoughts and the language we use to express them... [He] seems to have read and assimilated everyone else's ideas on the topics he discusses. He can-and does-allude to them in context, so that we are constantly rubbing elbows with the giants on whose shoulders he stands. Erudite and recondite, the text glistens with Bruner's bold style.
--Dava Sobel (New York Times Book Review )

Bruner again demonstrates his impressive range of interest as he proposes nothing less than to set the essential agenda for psychology today...Bruner aims his manifesto not at the behaviorists--he considers that struggle long since won--but at those members of his own cognitive party who have sold their souls to the computer...[He] describes how psychology can rededicate itself to the study of meaning and its formation. Having spent an illustrious career ascending the mountain, he now takes an elder statesman's panoramic view...Those interested in the current debates in psychology will find [this] book provocative and stimulating.
--Paul Buttenwieser (Washington Times )

Acts of Meaning, written by one of the most distinguished thinkers in human development, is an insightful summary of the past trends in the field, and is, perhaps, a prophetic glimpse into the future. Bruner's breadth of knowledge makes for thought-provoking and enjoyable reading for anyone interested in human culture. (Harvard Educational Review )

[An] extended, contemplative essay on the role played by narrative in the construal of meaning. In [this] work, Bruner elaborates on the failure of cognitive science in abandoning 'meaning-making' for 'information processing,' and its attendant concentration on computational logic...Bruner, as one of the most influential psychologists of this century, makes an important statement well worth reading. (Choice )

An engaging, provocative, and knowing book.
--William Kessen (Contemporary Psychology )

About the Author

Jerome Bruner is University Professor at New York University and the author of many books, including Acts of Meaning; On Knowing; The Process of Education; and Toward a Theory of Instruction (all published by Harvard).

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674003616
• ISBN-13: 978-0674003613
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great reflections on psychology's project, October 19, 1999

By 

Vincent Hevern (Syracuse, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts of Meaning: Four Lectures on Mind and Culture (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) (Paperback)

Someday, I suspect, ACTS OF MEANING will be regarded as one of the more important psychology texts at the end of the 20th century. In it, Jerome Bruner, a founder of the "Cognitive Revolution" and witness to psychology for more than 60 years, surveys what went wrong with the revolution he helped start and where psychology ought to be in the generation ahead.

The error, he argues, came when psychology adopted the metaphor of the computer as an information processing device to describe the mind. In doing so, psychology severed itself from ordinary human experience and its own 19th century roots. He proposes that humans are concerned centrally with questions of "meaning" and that the computer metaphor will never allow psychology to answer meaning questions with any conviction. Rather, a narrative metaphor -- of humans as storytellers -- is essential to reach the level of meaning. He further details the deficits of a decontextualized psychology which fails to take culture seriously.

Bruner's language and style are both rich and deceptively straightforward. There is a magisterial sense that he has seen psychology in all its variations and has a vision of how it can fashion an integration which does justice to that variety. His chapter notes contain a particularly wonderful set of references should a reader wish to pursue his ideas more fully. Be prepared: this is terrific stuff.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just What Are The Proper Causes Of Human Action?, May 19, 2000

By 

Mark Valentine (Port Angeles, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts of Meaning: Four Lectures on Mind and Culture (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) (Paperback)

The juggernaut of Cognitive Psychology has created enough havoc, decries Bruner, and it is now time to re-structure the revolution back to its original goals: "meaning-making." The computer model of intelligence advocated by behavioralists has reduced human intelligence to a mere system of processing information, and rarely is there any allowance in this empiricism for an individual's construction of meaning.

Further, Bruner stresses the influence of culture on the individual, stating, "human beings do not terminate at their own skins; they are expressions of their culture." There is a constant dialogue between the individual and culture, with the individual searching and constructing meaning, and hence, building culture.

One way in which we find meaning is in the construction and interpretation of narratives. Bruner demonstrates that narratives are a construct of meaning and should be respected. He writes, "culture and the quest for meaning within culture are the proper causes of human meaning."

Yes, buy and read this book, often; Bruner communicates stimulating ideas that have helped me in constructing my own meanings. I endorse it enthusiastically.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!!!, March 18, 2009

By 

Christelle L. G. Reg (Sao Paulo - Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acts of Meaning: Four Lectures on Mind and Culture (Jerusalem-Harvard Lectures) (Paperback)

Excellent book!!! He is great in writing about developing more than one language... at a time. A great expert in the PYP system, given in some international schools, teacher recommend it to me, and he was correct!