Ernst E. Boesch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ernst Eduard Boesch (born December 26, 1916 in St. Gallen ; † July 12, 2014 in Saarbrücken ) was a German psychologist . The cultural psychologist is considered to be the founder of the symbolic theory of action . He founded the Psychological Institute at Saarland University , where he held a chair in psychology from 1951 to 1982 . He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry for International Cooperation .

Life

Boesch was born in Switzerland in 1916 . His father was a fashion designer . The family suffered from the consequences of the economic decline and the global economic crisis . Eventually the parents divorced in the 1930s . Boesch described himself as a "unruly" student. He wanted to become a poet and, like his father, pursue an artistic career, but then chose medicine as a subject.

More than medicine, his interest was aroused by the study program of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute at the University of Geneva , which at the time was directed by the psychologists Édouard Claparède and the educator Pierre Bovet . So Boesch began studying psychology , education and philosophy shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War . After Claparède's death, Jean Piaget succeeded him , who had previously worked for Bovet. Boesch listened regularly to him as well as to André Rey and Richard Meili .

After completing his studies, Piaget offered him an assistant , which he refused. Instead, he took over the position of a school psychologist in the canton of St. Gallen from Bärbel Inhelder , who in turn switched to the assistant at Piaget and became his long-term employee and successor. Boesch's marriage took place at this time.

As a school psychologist, he published in the local press about learning and behavior problems of children. Boesch attended case seminars at the child psychiatric clinic of the University of Zurich and did a training analysis (but without becoming a therapeutic agent himself) with the theologian and psychoanalyst Oskar Pfister . In 1946 he wrote his dissertation on problems in school psychology and then worked - at the suggestion of Maurice Debresse - on a book on the character of the child, which appeared in 1952.

In 1951 he received a call to the only chair for psychology at the Saarland University, newly founded in 1948, in Saarbrücken , where he founded the Institute of Psychology. He accepted this call because Saarland was not part of Germany at the time. Boesch was the only professor to read the entire repertoire of the psychological sub-subjects, supported by two assistants. In 1969 the institute received additional chairs.

From 1955 to 1958 Boesch was appointed director of the International Institute for Child Study of UNESCO in Bangkok - mediated by a former colleague . Here he taught Thais , adapted test procedures for the Thai context, carried out experiments in primary schools in Bangkok and wrote reports for UNESCO. Boesch was married to a Thai woman for the second time.

After his return to the Saarland University, the latter founded - at Boesch's suggestion - the Institute for Development Aid , which was later renamed the Social Psychological Research Center for Development Planning (SFE) . Boesch himself was appointed director of the institute, which he managed until 1987, after his retirement . In connection with this function, Boesch was a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Ministry for International Cooperation .

During his time at Saarland University, Boesch received a professorship offer from Brussels and offers from the Universities of Mannheim , Bochum , Geneva and Basel . However, Boesch remained professor of psychology in Saarbrücken until 1982.

He lived in Saarbrücken and died there on July 12, 2014 at the age of 97. His son is the behavior researcher Christophe Boesch .

research

Boesch's research is characterized by a systematic pluralism and a holistic view of man . The latter becomes clear through the diversity of the objects of investigation: concepts such as beauty and aesthetics , action planning, action space, the unconscious , defense mechanisms, the role of ideas that guide action, identity , the self , feelings and fantasies are part of the broad range of what Boesch counts as subjects of psychological research . Its systematic pluralism can be seen in the use of various psychological research paradigms such as behaviorism , cognitivism , Freudian psychoanalysis and Gestalt psychology as well as general research programs such as constructivism and structuralism .

Methodologically and methodologically, Piaget's constructivism and his 'clinical method' as well as Rey's process-oriented, introspective method are Boesch's most important thinking tools. In addition, psychoanalysis represents a second focus of his psychological anchoring, although he does not represent it dogmatically .

At its core, his research is based on a version of the theory of action in the sense of David Clarence McClelland , John William Atkinson and Pierre Janet , which is based on a simple feedback : selection and anticipation of the action goal, performing the action , checking the action result. He has systematically expanded this theory several times (1) ecological expansion to include the 'cultural' action dimensions of space , time and social relationships in the form of perception and structuring of the environment; (2) subjective expansion through the valence concept , (3) symbolic expansion taking into account signs (systems) and metaphors, and (4) expansion to include 'purposeless' actions, such as B. Art and Magic .

Taken together, Boesch's theory is considered a symbolic theory of action that shaped the cultural psychological orientation of Saarbrücken psychology for many years.

Boesch stands for a consistent turning away from cross- cultural towards cultural psychology. This results from his experiences in Thailand (1955-58), which showed him on the one hand that there can be no universalistic theory of the human psyche , just as learning the Thai language opened up a different human space for action and thought. He discovered the potential of action theory for cultural psychology by chance when he was almost the victim of an accident with a rickshaw driver and an oncoming car .

Honors

student

Publications (in selection)

  • Between two realities: Prolegomena to an ecological psychology . Bern: Hans Huber 1971. ISBN 3-456-30040-9
  • Everyday Psychopathology. On the eco-psychology of action and its disorders . Bern: Hans Huber 1976. ISBN 3-456-80219-6
  • Culture and action. Introduction to cultural psychology . Bern: Hans Huber 1980. ISBN 3-456-80856-9
  • The magical and the beautiful. On the symbolism of objects and actions . Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog 1983. ISBN 3-7728-0839-5
  • Action theory and cultural psychology. Psychological Contributions, 30 (3) , 233–247.
  • La réalité comme métaphore. Journal de la psychanalyse de l'enfant, 15 , 155–180 (German: Reality as Metaphor. Psychology & Social Criticism, 119/120 , 9–37).
  • Symbolic action theory and cultural psychology . Berlin / New York: Springer 1991. ISBN 3-540-53992-1

Publications about Ernst E. Boesch

  • Culture & Psychology, Sep 1997; vol. 3
  • Culture & Psychology, Dec 2001; vol. 7th
  • Lonner., WJ & Haynes, SA (Eds.) (2007). Discovering cultural psychology: A profile and selected readings of Ernest E. Boesch . Information Age Pub. ISBN 1-59311-746-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Professor Ernst Eduard Boesch has died. Saarland University, July 16, 2014, accessed on July 17, 2014 .
  2. ^ The Story of a Cultural Psychologist: Autobiographical Observations. Culture & Psychology, 3 (3), p. 258
  3. ↑ https://saarbruecker-zeitung.trauer.de/trauerbeispiel/supanee-boesch
  4. ^ Paul Baltes (1997). Ernst E. Boesch at 80: Reflections from a Student on the Culture of Psychology. Culture & Psychology, 3 (3), p. 250
  5. ^ The Story of a Cultural Psychologist: Autobiographical Observations. Culture & Psychology, 3 (3), p. 260
  6. ↑ Psychopathology of Everyday Life. On the eco-psychology of action and its disorders. Bern: Hans Huber 1976, p. 11
  7. ^ Action theory and cultural psychology. Psychological Contributions, 30 (3), 233-247
  8. ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 4 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken January 30, 1992, p. 65 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 241 kB ; accessed on June 8, 2017]).
personal data
SURNAME Boesch, Ernst E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boesch, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cultural psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 2014
Place of death Saarbrücken