immersion into intermediate areas

Immersion into Intermediate Areas Danger or Developmental

Challenge

Katharina Stephenson

Magdeburg 20-03-2009

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/at/

cc katharina stephenson 2009


Background• Psychoanalysis• Psychoanalytic Pedagogy• Game Based Learning

An interdisciplinary view on some basics of a potential common understanding assisted by classic theories.


Goal

Defining aspects of media literacy from a psychoanalytic point of view as a base for a better understanding of the dangers and opportunities of digital games.


Structure


Intermediate Area (=IA) a Classical Psychoanalytic

Concept


Intermediate Area/Winnicott„The third part of the life of human being, a part we cannot ignore, is an intermediate area of experiencing, to which inner reality and external life both contribute.” (Winnicott 1971/2005, 3)

Three repositories of resources

Intermediate area –The adaption of this construction from Psychoanalysis to Game Studies facilitates a gain of knowledge.

inner reality – external life – intermediate area


Parallel World• Intermediate area = parallel world / virtual space• Human beings need several inhabitants for their mental

and psychic development in these three areas. • These inhabitants influence each other - also across the

borders of their original areas.• An intermediate area is only activated under special

circumstances and in certain settings of interplay of the other two spaces.

• Intermediate area = not a persistent world


Symbols Intermediate Areas are populated by symbols called • Transitional objects • Transitional phenomena

(Winnicott 1971)

As they • emerge at the beginning of an individual‘s personality development in early childhood and • are formed by an immature psychic structure

they are called primary symbols (Stephenson 2007)


Examples for Transitional Objects and Phenomena

Transitional objects: • Stuffed animals • Safety blanket • …Transitional phenomena• Sucking on the thumb• Rocking back and forth• …


Transitional Objects Transitional Phenomena

• Transitional phenomena = actions done by the child which stand for the cooperation within the first relationship.

• Employing transitional objects or phenomena represents an act of symbol formation as well as a first playful interaction.

• Transitional objects = things which stand for the beloved object of comfort, shelter and correspondence.


Definitiontransitional object and phenomenon: terms • for the root of symbolism in time• that describes the infant's journey from the

purely subjective to objectivity

and it is what we see of this journey of progress towards experiencing. (Winnicott 1971/2005, 8)


Purpose of IAs

the starting point of a learning process, which will be determining the future capability of playing

“…when we witness an infant's employment of a transitional object, the first not-me possession, we are witnessing both the child's first use of a symbol and the first experience of play.” (Winnicott 1971/2005, 130)

BUT…

Playing is a precondition for secondary symbol formation: early symbols co-created in the intermediate area between mother or father and child will be shaped, modified and multiplied the whole life long (Stephenson 2007).

Is playing a key competence for lifelong learning?


The Importance of Symbols and How They Work

The child establishes in its first year a steady internal object = an image of the interacting objects from the outside.

Why are symbols that important for us?

Theory of internal objects - Melanie Klein (1933):

Transitional objects and phenomena help to stabilize the initially unsteady internal object by reminding the child of the mother.


Effects of Primary Symbols Transitional objects and phenomena are essential

resources to establish a sane and steady internal object.

Forming and using these primary symbols = first act of collaborative playing

Bildung

Being able to interact with symbols constructively, diversely and playfully is the precondition of life-long personality development and deep learning.


Psychosocial Moratorium I

• A timeout where actions do not have sustainable or real-life-endangering consequences.

Originally limited to the developmental phase of adolescence (Erikson 1980).

• Situated in a parallel world, where real life rules are somewhat invalid.


Psychosocial Moratorium IIIntermediate area = a playful as-if world with the

psychosocial moratorium as a necessary criterion.

Finding settings which facilitate the constitution of intermediate areas is a

key competence for life long development.

Contemporary life requires life long development intermediate areas providing a psychosocial moratorium are companions through life.


Immersioncontroversial phenomenon related to

(game based) learning

… very deep mental involvement antithetic to being distanced or disinterested

The lack of existential danger - a psychosocial moratorium - allows deep immersion, but the immersion itself can represent a hazard …


Immersion from a Psychoanalytic Point of View? I

• The employment of transitional objects and phenomena as an act of symbol handling and formation is at the same time an act of deep involvement.

Immersion into an intermediate area is always associated with a first act of distancing oneself by employing an acquired strategy.

Images have to be attached to relevant emotional experiences to become individual symbols. (ref. Greenspan/Shanker 2004)

BUT


Immersion from a Psychoanalytic Point of

View? II Evoking the internal object (in order to make use of it as a

kind of virtual interaction-resource) to hold the psychic balance can be seen as a prestage of reflection.

It delineates a back and forth motion between very deep involvement in - for instance - fear and the step back by activating the internalized image.

Why?

The time before that “… when the disjunction between perception and reaction is not possible for the subject is characterized by catastrophic emotions.” (Greenspan & Shanker 2004, 27f)

thenceforward immersion and reflection are inseparable.


Different Settings for IAs in Later Life


Analytic Therapy as IA I

Therapy “... takes place in the overlap of two areas of playing, that of the patient and that of the therapist. Psychotherapy has to do with two people playing together. The corollary of this is that where playing is not possible then the work done by the therapist is directed towards bringing the patient from a state of not being able to play into a state of being able to play.” (Winnicott 1971/2005, 51)


Analytic Therapy as IA II

Common ground of the interaction and the relationship between mother and child and between therapist and patient.

Difference: The early intermediate area is meant for learning, the

later ones are spaces which facilitate re-learning. (ref. Mitgutsch 2008 and Stephenson 2007)


Game Space / Digital Role Playing Game as IA I

“The place where cultural experience is located is in the potential space3 between the individual and the environment (originally the object). The same can be said of playing. Cultural experience begins with creative living first manifested in play. For every individual the use of this space is determined by life experiences that take place at the early stages of the individual’s existence.” (Winnicott 1971/2005, 135)


Game Space / Digital Role Playing Game as IA II

Game space in a multiplayer online role playing game is a convenient setting to constitute an intermediate area, because …

• … it is populated by symbols, which can be formed and

modified individually.• … this symbol formation is a collaborative process of

co-construction.• … it provides a psychosocial moratorium. (ref. Gee

2003)• … it promotes immersion.


Developmental Challenges of Immersion into IAs


Symbol Formation and Modification

Constituting an intermediate area means to be in touch with

• …potential symbols in order to internalize them and make them individual meaningful symbols

and

• … existing individual meaningful symbols in order to modify them.

= Personality development!


Re-learningRe-learning = „a circular process of experiencing”

(Mitgutsch 2008, 27)

Re-learning is facilitated …

• … by operating with symbols …• … in an intermediate area … • … where a psychosocial moratorium prevails and …• … where the back and forth motion of immersion and

reflection is mastered.


Co-Construction --> Collaboration

Constituting an intermediate area is always a process of co-construction.

The co‘s are both real objects and internal objects.

Co-construction of meaning related to primary symbol formation ontogenetic prototype of collaborative learning.

Co-construction of meaning related to secondary symbol formation increase and diversification of collaborative learning skills.


Dangers of Immersion into IAs


Danger: Immersion Obstructs Reflection? I

Yes?

No!

The more one knows about a feeling, the weaker it will be; a feeling is strong, if it is not the subject of reflection. (ref. Heitger 1994, 27)

Immersion and reflection are a dichotomy. For reflection immersion needs to be interrupted. Doing that is the task of the game structure. (ref. Fromme 2006, 199ff)


Graphic: Anatomy of playing - back and forth motion

Danger: Immersion Obstructs Reflection? II Interm

ediate area

Inner reality

Back and forth m

otion

act within the game getting a reaction

evaluatingthe reaction

reflect on it


Danger: Immersion Obstructs Reflection? III

• Heitger is right – immersion or deep emotion and reflection are never emerging concurrently.

• Fromme is right – a scaffolding game design supports a balance between immersion and reflection.

AND

The ability to hold the balance and move back and forthbetween immersion and reflection is first of all a psychic competence.


Danger: Getting Lost in Chaos I

• Immersion into an intermediate area always demands surrender to a chaos.

Immersion is a precondition for primary and secondary symbol formation.

• Surrender is a precondition for immersion.


Danger: Getting Lost in Chaos II

Getting lost in the chaos of an intermediate area game space can happen, if …

• …the game is minimally structured (ref. Mitgutsch 2008) or does not force the interruption of immersion (ref. Fromme 2006).

AND / OR

•… the player‘s psyche has no chaos-ordering forces available.


Conclusion: Media Literacy from a Psychoanalytic Point of

View- MLP4Media literacy as one key competence for life long learning

has several psychodynamic aspects, which can be understood by psychoanalytic theories.

Psychodynamic aspects - MLP4:•Secondary symbol formation•Co-construction of intermediate areas for collaborative playing•Available chaos ordering forces•Back and forth motion of immersion and reflection


Thank You for Your attention!

[email protected]


Bibliography• Gee, James Paul (2003): What Video Games have to Teach us about Learning and

Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan• Erikson, Erik H. (1980): Identity and Life Cycle. New York, London: W.W. Norton &

Comp., (1959)• Fromme, Johannes (2006): Zwischen Immersion und Distanz: Lern- und

Bildungspotenziale von Computerspielen. In: Kaminsk, Winfred/Lorber, Martin (Hg.) (2006): Computerspiele und Soziale Wirklichkeit. München: Kopaed

• Greenspan, Stanley I./ Shanker, Stuart G. (2004): The First Idea. How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans. Cambridge: Da Capo Press

• Heitger, Marian (1994): Schule der Gefühle. In: Heitger, Marian (Hg.): Schule der Gefühle: zur Erziehung von Emotion und Verhalten. Innsbruck: Tyrolia

• Klein, Melanie (1933): The early development of conscience in the child. In: Sándor Lorand, (Ed.): Psycho-analysis today (pp. 149-162). New York: Covici-Friede. (1944)

• Mitgutsch, Konstantin (2008): Digital Play-Based Learning: A Philosophical-Pedagogical Perspective on Learning and Playing in Computer Games.In: HUMAN IT 9.3 18-36. Published by the University College of Borås

• Stephenson, Katharina (2007): Computer Games and Symbol Formation. Masterthesis Donau Universität Krems

• Winnicott, Donald W. (2005): Playing and Reality. New York: Routledge (1971)

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