Microgenetic theory: Personality, Cognition, Consciousness

What is it about?

Microgenesis refers to an unfolding of a cognitive process (e.g., perception, thinking) which occurs in developmental sequence. The microgenetic school of thinking has seen a renaissance in recent years, with researchers looking at a number of different aspects of visual perception, utilizing a microgenetic technique. An exploration of the microgenetic unfolding of cognition will inevitably lead to the study of a dedifferentiated, syncretic mode of cognition, wherein there is a fusion of thought, perception, feeling and imagination. Furthermore, both the microgenetic and the perceptgenetic research traditions are characterized by an organismicdevelopmental and holistic orientation to research and theory, wherein personality and thought, perception and feeling, and cognition and consciousness are all interrelated. In this chapter, I present a broad overview of these issues, assessing the present status of the field in relation to its past.

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Why is it important?

The microgenetic and perceptgenetic research traditions are characterized by an organismic-developmental and holistic orientation to research and theory, wherein personality and thought, perception and feeling, and cognition and consciousness are all interrelated, as they should be. Adherence to such an orientation can both comfort and console those of us who have been looking with dismay at the way the discipline around us has been developing (or regressing) over the past 30 years.