Dorota Kubicka

Stefan Szuman – the unknown pioneer of cognitivism. Genesis of the object compared to Neisser’s cycle of perception

Urlic Neisser (1928–2012) is widely considered to be one of the leading figures of contemporary psychology. This scholar is also thought to have come up with an original idea concerning the constructive nature of the perception process referred to as Neisser’s cycle of perception (1976; 1978). The thesis has contributed to the development of scientific psychology, but few notice that the idea ascribed to Neisser had been developed much earlier by Stefan Szuman (1889–1972) in his concept known as the genesis of the object (1932). Comparing the two concepts makes one conclude that they are strikingly similar and that novel ideas originating on the fringes of a given field are not given enough credit.

Urlic Neisser (1928–2012) is widely considered to be one of the leading figures of contemporary psychology. This scholar is also thought to have come up with an original idea
concerning the constructive nature of the perception process referred to as Neisser’s cycle of perception (1976, 1978). The thesis has contributed to the development of scientific psychology, but few notice that the idea ascribed to Neisser had been developed much earlier by Stefan Szuman (1889–1972) in his concept known as the genesis of the object (1932). Comparing the two concepts makes one reach the conclusion that they are strikingly similar and that novel ideas originating on the fringes of a given field are not given enough credit.

The aim of this article is to compare different conceptions of psychological development in which the development is managed by an individual itself. It is a collection of views on the development of the life of a human being from the point of view of different psychological trends. Terms such as self-realization, self-actualization and self-creation are considered. On the basis of the conception of self-creation by Zbigniew Pietrasiński, a model of selected but crucial personal conditions for self-creation process is discussed. It includes such dimensions as: autonomy as self-determination, self-consciousness, transgression, long-term goals and lifetime creativity.

Creative preschoolers twelve years after

The article discusses the topic of children’s creativity and its research presented in the book Creative Action in Preschool Children (Kubicka, 2003). The book describes the projective method of measuring creative strategies in symbolic-constructive play. In a 1997 sample, 120 children aged 3 to 6 were tested. 12 years later a second version of the method was worked out, and a group of 18 of both the most and the least creative of the original sample was tested again. The pupils were also interviewed for all facts and questions important for the development of creativity both at preschool age and in adolescence. The results show many determinants of the prognostic value of the proposed method and warn against making conclusions about child’s creativity on the basis of simple paper and pencil tests. At the same time the fi ndings suggest the need for more dynamic complex developmental approach to diagnosis of creativity in children in order to uncover the mechanisms of self-development of these functions.

Creative preschoolers as perceived by their parents and teachers

The paper presents the results of research on identification of creative preschoolers via observation of their overt behavior in two settings: at home and in the kindergarten. A model of preschoolers’ creative activity as well as two original observational sheets were prepared on the basis of the knowledge of the subject. The data were collected form a sample of parents and teachers of 235 preschoolers.
The main categories of creative activity at home were: humour, autonomy, self-expression, persistence, fantasy/imagination, stubbornness; in the kindergarten they were: exploration, control/autonomy, engagement. The results show that the relationship between the parents’ and teachers’ ratings was very weak. The children exhibited a wide range of creative behaviors across the main categories rather than a full pattern (syndrome) of creative behavior. These findings support the existence of a large and at the same time dispersed creative potential of preschoolers, very diversified patterns of creative behaviors, and small developmental changes within this range.