Cognitive and interactive patterning: Processes of creating meaning

Abstract

One of the most challenging questions for psychological and sociological researchers concerns the discrepancy between two images of our world:On the one hand, our modern scientific view of the world converges with the philosophies of various cultures and times (and with those of our own culture), in the awareness that the world is above all to be seen as an incredibly complex process. It is a world out of a fast changing, high complex multitude of elements, stimuli, etc. and an incomprehensible stream of unique moments. On the other hand, in our everyday life, we describe and experience the world in terms of smooth developing, semi complex, and ordered units. In banishing the chaotic complexity, we are searching for order and stability. We are creating meaning in our personal and social Lebenswelt which is essential for our everyday life. This chapter gives an introduction to interdisciplinary systems theory with respect to describe and explain cognitive and interactive patterning and the processes of creating meaning. © 2009 Springer-Verlag New York.