The Emergence of Social Meaning: A Theory of Action Construal

Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Critical Issues in Social Justice book series (CISJ)

Abstract

Part IV focuses on organizational, institutional, societal, and intercultural issues. In this chapter, John Adamopoulos presents a theory of action construal with an emphasis on the emergence of social meaning. He reviews the theoretical framework within which models concerning the meaning of interpersonal behavior were generated. These models are based on the assumption that all social behavior involves the exchange of material and psychological resources, a process that is guided by a number of constraints operating on interpersonal interaction. Adamopoulos’ analysis relies substantially on research findings and insights obtained in the context of social resource theory and thus constitutes in some ways an extension and application of the theory to the area of interpersonal structure in general and, in particular, to topics like individualism-collectivism, human values, and sociality.

Keywords

Interpersonal Interaction Action Construal Interpersonal Behavior Social Meaning Cultural Pattern 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of PsychologyGrand Valley State UniversityAllendaleUSA

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