Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

CHAPTER 104
Alternative Realities in Educational
Psychology: Postformalism as a
Compelling Force in Opposition
to Developmental Theories
ERIK L. MALEWSKI
This chapter explores postformal theory and its impact on the discourses of educational psychology
as both a theoretical paradigm and school practice. To begin, postformalism challenges
dominant developmental, formal conceptions of cognition and redirects educational psychology
away from a focus on rules and generalities toward pathways leading to alternative forms of teaching,
research, and assessment. Unlike the search for intellectual truth that undergirds formalism,
there is no easily produced or simply defined method for describing postformal educational psychology.
In quite the other direction there are, it seems, many dimensions to postformalism. Along
the first dimension, the mind and the character of knowledge are reconceptualized. There are investigations
into the origins of ideas, recognition of the links between the mind and life forces,
and appreciation for imagining what is possible. Along the second dimension, conventional cultural
categories are brought into question. This involves reflection on the implicit patterns and
structures that draw seemingly disparate elements into relation, appreciation of non-linear holism
that eschews cause and effect, and investigation into implicit patterns and structures in ways
that draw seemingly disparate elements into relation. Along the third dimension, interstices are
reconfigured as potential spaces of understanding. This involves the examination of interspaces
as unique beyond the connections they provide, investigation of third spaces that exist between
particularities and generalities, elevation of problem detection over the ability to locate existing
solutions, and attention to the ways power relations shape representations of intellect. In response
to these dimensions and the possibility that some scholars contend that postformalism is less a
definitive set of rules or principles than a disposition—a mood or attitude toward intelligence. I
agree with this analysis and would add that postformal educational psychology emphasizes the
journey toward understanding over a sense of arrival or closure on the topic.
At this point, the reader might come to sense that any attempts to define postformal educational
psychology are difficult and, some might even say, inappropriate. I tend to take the middle ground,
asserting that it is possible to characterize and explore many of the key features of postformal
theories and their implications for educational psychology while also recognizing postformal I
tend to take the middle ground, asserting that it is possible to characterize and explore many of
the key features of postformal theories and their implications for educational psychology while
also recognizing postformalism defers closure in an attempt to avoid asymmetrical structures.