SAANZ Conference 2021

Chair: Gaylene Denfood-Wood

9:30am - 9:50am
BEYOND SEN – HOW CONCEPTUALISING PERSONHOOD AS INTERDEPENDENT PROVIDES A PATHWAY TO PERSONAL & PLANETARY WELLBEING
Kevin Moore & Lin Roberts

In the context of development, Sen has argued that central to human wellbeing is that individual persons have the capabilities to live a life that they value. While Sen acknowledges that there are cultural and social processes that influence the values manifest by persons, his approach has been criticised for over-emphasising the independent individual and seeing capabilities as possessions of those individuals. Critics have suggested that a more relational understanding of persons as being constituted collectively, by and in relation to their communities and cultures and the natural world that nurtures them, would enable us to better understand the foundations of personal wellbeing, and open the potential for a healthier relationship with the planet.

In that context, we present a theoretical account of persons that highlights this relationality and so exposes problematic aspects of Sen’s approach. In particular, we consider the foundational nature of the concept of ‘persons’. Within this account, persons and their achievements are constituted by multi-level processes that include the social, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to overall wellbeing. We consider the practical policy implications for people and nature of adopting this account of persons and contrast it to Sen’s capability account.


9:50am - 10:10am 
BUILDER-CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS: A PRACTICE-BASED ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BUILDERS AND CLIENTS DURING THE NEW BUILD PROCESS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR WELLBEING
Orin Lockyer & Kate Bryson

Anecdotally, the builder-client relationship has been a source of tension and stress for builders and clients. Previous research at BRANZ has identified that new build clients often report that their builders perform poorly when it comes to communication. However, we do not know to the extent in which both clients and builders feel their wellbeing, especially mental health has been impacted by poor communication practice. Drawing on the results of a mixed methods study on the builder client relationship in New Zealand, this paper applies insights from the sociology of consumption (Warde, Ritzer) and practice theory (Schatzki, Shove, Kemmis), to help understand the practice of communication during the build process and why it can sometimes lead to adverse mental health outcomes. Findings show that half of builders who experienced client disagreements reported moderate to high levels of depression symptoms. An even great number reported symptoms of anxiety. As clients become more knowledgeable and shift into a more active role on site, it can challenge long-standing practices of construction. This changing consumer practice, unless carefully managed, can lead to conflict during the build process. This paper seeks to help the building and construction industry identify best practice solutions for communication with clients during the build process and contributes to wider sociological discussions on practice theory.


10:10am - 10:30am 
DO ‘PERSONS’ HAVE A PLACE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY? THE EXAMPLE OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WELLBEING
Kevin Moore

The concept of the ‘person’ has struggled to gain traction in psychological theory. While, on the margins, theories of personhood have been developed, the person rarely features as an explicit construct in the most widely adopted psychological accounts of human behaviour and experience.

Despite this near-absence of a focus on persons, I argue that recent empirical and theoretical developments from a wide range of areas including cognitive neuroscience, psychology of the self, cognitive evolution, consciousness, psychometrics and perception can best be understood through incorporation of ‘persons’ into psychological theorising. I then provide a philosophically-grounded theoretical account of persons and personhood as the basis for a reinterpretation of the nature of psychological phenomena and experience.

Importantly, a shift towards a psychology of persons explicitly embeds psychological phenomena in the broader social, cultural and material world both as regards their emergence and sustainability. I illustrate the advantages of such an embedded psychological perspective through considering what the outlines of a person-based theory of wellbeing would add to our understanding of the relational nature of wellbeing and its constitutive interdependencies with the social, cultural and environmental worlds.

Finally, I draw some broad conclusions about the prospects for a person-based social psychology.


10:30am - 10:50am 
SOCIOPOETIC WELLBEING IN A COVID WORLD
Gaylene Denford-Wood

Can the practice of a sociopoetic form sustain wellbeing? What is the evidence? A 2019 doctoral award for A heuristic inquiry with teachers and leaders uncovers a poetry path to wellbeing evoked a broader-based enquiry. A series of workshops followed across diverse social settings, over an eighteen-month timeframe with a cross-section of participants who continued to engage with the process through covid-lockdowns. The researcher sought to understand what, if anything, was the effect of regular practice of this particular poetic form called the mindfulness of seminaria. Using a mixed methods approach, this qualitative study examined the responses of 30 men and women aged 15-75, to adopting this poetic form as a reflexive practice. Though introduced to its theoretical construct, they were encouraged, in practice, to explore it in playful ways to suit their personal and professional needs. Possible applications included: recording events, processing feelings, problem solving, ‘bookending’ the day, planning ahead. The mindfulness of seminaria was found to be surprisingly creative, energising and grounding. Key benefits were the wellbeing components: meaningfulness and self-realisation. Clear evidence emerged of the versatility, vitality and potential of this sociopoetic practice for attaining subjective wellbeing—a factor in participants’ positive adjustment to living in ‘Covid-times’.