ABSTRACT
The sociogenetically oriented approaches to internalization in this volume share some common assumptions about the complexity of social interaction processes, and the need for sensitive methods of analysis to track internalization at work. As in wider discussions among developmentalists, it is readily acknowledged that we need empirical methodologies capable of accounting for complex exchanges between individuals of different status and ability (e.g., Elbers, Maier, Hoekstra, & Hoogsteder, 1992; Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Lawrence, Benedikt, & Valsiner, 1992; Smolka, 1992; Wertsch & Stone, 1988). Although the content of interactions between social and personal worlds may differ across investigators, there seems to be a common commitment to understanding what happens when a social message is presented to an individual who then responds to that message in positive or negative ways.
