The Possible as a Field of Inquiry

Abstract: In this editorial I introduce the possible as an emerging field of inquiry in psychology and related disciplines. Over the past decades, significant advances have been made in connected areas – counterfactual thinking, anticipation, prospection, imagination and creativity, etc. – and several calls have been formulated in the social sciences to study human beings and societies as systems that are open to possibility and to the future. However, engaging with the possible, in the sense of both becoming aware of it and actively exploring it, represents a subject in need of further theoretical elaboration. In this paper, I review several existing approaches to the possible before briefly outlining a new, sociocultural account. While the former are focused on cognitive processes and uphold the old dichotomy between the possible and the actual or real, the latter grows out of a social ontology grounded in notions of difference, positions, perspectives, reflexivity, and dialogue. In the en.... https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/1725

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: The Possible as a Field of Inquiry ; volume:14 ; number:3 ; day:31 ; month:08 ; year:2018 ; Europe's journal of psychology ; 14, Heft 3 (31.08.2018)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Vlad Petre Glăveanu

Further information

• DOI: 10.5964/ejop.v14i3.1725
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2020101416543555522356
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:45 AM CEST