Re-Definition of Pedagogical Communication Due to Mentalization

Abstract

Humans are essentially social beings. Groups contribute not only to our survival but to construction of identity. An important prerequisite of living in social conditions is to perceive and understand human activities in a different way opposed to material world. In understanding and interpreting human actions - often if not always - desires, believes and thoughts are attributed to ourselves and others. This essential social capacity is called mentalization. In this paper we address the conceptual, developmental and psychopathological aspects of mentalization. Next we turn to application in educational settings: mentalization is presented as playing an important part in producing narratives. Narrative production is interpreted as a base for social and personal competencies, as well as a means of obtaining knowledge. The communicational techniques in the model of Thomas Gordon are reinterpreted as means for enhancing mentalizing in students.