Abstract

SCORSOLINI-COMIN, Fabio  and  AMORIM, Katia de Souza. Embodiment: a critical review of the scientific literature. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2008, vol.14, n.1, pp.189-214. ISSN 1677-1168.

This paper presents a review of the scientific literature on the notion of embodiment, which considers the human body an intrinsic part of the person-context relationship. Its main purpose was to apprehend meanings and approaches regarding the theme, aiming to contribute to developmental psychology research. PsycInfo, Medline, Scielo and Lilacs (1970 to 2005) databases were investigated, and eleven indexed articles were obtained. Papers are related to different knowledge areas, and to diverse theoretical fields and approaches within psychology. Yet, there is a certain consensus on the need to break up with models that dichotomize body-mind and person-environment relationships, and to look for more integrative views. A frequent reference to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology appears in the reviewed papers. As the notion of embodiment is not clearly defined, and the papers do not stem from, nor are objectively directed towards, empirical research, the need for in-depth investigations in this direction is emphasized.

Keywords : Bibliographic review; Embodiment; Intercorporeality; Dialogism.

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