author: Ewa Nagórska
contact: Ewa

Agency is a concept used in different sciences and approaches - please check the definition everytime you read the papers about it!

(Di Paolo, Cuffari, de Jaegher, 2018, after Barandiaran, di Paolo & Rohde, 2009)

All 3 requirements are fulfilled:

• self-individuation (autonomy),
• interactional asymmetry,
• normativity

- Agency is being shaped by the experiences during the whole lifetime - the factors that influence a person's agency are present very early in infancy, and it starts manifesting even then – see papers by Reddy, Markova, & Wallot (2013) and Fantasia et al. (2016).

- Language and interactions with others are the foundations of the sense of self, and, therefore, of agency. These factors may impact one's actions, by influencing one's perception of their own body and its abilities. This is crucial in medical and clinical situations, e.g. the metaphors used by a doctor directly change the patient's sense of agency (potency?). By using language that evokes negative emotions in patients, i.e. scaring them, a doctor limits the repertoire of actions they consider possible („executable” without facing dire negative consequences). For details, see: Stilwell and Harman, 2021.

• Ahearn, L. 2001. Language and Agency. Annual Review of Anthropology, 30:1, 109-137
• Di Paolo, E., Cuffari, E., and De Jaegher, H. 2018. Linguistic bodies: The Continuity between Life and Language. MIT Press.
• Fantasia V, Markova G, Fasulo A, Costall, A. and Reddy, V. 2016. Not Just Being Lifted: Infants are Sensitive to Delay During a Pick-Up Routine. Front. Psychol.6:2065.
• Gallagher, S. 2012, 'Multiple aspects in the sense of agency', New Ideas in Psychology, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 15-31.
• Kabeer, N. 1999. Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment. Development and Change 30(3), p. 435-464.
• Reddy, V., Markova, G., and Wallot, S. 2013. Anticipatory adjustments to being picked up in infancy. PLoS ONE 8:e65289.
• Stilwell P, Harman K. Phenomenological Research Needs to be Renewed: Time to Integrate Enactivism as a Flexible Resource. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2021, Online First.