On the Aesthetics of Self Expression:

Theoretical psychology is at its best when it engages in the wider psychological community by bringing about critical reflection and synthesis. This vision is challenging to accomplish due to “anesthesia”: a practice of ‘comatose’ production divorced from authentically generative activity and meaningful engagement with others. This notion is developed by drawing on Marcuse’s discussion of the surplus of suppression enabled by technology and a hyperreal milieu. Technological practices such as the engineering of social media platforms maximize anesthesia and amplify such concerns. I advocate for a turn to Bakhtinian aesthetics of self-expression to spell out an aesthetic for theoretical psychology.