Transfer osobowości jako figura myślenia potocznego o transplantacji komórek, tkanek i narządów. Perspektywa etnopsychologiczna

The article presents an analysis of ethnographic research data focused on non-professional, common knowledge about transplantation among local inhabitants of a village, and their reflections on the consequences of cell, tissue or organ transplantation. During research I looked at cultural factors that may fuel the fear of such procedures. One of these factors is an ethnotheory of the donor’s personality transfer (or the “psychology” of an individual) resulting from transplanting his/her biological material into the recipent’s body. The aim of the article is to operationalize this concept from an ethnopsychological perspective. The research was carried out with a group of 35 residents of a village located in central Poland, where there is a popular “urban legend” about kidney theft for transplantation that involves the local disco venue. The ethnographic material (interviews with residents) was collected in 2014–2016.