Dialogical Self Theory

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Dialogical Self Theory
Dialogical Self Theory State of
the Art Hubert Hermans International Institute
for the Dialogical Self
Inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin
Inspired by William James
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Overview

• Overview
• - Summary Dialogical Self Theory
• - Different conceptions of dialogue
• - Dialogue inhibitors vs. -facilitators
• Controverse between Descartes and Montaigne
• The multiplicity (multivoicedness) of het self
  and the necessity of emotion-reason dialogue

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Definition Dialogical Self
The Dialogical Self
A dynamic multiplicity of I-positions in the
landscape of the mind.
As voiced positions they allow dialogical
relationships both within and between people
Self as society of mind.
Dialogical relationships involve both interchange
and relative dominance and are placed in a contex
of power relationships. Hermans, H.J.M.,
Kempen, H.J.G., Van Loon, J.P. (1992). The
dialogical self Beyond individualism and
rationalism. American Psychologist, 47, 23-33.
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Dialogical Self Book
The dialogical self Hubert Hermans
Agnieszka Hermans-Konopka
Inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin
Inspired by William James
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Handbook
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Bohm Photo
David Bohm, 1917-1992 Quantum physicist,
philosophy of mind, neuropsychology. Left USA in
McCarthy period because of suspicions of
communism. Became British citizen
People say All we need is love. If there were
universal love, all would go well. But we dont
appear to have it. So we need to find a way that
works.
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Bohm on dialogue
David Bohm on dialogue
- Thus, in a dialogue, each person does not
attempt to make common certain ideas or items of
information that are already known to him.
Rather, it may be said that the two people are
making something in common, i.e., creating
something new together (p. 3)
- Each one of us is doing the same thing-
sticking to the absolute necessity of his idea
(). Is it absolutely necessary?. Well, maybe
it s not absolute necessary. Then the whole
thing becomes easier () The dialogue can then
enter a creative new area. I think this is
crucial (p. 26)

• Compare also Meads (1934) distinction between I
  and Me with the generalized other as part of Me
  and I as the source of innovation of society (see
  also Miguel Goncalves work on innovative moments
  in psychotherapy)

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Difference between Bohmian and Bakhtinian
dialogue

• Bohm
• Dialogue is sometimes
• Enhances collective meanings
• Discussion (including disagreement) is no dialogue

• Bakhtin
• Dialogue is always
• Individual and collective voices
• Discussion (including disagreement) is dialogical

Barge, J.K., Little, M. (2002), Dialogical
wisdom, communicative practice, and
organizational life. Communication theory, 12
(4), 375-397.
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Buber Photo
-
Martin Buber, 1878-1965 Israeli philosopher of
dialogue. Broke with Jewish custom. Professor at
Frankfurt, resigned as protest to Hitler. Left
Germany in 1938
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Buber on dialogue
Bubers distinction between I-You and I-it -
Buber (1970) distinction between I YOU
relationship and I-IT relationship. I is involved
in dialogical contact with YOU. The perception of
IT is a form of objectification (although it can
be linguistic communication).

• I and YOU are members of a pair and not isolated
  entities
• I and IT are also members of a pair but of a
  different quality.

- While the tree or a person is observed as part
of a category (I-IT) in the I-YOU relationship it
is experienced as a whole and in its speaking
richness (see also music or paintings)
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Mohammad Khatami on dialogue
Who wrote this text? (2000) But dialogue
becomes possible only at a particular time and
place under certain psychological, philosophical,
and ethical conditions, and therefore, not
everybody, with any world view and belief in some
political, moral, religious or philosophical
system, can claim that he or she is an advocate
of dialogue. For real dialogue to take place, we
require a set of general, all-inclusive, a priori
axioms, without which no dialogue is possible in
the true sense of the word. It is up to such
world organizations as Unesco to conduct research
into these axioms, to publicize them, and to make
them acceptable and even desirable to the world
community (p. 30)
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Mohammad Khatami photo

Mohammad Khatami (1943-), Iranian scholar, Shiite
theologian, and Reformist politician. He served
as the fifth president of Iran from 1997 to 2005.
He is currently one of the leaders of the Iranian
Green Movement and an outspoken critic of the
President Ahmadinejads government
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Dialogue-inhibitors
Dialogue-inhibitors
Exclusive truth pretentions Im right
confusion of perspective and reality
Strong emotions are totalizing the mind
reduction of multiplicity (e.g., anger, substance
addiction, fanatic love)
Masking positions as dialogue-inhibitors
Transforming cognitive dissonance into
consonance moves the self into a monological
direction tolerance for contradictions
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Dialogue-facilitators
Dialogue facilitators
Four levels of listening (a) to the literate
text (b) conceptual listening (c) going into
the intentions of the other (d) listerning to
both yourself and the other
Inclusion of uncertainty creating space for a
not-yet-known counter-voice (opposite to
prejudice)
Tolerance for contradictions Montaigne against
artificial certainty there is always another
perspective possible consulting head and heart
(two inner perspectives)
Transform dichtomies into mutually complementing,
counter-voices (open vs. closed, optimist vs.
pessimist, feminine vs. masculine)
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Oles on traits 1
Internal dialogues from trait perspective
Revised NEO Personality Inventory (neuroticism,
extraversion, conscientiousness, agreebleness,
openness) correlated with measures of internal
dialogical activity. Persons having many inner
dialogues scored significantly higher on openness
(fantasy, aesthetics, feelings) and higher on
instability (self-consciousness, and anxiety)
than persons with less dialogues. Puchalska-Wasyl
,, M. et al. (2008). From internal interlocutors
to psychological functions of dialogical
activity. Journal of Constructivist Psychology,
21, 239-269 See also Oleset al.s chapter in
the Handbook of Dialogical Self Theory. (2012).

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Oles on traits 2
Internal dialogues from trait perspective
This is probably modified by developmental
factors since, in adolescents, internal
dialogicality corresponds higher with Neuroticism
than with Openness while in the middle-aged
samples the internal dialogical activity
corresponds higher with Openness than with
Neuroticism ). This implies that in
adolescents internal dialogues are stimulated
mainly by anxiety and personal problems, whereas
in adults mostly by openness and curiosity.
Adolescents may use internal dialogues for coping
with the unknown, which tends mainly to reduce
anxiety, while middle-aged adults use internal
dialogues mainly for exploring new worlds and for
dialectical thinking which broadens the scope of
personal possibilities Oles et al. (2011).
Dialogicality and personality traits. In H.J.M.
Hermans T. Gieser (Eds.) (2012), Handbook of
Dialogical Self Theory (241-252). Cambridge UK
Cambridge University Press.
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Winters et al. talking to, about, and with
Talking to, about, and with
Triadic situation Student stalking about their
experiences in their internship with a school
mentor and workplace mentor - Talking to the
student 65 - Talking about the student 21 -
Talking with the student 9 While talking with
the student is the situation in which they learn
most about themselves Winters et al. (2012). The
self in carreer learning An evolving dialogue.
In H.J.M. Hermans T. Gieser (Eds.) (2012),
Handbook of Dialogical Self Theory (pp. 454-469).
Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press.
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Controverse between Descartes and Montaigne on
certainty and contradictions

• Descartes (1596-1650)
• Perfect certainty
• Removing contradictions and uncertainty one
  rational perspective
• Reason above emotion head above the heart

• Montaigne (1533-1592)
• Against arrogant certainty (Que sais je?)
• Tolerance and awareness of contradictions and
  uncertainty different perspectives
• Reason and emotion as equivalent sources of
  knowledge

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Montaigne on difference within and between selves
Montaigne Multiplicity within and between selves
We are all framed of flaps and patches, and of
so shapeless and diverse contexture, that every
piece, and every moment plays its part. And
there is as much difference found between us and
our selves, as there is between our selves and
others (Montaigne, 1580)
It is a major achievement, believe me, to act as
one person (Seneca, circa 65 AD) Hermans,
H.J.M., Kempen, H.J.G. (1993). The dialogical
self Meaning as movement. San Diego Academic
Press
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Alice telling different things from different
positions
Alice Telling different things from different
positions (open vs. closed)
Question about her past Is there something
important or influential in your past that still
exerts an influence today?
Valuation from her open position My mother,
open and cheerful, has always been like a friend
to me
Valuation from her closed position When I was
12 years old, my father left the house I know
so little about that period I think there is
much pain and sorrow during that time
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Alice telling different things about the same
person
Alice Telling different things about the same
person
Question about her present Is there something
important or influential in your present life?
Valuation from her open position In the contact
with my boyfriend Im always listening to him
Im always there for him
Valuation from her closed position My partner
and I have both had a broken relationship in the
past I do not want to lose myself again in
another relationship
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Figure 3.1
How DOMINANT were these valuations in your
thinking during the past week?
Reversal of dominance is expressed by the
crossing lines
Figure 3.1. Average dominance ratings for
thinking about personal valuations for open and
closed positions over four weeks
Hermans, H.J.M., Kempen, H.J.G. (1993). The
dialogical self. San Diego Academic Press
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Figure 3.2
How MEANINGFULwere these valuations in your
thinking during the past week?
Meaningfulness reversal is expressed by the
crossing lines
Figure 3.2 . Average meaningfulness ratings for
thinking about personal valuations for open and
closed positions over four weeks
Hermans, H.J.M., Kempen, H.J.G. (1993). The
dialogical self. San Diego Academic Press
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Stemplewska, I-with-mother
I in relationship with mother, father, partner,
friend, and teacher
The position of Mother's Child was the most
talkative, expressed most emotions , had the most
colorful stories , most intensively expressed the
needs of affiliation and intimacy and most often
mentioned relations with other people
Generally, these findings are in agreement with
the assumption of DST that people produce
different self-narratives from the perspective of
different I-positions (Stemplewska et al., 2012
see also Raggatts work on positioning)
Stemplewska-Zakowicz, K., et al. (2012).
Cognitive architecture of the dialogical self
An experimental approach. In H.J.M. Hermans T.
Gieser (Eds.), Handbook on the Dialogical Self
Theory. (264-283). Cambridge, UK Cambridge
University Press.
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Different views on emotions

• Emotion from Different Perspectieves
• COGNITIVE result of interpretations
• FYSIOLOGICAL adrenaline, cortisol
• EVOLUTIONARY fight, flight, freezing

• DIALOGICAL Emotion als message as temporary
  I-position
• . importance of listening.
• . What does an emotion say about yourself or
  another?
• . Reason gives an answer to the emotion. Learning
  from it.

- First-order phenomenology (He is a.) and
second-order awareness(Im angry) (Lambie
Marcel, 2002) uncertainty!
- Dialogue emotion-reason (not rational and also
not overwhelmed by emotions )
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Emotion-reason dialogue Montaigne-Pascal
Emotion-reason dialogue
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) knowing via head
and heart reason and emotion mind and body
versus Descartes reason above emotion
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) The heart has its
reasons, that the reason doesn't know"
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Emotion-reason diaogue examples
Emotion-reason dialogue
Emotion work after a loss, deep insult or
serious conflict dialogical emotion
Dialogical authenticity Taking the position of
a significant other dialogical emotion
Falling in love and taking a realistic
meta-position (e.g., alimentation, common
property)
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Summary 1
Summarizing 1
1. Philosophical, psychological, and novelistic
literature shows different conceptions of dialogue
2. When dialogue is not always and everywhere, it
makes sense to give attention to the distinction
between dialogue-inhibitors and facilitators.
3. In the controverse between Descartes and
Montaigne one of the deeper implications is the
tolerance for contradictions and uncertainty.
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Summary 2
Summarizing 2
4. A significant aspect of the multiplicity of
the self, is the relationship between emotion and
reason. This leads to the relevance of developing
emotion-reason dialogue
5. Dialogue implies learning from the other and
from oneself
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Thanks
Thank you for your attention! Have a good
dialogue!
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General info
General Info
- Website Hubert J.M. Hermans www.huberthermans.c
om
- Dialogical Practice Network www.dialogicalpract
ice.com

• Hermans, H.J.M., Hermans-Konopka, A. (2010).
  Dialogical Self Theory Positioning and
  counter-positioning in a globalizing society.
  Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press.