Self as a Society of I‐Positions: A Dialogical Approach to Counseling

Abstract

Building on James's (1890) idea of an extended self and Bakhtin's (1929Bakhtin's ( /1973   several centuries ago, Montaigne (1580/1603) demonstrated a striking insight into human nature when he said, "We are all framed of flaps and patches, and of so shapeless and diverse a contexture, that every piece, and every moment playeth his part. And there is as much difference found between us and our selves, as there is between our selves and others" (pp. 196-197). The first part of this sentence gives expression to an observation that, in our contemporary society, is more relevant than ever before in Gagelveld 34, 6596 CA Milsbeek, .nl).Journal of HUMANIsTIc cOUNsELING  July 2014  Volume 53 135human history: the emergence of a multiplicity of the self at the edges of fragmentation or even beyond.The second part of Montaigne's statement reflects something equally relevant for our times: the increasing difference between the several parts or facets of the self. As long as we attach to the implicit or explicit view that the self is united and coherent as it is, assuming that the self of one person is different from the selves of other people but identical to itself, we run the risk of ignoring the fact that, as part of a heterogeneous world society, the self has become more and more different from itself. For example, as a teacher at school, I am different from myself as a mother of two adopted children from Bhutan; as physically handicapped, I feel inferior when I am in a shop, but as a champion of the Paralympics I am honored and admired; or, as someone raised in a Dutch culture, I am used to responding to others in a direct and honest way, but, being married to an Iranian woman, I have learned to express respect to people. As a result of increasing technological advancements (e.g., media, transport) and intensified cultural, demographic, economical, ecological, and military interconnections, we increasingly live in a globalized world in which differences become apparent as people from a variety of social, cultural, and historical backgrounds meet each other as part of a compressed world society. Widening their horizons, individuals and groups have an increased range of identifications and disidentifications available that enlarge actual or possible differences in self and identity (for reviews, see Hermans & Dimaggio, 2007;Kinnvall, 2004). THE cEnTER cannoT HoldIn his poem "The second coming" (1920), written in the aftermath of the First World War, William Butler Yeats expressed the sensitivity of the self to the changing society in a most succinct way: "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold." With this dictum, Yeats suggested the existence of a space or circle with a center that, located in a field of tension, is pulled in different and even opposed directions by influential environmental forces. When we apply this dictum to the psychology of the self, we are a self that is subjected to a variety of decentering influences that put the coherence and unity of the self increasingly under stress (Hall, 1991)....

Counseling for Work and Relationship: A Practice-Driven Theoretical Approach

“…This moving along is fostered by the reflexive examination of their lives and experience of talking about their lives in counseling. These findings resonate with dialogic theory about the self and about counseling (Hermans, 2014;Hermans & Kempen, 1993), especially with the research on dialogic approaches to group counseling for vocational guidance and counseling (Keskinen & Spangar, 2013;Koivuluhta & Puhakka, 2013).…”

Reconsidering the Self in Social Thought: Existential-Phenomenological and Dialogical Perspectives

“…In general terms, the dialogical self refers to a dynamic interrelational multiplicity of I-positions within both internal and external interchanges. In a synthetic and integrative manner, this dialogical notion overtly acknowledges and celebrates both the modern emphasis on critical self-agency and the postmodern analytical focus on social construction, language, discourse, and power relations (Richardson et al, 1998;Hermans, 2014). The self, including the cyberself, is interdisciplinarily conceptualised here as socially embedded, relationally dynamic, and entirely open to an ambiguous otherness, continuously moving toward an uncertain, unforeseen, and unpredictable future, without however reaching a final and safe destination.…”

“…The creative, fragile, and uncertain process of self-construction, in the particular form of story-formed identity, profoundly signifies an ongoing nonlinear interplay between subjective aspects of one's self (i.e. voiced self-aspects or I positions), as well as a never-ending interrelational dialogue between internal I positions and the significant others, with whom the reflexive individual is strongly communicating and interacting (Hermans et al, 1992;Hermans, 2014). Arguably, the relational existence or appearance of these "significant others" (actual, imagined, or implied) is completely integral to the evolutionary reflexive (spontaneous) emergence and development of dialogical selfhood.…”

Of Human Bondage: The Relevance of Hegel's Dialectic of Desire and Recognition for Humanistic Counselors

“…Attachment theorists acknowledge the importance of recognition and the interdependence of self and other (see Blatt & Levy, ), yet demonstrate traditional, individualistic assumptions of the self that are endemic to psychology and the mental health professions (Hansen, ). If, however, we concede that the self and other exist interdependently, the relationship with the caregiver remains the condition of possibility for the alleged autonomous self, who remains othered (Butler, ), decentered (Hermans, ), and opened up to supplemental ways of being (Givens & Lemberger, ). Currently, the attachment literature corresponds with the theory of desire and recognition, but builds on divergent philosophical and ontological assumptions of the self.…”