Dialogical Self Theory: Hermans and the Self as Inner Positions
The self as a cast of inner positions that speak, answer and take each other's point of view
What is dialogical self theory and how does it differ from Internal Family Systems?
Dialogical self theory, developed by Hubert Hermans, describes the self as a multiplicity of I-positions, each a voice with its own perspective, that can enter dialogue, answer one another and take other points of view. It differs from Internal Family Systems in what it aims for: it describes a field of positions and their relations rather than a core Self that leads. Its published method, the Personal Position Repertoire, can be used in research and practice, but controlled outcome evidence for its steps was not found in the searches run for this page.
Hubert Hermans set out the dialogical self as a theory that joins William James's psychology of the self with Mikhail Bakhtin's account of dialogue. The early statement is the 1993 book with Harry Kempen, The Dialogical Self: Meaning as Movement. Hermans's 2001 article "The Dialogical Self: Toward a Theory of Personal and Cultural Positioning" in Culture & Psychology describes self and culture as "a multiplicity of positions among which dialogical relationships can be established". The method that operationalises this, which the authors call a psychological assessment tool, is the Personal Position Repertoire. The practices below are its steps, as one published application describes them: choosing positions, rating how they relate, building a story from two of them, and picturing them on a stage.
Prácticas
- Set the voices down and come back to your body
Put the list of positions aside, feel your feet and breath, and let the room hold you while the loud voice quiets.
- Reach a clinician now if the voices are unclear or frightening
If you cannot tell what is you, or a voice pushes you toward not being here, reach a trusted person and a clinician now rather than sorting it out alone.
- List your inner and outer positions and choose the ones you recognise
Choose from a list of inner figures and outer figures the ones you recognise in your life, and name any the list leaves out.
- Rate how strongly each inner position shows up toward each outer figure
Take the positions you chose and rate, from 0 to 5, how strongly each inner position is active in your relation to each outer figure.
- Write a story from two of your positions, then rate what shaped each one
Choose two of your positions, build a narrative across past, present and future with guided questions, then rate how much events and people in your life affected each valuation.
- Picture your inner and outer figures on one stage
Imagine a stage with your inner characters entering from one side and your outer figures from the other, then notice how the two groups are linked.
Cómo se conectan estas prácticas
Every practice here applies the PPR's one move: name the positions a person recognises, relate them to the people and groups around them, and then read the relations. Choosing and naming positions makes them visible; rating each inner position against each outer figure sets the relations in a grid; building a story from two positions ties their valuations to the affect they carry; and picturing both groups on one stage shows how they link, within and between. The shared commitment is to look at relations among positions rather than at one voice taken as the real self.
How is dialogical self theory different from Internal Family Systems if both describe inner parts?
Both describe a mind made of several inner parts or positions that interact. The Internal Family Systems page in this corpus frames healing as leading from a calm core Self. The PPR steps, as the 2013 application describes them, rate how prominent each inner position is toward each outer figure, and the steps named in that description do not include a core Self to lead from. The Hermans 2001 abstract puts the weight on the organisation and reorganisation of the position repertoire. The practices here therefore map a relational structure rather than asking you to lead from a Self.
How does the stage picture differ from the separate-seat method of Voice Dialogue?
In the Stones' work, Voice Dialogue has a facilitator invite you to move to a separate seat and let one self answer in its own voice. The stage picture keeps all the figures in one imagined space, inner characters entering from one side and outer figures from the other, and asks how they link. The readable PPR sources do not describe a separate seat, and neither body of work, as far as these sources show, tests the other's method.
Which parts of Hermans's Personal Position Repertoire can be practised from a source that describes them as steps?
The readable procedure in DeSouza et al. (2013) covers choosing and naming positions, rating each inner position against each outer figure on a 0 to 5 scale, and building a story from two positions with an affect rating. DeSouza et al. quote Hermans (2001, p. 354) on the meta-position's contribution to the integration and unity of the repertoire, and argue that the meta-position is a reflexive device underlying all positions rather than a special type of position. The same paper notes that adopting a meta level or an external view is a practical way in which the self can observe itself, but describes no procedure step for it, so it is not a practice here.
Does dialogical self theory treat a critical voice as a separate enemy to argue with?
The readable procedure does not single out a critical voice. In the rating grid, a critical voice would be one inner position among the others, rated for how prominent it is toward each outer figure, positively or negatively. The dialogue with a critic belongs to the inner-critic page, not to this procedure.
How does this connect back to shadow work?
Shadow work asks you to meet the parts of yourself you have disowned, as the shadow-work page describes. The grid rates prominence positively or negatively. The readable sources do not describe the PPR as a shadow method and do not test shadow integration. Use the grid to see the cast of positions, then turn to the shadow-work practices for what you have disowned.
Is there research showing that these PPR steps change anything?
Not in the readable sources. DeSouza et al. (2013) applied the PPR to 17 participants aged 19 to 34 (11 women) and concluded that it shows the spatial structure of dialogicality but not dialogicality in action. The 2024 systematic review of dialogical and narrative psychotherapy included 16 qualitative and mixed-methods studies. It reports that two earlier reviews did not include PPR-based research, and its own search string does not name PPR methods. In the searches run for this page I found no randomized trial and no pre-post study of these steps.
¿Cómo elegir entre ellas?
If you cannot yet tell which inner voices are involved in a situation, start by choosing and naming positions. If you want to see how strongly a voice is tied to a particular person, rate that pair on the grid. If a story keeps repeating, write it from two of its positions and rate what shaped each one. If you feel pulled in several directions at once, picture the inner and outer figures on the stage before you decide what to do.
Lo que estos enfoques no resuelven
The evidence read for this page is one application of the PPR to 17 participants, and a 2024 review whose search does not name PPR methods. The authors call the PPR a psychological assessment tool. DeSouza et al. (2013) ran the steps in two sessions in different weeks, with the interview led by a researcher. The PPR has been applied in group comparisons, for example in Fuchs et al. (2012), Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, doi:10.1177/1359104512455814, which studied 42 adolescents with chronic fatigue, 37 with juvenile arthritis and 23 healthy teenagers; its abstract describes group comparisons and does not describe change over time. The meta-position is left out because DeSouza et al. (2013) describe it as a reflexive device rather than a procedure step. Stop line: if these steps start to flood you, or you lose track of where you are, stop and work with a trained therapist rather than continuing alone.
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