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Volume 10 Number 1
Summer 2017
| Temporal
Dialogical Activity and Identity Formation
during Adolescence Małgorzata Łysiak & Piotr Oleś Institute of Psychology, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin |
pp. 1-18 |
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Abstract. The
study aims to explore how temporal self-dialogues
contribute to identity formation during adolescence.
The main hypothesis postulated that identity
exploration and commitment are related to
construction of integrative temporal dialogues. It
was also postulated that integration of temporal
I-positions causes positive change in meaning of
life and emotions, both measured as states. The
group of adolescents included 100 high-school
students (M = 17.92, SD = 1.01), who activated
various temporal voices using the ‘chair instruction
for a temporal dialogue’ procedure. Participants
were asked to define one personally important
I-position in the past and one in the future, and
then to conduct a dialogue between all three
positions: past, present and future. The procedure
contained the Ego Identity Process Questionnaire,
the State Personality Inventory and the Meaning of
Life Scale-State. Participants who integrated
I-positions related to personal past, present and
future (38%) had higher scores in Commitment (as
predicted) and in Exploration (contrary to
prediction) than participants who did not. In
accordance with predictions, the temporal dialogues
influenced meaning of life and emotions, measured as
states. After the temporal dialogues, scores of the
emotional state of curiosity were higher (as
postulated) as well as of anxiety (contrary to
prediction), while scores of the emotional state of
anger were lower (as postulated) than before.
Increases in meaning of life and in affective state
were significant only for participants who were able
to integrate the different temporal voices. The
results are discussed with reference to identity
formation processes and the role of meta-reflection
in the dialogical self. |
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