IJDS 4.2 Santos-Gauer-Gomes

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 4 Number 2 Winter 2010

Dialogical Valence: A Novel Measure for the Dialogical Self and
Its Implications for Psychotherapy

Maickel Andrade dos Santos
Gustavo Gauer
William B. Gomes
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil

pp. 105-117

ABSTRACT. Production of meaning in the dialogical self emerges from the movement and combination of I-positions. In that sense, psychotherapy is a preferential setting for such processes to occur. Dialogical Valence (DiaV) is suggested as a novel measure of the promptness of I-positions to combine in the dialogical self. Derived from the Personal Position Repertoire, DiaV is intended to reflect the dynamics of the dialogical self. The study compared people under psychological treatment with controls on DiaV and neuroticism. Neuroticism did not yield significant differences, whereas DiaV was lower in the psychotherapy group. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential movements of the dialogical self in psychotherapy. The DiaV measure allows for data summarizing, between-subjects comparisons and assessment of psychotherapeutic process otherwise impracticable with standard dialogical self approaches.

Keywords: dialogical self, dialogical valence, psychotherapy, personal position repertoire (PPR)

Dialogical Valence: A Novel Measure for the Dialogical Self and Its Implications for Psychotherapy Maickel Andrade dos Santos Gustavo Gauer William B. Gomes Federal University of Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil	pp. 105-117
ABSTRACT. Production of meaning in the dialogical self emerges from the movement and combination of I-positions. In that sense, psychotherapy is a preferential setting for such processes to occur. Dialogical Valence (DiaV) is suggested as a novel measure of the promptness of I-positions to combine in the dialogical self. Derived from the Personal Position Repertoire, DiaV is intended to reflect the dynamics of the dialogical self. The study compared people under psychological treatment with controls on DiaV and neuroticism. Neuroticism did not yield significant differences, whereas DiaV was lower in the psychotherapy group. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential movements of the dialogical self in psychotherapy. The DiaV measure allows for data summarizing, between-subjects comparisons and assessment of psychotherapeutic process otherwise impracticable with standard dialogical self approaches. Keywords: dialogical self, dialogical valence, psychotherapy, personal position repertoire (PPR)