This book intends to translate into theoretical, methodological and practical language the principles of dialogical psychology. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, theoretical models in psychology have approached human mind and behavior from a monological point of view, a generalizing perspective which ignored the core role of social transactions in the construction of the person and sought to explain psychological functioning only looking inside individuals’ minds and brains, or in mechanist sets of reinforcement contingencies. However, for the last 40 years, critical perspectives within the fields of psychological and sociological theoretical thinking have produced an important epistemological shift towards a new dialogical paradigm within the behavioral and social sciences. The contributions in this volume intend to present both the theoretical framework and possible applications of dialogical psychology in different fields of research and practice, such as: Developmental psychology School and educational psychology Social and personality psychology Education Social work Anthropology Art Psychology as a Dialogical Science - Self and Culture Mutual Development will be an invaluable resource to both researchers and practitioners working in the different areas involved in the study and promotion of healthy human development by providing an alternative scientific framework to help overcome the traditional, reductionist, monological explanations of psychological phenomena.

In a boundary-crossing and globalizing world, the personal and social positions in self and identity become increasingly dense, heterogeneous and even conflicting. In this handbook scholars of different disciplines, nations and cultures (East and West) bring together their views and applications of dialogical self theory in such a way that deeper commonalities are brought to the surface. As a 'bridging theory', dialogical self theory reveals unexpected links between a broad variety of phenomena, such as self and identity problems in education and psychotherapy, multicultural identities, child-rearing practices, adult development, consumer behaviour, the use of the internet and the value of silence. Researchers and practitioners present different methods of investigation, both qualitative and quantitative, and also highlight applications of dialogical self theory.

In a boundary-crossing and globalizing world, the personal and social positions in self and identity become increasingly dense, heterogeneous and even conflicting. In this handbook scholars of different disciplines, nations and cultures (East and West) bring together their views and applications of dialogical self theory in such a way that deeper commonalities are brought to the surface. As a 'bridging theory', dialogical self theory reveals unexpected links between a broad variety of phenomena, such as self and identity problems in education and psychotherapy, multicultural identities, child-rearing practices, adult development, consumer behaviour, the use of the internet and the value of silence. Researchers and practitioners present different methods of investigation, both qualitative and quantitative, and also highlight applications of dialogical self theory.

This volume understands itself as an invitation to follow a fundamental shift in perspective, away from the self-contained ‘I’ of Western conventions, and towards a relational self, where development and change are contingent on otherness. In the framework of ‘Dialogical Self Theory’ (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010; Hermans & Gieser, 2012), it is precisely the forms of interaction and exchange with others and with the world that determine the course of the self’s development. The volume hence addresses dialogical processes in human interaction from a psychological perspective, bringing together previously separate theoretical traditions about the ‘self’ and about ‘dialogue’ within the innovative framework of Dialogical Self Theory. The book is devoted to developmental questions, and so broaches one of the more difficult and challenging topics for models of a pluralist self: the question of how the dynamics of multiplicity emerge and change over time. This question is explored by addressing ontogenetic questions, directed at the emergence of the dialogical self in early infancy, as well as microgenetic questions, addressed to later developmental dynamics in adulthood. Additionally, development and change in a range of culture-specific settings and practices is also examined, including the practices of mothering, of migration and cross-cultural assimilation, and of ‘doing psychotherapy’.

This book presents a theoretical framework developed to support psychologists working with indigenous people and interethnic communities. Departing from the cultural shock experienced as a psychologist working with indigenous people in Brazil, Dr. Danilo Silva Guimarães identifies the limits of traditional psychological knowledge to deal with populations who don’t share the same ethos of the European societies who gave birth to psychology as a modern science and proposes a new approach to go beyond the epistemological project that aimed to construct a subject able to represent the world free from any cultural mediation. According to the author, the purpose of cultural psychology is to produce general psychological theories about the cultural mediation of the self, others and world relationships. Based on this assumption, he argues that to achieve this aim, cultural psychology needs to understand how indigenous perspectives participate in the process of knowledge construction, transforming psychological conceptions and practices. In this volume, the author presents his own contribution to open cultural psychology to indigenous perspectives by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the notion of dialogical multiplication for the construction of work in co-authorship in the relation between psychology and indigenous peoples. With the growing migrations around the world, competences in psychological communication across cultures are more demanded each day, which makes Dialogical Multiplication – Principles for an Indigenous Psychology a critical resource for psychologists working with interethnic and intercultural communities around the world.

Education is a main issue in all countries. Policy makers, educators, families, students and, in a more general way, societies expect schools to provide a high quality education. They also expect students to be able to achieve and to become active and critical citizens. As senior researchers in education, we address some of the most complex and demanding research questions: How does learning affect identity? How does participation to educational settings, scenarios and situations impact the way we are or became? Can changes in how we perceive our Selves be considered as part of the learning process? This book attempts to outline some answers to such broad questions using a very robust and updated theoretical frame: the dialogical approach. In these chapters very well-known international authors from different continents and countries analyze school and educational situations through new lens: by considering the teaching and learning processes as multi-voiced and socially complex and considering identity development as a true leverage for development. The focus on the dialogical nature of both learning and identities makes this book interesting not only for educators and educational researchers but also for anyone interested in human sciences, policy makers, students and their families. We also aimed at producing a book that can be useful for different cultures and educational systems. Thus, in this book there are researches and comments from different cultural perspectives, making it appealing for a very large target-public.

Contemporary research in personality, social psychology and sociology has renewed an interest in the self. This volume argues that the self may consist fo multiple selves, any of which may interact with each other in a dialogical fashion. The self is presented as a non-unitary embodiment that transcends the limits of individualism and rationalism. Beginning with philosophical discussion of the self, this volume discusses the decentralization of the self in narrative psychology, the retreat of the omniscient narrator in literary sciences, the genesis of self-knowledge in children and the concept of modern society as a multiplicity of collective voices.