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In psychology, the self-confrontation method (SCM), developed by Hubert Hermans, is a technique for examining people's behavior modification. It relies on people's inconsistent knowledge and dissatisfaction with their own values, motivation, behaviors, or with their personal meaning systems and those of significant others. Self-confrontation psychology is based on two theories which are valuation theory and dialogical-self theory.
The self-confrontation method is a specific evaluation and intervention tool guided which focuses on the individual's feelings and motivation. SCM is influenced by James's work (1890) and Merleau-Pony (1945,1962), as well as Bruner(1986) and Sarbin(1986). [1] SCM is organized into a narrative structure when Hermans developed the Valuation Theory as a framework for research of personal experience over time (1987-1989). Self-Confrontation is not limited to one field of practice it can be used in different purposes such as psychotherapy and psychology. [2]
The self-confrontation method is a relational process that involves researching and organising the client or subject's valuations, including the ways in which these valuations are reorganized over time. The process has been separated into three parts: 1) valuation elicitation; 2) affective rating; 3) discussion of the results. [1] Firstly, the construction of the client's valuation system is happening in the consultation between the client and psychologist. The consultation starts with open questions which refer to the client's past, present and future. In the second phase of the SCM, a list of affect items about the basic motives (Self and Other) is provided to the client who is invited to evaluate the emotional quality of the different valuations. The S-motive is expressed in self-esteem, strength, self-confidence, and pride, whereas the O-motive is expressed in tenderness, caring, love, and intimacy. In the last phase, there is a deep discussion about the content and organization of the valuation system including its affective properties. In this discussion, the client may realize that she has never listened to herself and may decide to pay attention to those situations in which she conforms with other people. She is encouraged to experiment with new behavior in problematic situations. [3]
The self-confrontation method enables the client to see the relationships between the several valuations referring to their past, present and future. When clients see their own valuational system as influenced by basic motives, they can get a deep insight into their selfsystem. Therefore, it is very useful to help clients to explore the quality of their valuation system when they are in a time of intensive change. In particular, it is relevant to them to discover the ways in which they get more control over their own lives. [4]
Valuation theory was developed by Hubert J. Hermans, it is based on the hypothesis that people are positive meaning constructors and constantly organizing and re-organizing their lives. A central feature of this theory is that any valuation has an affective component and that in this component the basic motives are expressed. It comprises three components: story, motivation and sharing which provide an adequate basis for understanding the client's self-narrative and the nature of their emotions. Sarbin is one of the main advocates of the narrative method. He believes that story or narrative is a method for organizing one's plot and action. In addition, he explains that narratives organize people's silent stories, fantasies and daydreams, plans, memories, and even love and hates. The central factors of the narrative are real or fictional events that can only be understood in the context of time and space. Multiple and spatially oriented agents, as conscious beings, engage in a variety of actions, filling in the story. In those stories the actors are purposeful and motivated. [5]
Within valuation theory, the valuation is viewed as a relevant meaning unit when people telling about their own life, such as a cherished memory, an interesting dream, a difficult problem or a good consultation with friends. These valuations will be structured as a system and re-organized over time. The main idea of this theory is that every valuation has an affective component which expresses the basic motives. The theory assumes that self-reflection and narration can be deepened by exploring the characteristics of emotions and motivation. The interpretation of these basic themes in self-narration is one of the main purposes of self- examination. [3] On the other hand, the ‘self’ in valuation theory is viewed as an ‘Organized process’. The theory emphasizes that each person's unique experience of life's arrangement can be expressed in a meaningful self-narrative. The theory draws attention to the individual's experiences and historical qualities, which means that people live in the present, but from there they are oriented to their past or future. [6]
Dialogical-self theory(DST) brings two concepts 'self' and 'dialogue' together to gain a deeper understanding of the interrelation between self and society. Normally, the key point of the ‘self’ is something ‘internal’ and occurs within the individual, while the dialogue is usually associated with what is ‘external’, which is the process that takes place between people engaged in communication. [7] In Dialogical Self Theory, the self is ‘extended’ which means that individuals and groups in the society are incorporated into the micro-society of the self. As the result of this extension, the ego includes not only internal positions but also external positions. Not only actual others who exists outside the self, but also imaginary others are interiorized as others in the self. DST postulates that the self as a psychosocial entity is composed of internal and external self-positions. When some positions are dominating and silence other positions, monological relationships prevail. On the contrary, when positions are recognized and accepted in their differences and otherness, it is possible for dialogical relationship to further develop and renew the self and its role in society.
Moreover, DST is inspired by Mikhail Bakhtin who proposed the metaphor of the ‘polyphonic novel’. The emphasis in the polyphonic novel is not on the author, is on the characters. In Bahktin's argument, the characters are not ‘obedient slaves’ serving Dostoyevsky's intentions, but relatively autonomous and they may even disagree with the author's ideas. [8] It is as if Dostoyevsky entered his novel and identified with different characters, who participated in the process of agreeing and disagreeing. The polyphonic novel expresses the different and opposing world views of the ‘same’ Dostoyevsky. This view has stimulated the development of DST as a theory that is sensitive to the far reaching decentralization of the self in a globalizing world. [9]
Over the several years, SCM has gained the support for its value as a research tool (Hermans, 1987, [10] 1992; [11] Hermans & Oles, 1994, [11] 1999; [12] Van Geel & De Mey, 2004; [13] Van Geel, De Mey, Thissen-Pennings, & Benermacher, 2000 [14] ). The researchers use the method as a strategy to study a series of topics and problems of the SCM. A preliminary study of self-confrontation is related to psychological attributes. This research focused on data about [1] the internal consistencies and intercorrelations of the S (self-enhancement), O (contact and union with others), P (positive affect), and N (negative affect) indices, and the discriminant validity of the method.
Hermans and Hermans-Jansen used case studies to describe the role of the SCM is a useful way to assess the client's change over the course of counseling. [15] As an example, a client did three successive self-investigations interspersed over the course of counseling. In the first investigation, the valuation system showed more negative (N) than positive (P) valuations together with low self-enhancement (S) and contact with the other(O). The second investigation was completed after twelve months, it showed valuations associated with a rising level of S and dominance of N over P, which suggests an attitude of opposition or protest. [10] The third investigation was performed 5 months following the second investigation. It included valuations associated with a high level of S and P and low level of N. As the research from Hermans-Jansen shows, these cases provide an understanding of the client's change as a continuous process of organization and reorganization. [1]
Hermans illustrated a case of a 40-year-old woman who faced some troubles at school where she taught. She often found that she was a ‘in-between’ person involved in conflicts with school administrators (who happened to be her friends) and with her colleagues. She did two investigations in 9 months. Her first set of valuations generally had low levels of self-enhancement for most of her valuations. Based on the first set of valuations, her counselor designed homework to help her focus on activities to improve herself and her situation. [16] The second case reported a 18 years old girl who was a genius in art but always struggled with identity issues and focused on death. Her first set of valuations included thoughts of her dead grandmother, valuations with low self-enhancement, high contact with others and high negative impact. This structure is typical of loving tendencies towards someone of something that is not attainable. The second SCM was implemented two years later. Her valuation changed towards increasing self-enhancement and positive contact and union with others. Altogether, these cases have shown that SCM is a useful procedure for promoting clients' insight and help them incorporate and respond to conflicting emotions in their self-statements. [17] [18]
In order to understand more about the unconscious aspects of valuations, Hubert Hermans and psychotherapist Els Hermans-Jansen decided to include dreams as part of self-investigation. Clients are invited to talk about a dream that they consider as important. The dream is then expressed as a successive series of ‘pictorial valuations’, which refers to Foulkes' (1978) [19] dream studies. In this procedure the dream is treated as a series of image sentences. Dreams as private myths and myths as collective dreams are unconscious levels of human experience. The investigators derived a motivational profile from the clients' emotional rating of a myth and introduced it into the analysis matrix of 100 individual clients. The analysis of the highest relevant valuation revealed the theme of unrealized love which can be also found in the analysis of Rodin's Fugit Amor. [3]
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.
Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.
The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive, conative or affective representation of one's identity, or the subject of experience. The earliest form of the Self in modern psychology saw the emergence of two elements, I and me, with I referring to the Self as the subjective knower and me referring to the Self as a subject that is known.
Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This type of research typically involves in-depth interviews, focus groups, or field observations in order to collect data that is rich in detail and context. Qualitative research is often used to explore complex phenomena or to gain insight into people's experiences and perspectives on a particular topic. It is particularly useful when researchers want to understand the meaning that people attach to their experiences or when they want to uncover the underlying reasons for people's behavior. Qualitative methods include ethnography, grounded theory, discourse analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative research methods have been used in sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, communication studies, social work, folklore, educational research, information science and software engineering research.
Moral Psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between the application of philosophy and psychology. Moral psychology eventually came to refer more broadly to various topics at the intersection of ethics, psychology, and philosophy of mind. Some of the main topics of the field are moral judgment, moral reasoning, moral satisficing, moral sensitivity, moral responsibility, moral motivation, moral identity, moral action, moral development, moral diversity, moral character, altruism, psychological egoism, moral luck, moral forecasting, moral emotion, affective forecasting, and moral disagreement.
Organizational behavior or organisational behaviour is the "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself". Organizational behavioral research can be categorized in at least three ways:
Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is a form of psychological therapy initially developed in the United Kingdom by Anthony Ryle. This time-limited therapy was developed in the context of the UK's National Health Service with the aim of providing effective and affordable psychological treatment which could be realistically provided in a resource constrained public health system. It is distinctive due to its intensive use of reformulation, its integration of cognitive and analytic practice and its collaborative nature, involving the patient very actively in their treatment.
The dialogical self is a psychological concept which describes the mind's ability to imagine the different positions of participants in an internal dialogue, in close connection with external dialogue. The "dialogical self" is the central concept in the dialogical self theory (DST), as created and developed by the Dutch psychologist Hubert Hermans since the 1990s.
Social comparison theory, initially proposed by social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954, centers on the belief that individuals drive to gain accurate self-evaluations. The theory explains how individuals evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparing themselves to others to reduce uncertainty in these domains and learn how to define the self. Comparing oneself to others socially is a form of measurement and self-assessment to identify where an individual stands according to their own set of standards and emotions about themselves.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's innate growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It pertains to the motivation behind people's choices in the absence of external influences and distractions. SDT focuses on the degree to which human behavior is self-motivated and self-determined.
Cultural psychology is the study of how cultures reflect and shape their members' psychological processes.
Confidence is the feeling of belief or trust that a person or thing is reliable. Self-confidence is trust in oneself. Self-confidence involves a positive belief that one can generally accomplish what one wishes to do in the future. Self-confidence is not the same as self-esteem, which is an evaluation of one's worth. Self-confidence is related to self-efficacy—belief in one's ability to accomplish a specific task or goal. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as those without it may fail because they lack it, and those with it may succeed because they have it rather than because of an innate ability or skill.
Psychoanalytic dream interpretation is a subdivision of dream interpretation as well as a subdivision of psychoanalysis pioneered by Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century. Psychoanalytic dream interpretation is the process of explaining the meaning of the way the unconscious thoughts and emotions are processed in the mind during sleep.
Leslie Samuel Greenberg is a Canadian psychologist born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is one of the originators and primary developers of Emotion-Focused Therapy for individuals and couples. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at York University in Toronto, and also director of the Emotion-Focused Therapy Clinic in Toronto. His research has addressed questions regarding empathy, psychotherapy process, the therapeutic alliance, and emotion in human functioning.
Self-enhancement is a type of motivation that works to make people feel good about themselves and to maintain self-esteem. This motive becomes especially prominent in situations of threat, failure or blows to one's self-esteem. Self-enhancement involves a preference for positive over negative self-views. It is one of the three self-evaluation motives along with self-assessment and self-verification . Self-evaluation motives drive the process of self-regulation, that is, how people control and direct their own actions.
Hubert J.M. Hermans is a Dutch psychologist and Emeritus Professor at the Radboud University of Nijmegen, internationally known as the creator of dialogical self theory.
Theodore Roy Sarbin (1911–2005) was an American psychologist and professor of psychology and criminology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was known as "Mr. Role Theory" because of his contributions to the social psychology of role-taking.
The hypostatic model of personality is a view asserting that humans present themselves in many different aspects or hypostases, depending on the internal and external realities they relate to, including different approaches to the study of personality. It is both a dimensional model and an aspect theory, in the sense of the concept of multiplicity. The model falls into the category of complex, biopsychosocial approaches to personality.
Narrative psychology is a perspective in psychology concerned with the "storied nature of human conduct", that is, how human beings deal with experience by observing stories and listening to the stories of others. Operating under the assumption that human activity and experience are filled with "meaning" and stories, rather than lawful formulations, narrative psychology is the study of how human beings construct stories to deal with experiences.
Harry J.G. Kempen was a Dutch cultural psychologist, and associate professor at the Nijmegen Cultural Psychology Group (NCPG) of the Radboud University Nijmegen, known for his work with Hubert Hermans on the Dialogical self theory.
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