In this commentary we offer a critique of the task devised by Hermans (2001): the PPR (Personal Position Repertoire). We first emphasize the important contributions made by Hermans and collaborators toward improving our understanding of the dialogical self, and then analyze several problems raised by this new method of studying the self. The issues we address are: the meaning of the concept of prominence; the possible reification of the positions adopted in this task; and the problem of the power differential between clients and psychologists.
Anderson, H.
, & Levin, S.B. (1998). Generative conversations: Apostmodern approach to conceptualizing and working with human systems. In M.F. Hoyt (Ed.), The handbook of constructive therapies: Innovative approaches from leading practitioners(pp. 46–67). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
2.
Bakhtin, M.M.
(1984). Problems of Dostoevky’s poetics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1929)
3.
Bakhtin, M.M.
(1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas Press. (Original work published 1979)
4.
Elliott, R.
, & Greenberg, L. (1997). Multiple voices in process-experiential therapy: Dialogues between aspects of the self. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 7, 225–240.
5.
Hermans, H.J.M.
(1996). Voicing the self: From information processing to dialogical interchange. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 31–50.
6.
Hermans, H.J.M.
(1997). Dissociation as disorganized self-narrative. Tension between splitting and integration. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 7, 213–224.
7.
Hermans, H.J.M.
(2001). The construction of a Personal Position Repertoire: Method and practice. Culture & Psychology, 7(3), 323–365.
8.
Hermans, H.J.M.
, & GonÁalves, M. (1999). Self-knowledge and selfcomplexity: A dialogical view. Constructivism in the Human Sciences, 4, 178–197.
9.
Hermans, H.J.M.
, & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. New York: Guilford.
10.
Hermans, H.J.M.
, & Kempen, H.J.G. (1993). The dialogical self: Meaning as movement. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
11.
Holquist, M.
(1990). Dialogism: Bakhtin and his world. London: Routledge.
12.
Honos-Webb, L.
, & Stiles, W.B. (1998). Reformulation of assimilation analysis in terms of voices. Psychotherapy, 35, 23–33.
13.
Hoyt, M.F.
(Ed.). (1998). The handbook of constructive therapies: Innovative approaches from leading practitioners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
14.
McNamee, S.
, & Gergen, K.J. (Eds.). (1992). Therapy as a social construction. London: Sage.
15.
Salgado, J.
, & GonÁalves, M. (2000, June 23–26). After self-deception: Exploring the dialogical unconscious. Paper presented at the First International Conference on the Dialogical Self, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
16.
Sampson, E.E.
(1993). Celebrating the other: A dialogic account of human nature. Boulder, CO: Westview.
17.
Stiles, W.B.
(1997). Multiple voices in psychotherapy clients. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 7, 177–180.
18.
Stolorow, R.D.
, & Atwood, G.E. (1992). Context of being: The intersubjective foundations of psychological life.Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
19.
Valsiner, J.
(2000, June 23–26). Making meaning out of mind: Self-less and self-ful dialogicality. Paper presented at the First International Conference on the Dialogical Self, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
20.
White, M.
, & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. New York: Norton.
