1st International Conference on the Dialogical Self
June 23-26, 2000
Nijmegen, The Netherlands

The purpose of the conference was to examine the relevance of a broad theoretical framework, which we refer to as the Dialogical self, to the scientific study of personality and the self. This framework encompasses several key concepts, including narrative approaches to the self, unity vs. multiplicity and multivoicedness of the self, dialogicality and valuation, and meaning construction and reconstruction.
The various conference presentations examined these ideas within three topic domains:

• the structural and dynamic properties of the self
• the relationship between self and social contexts (such as society and culture)
• practical applications in counselling and other therapeutic settings
  

2nd International Conference on the Dialogical Self (SICDS) ***

October 18-20, 2002
Ghent, Belgium

*** NOTE: This link goes to an archival copy of the original SICDS website which is no longer functional at the University of Ghent. This archival site is located permanently on this ISDS website. Several minor aspects of the original site do not properly work at this time. However, all conference content (abstracts, schedules, etc.) from the SICDS is intact and corresponds exactly to the original posting at the University of Ghent website.

The Second International Conference on the Dialogical Self (SICDS) focused on processes of change in self and dialogue in relation to the construction and reconstruction of meaning. The 'dialogical self', taking advantage of the rich philosophical tradition on dialogue, represents a relatively new development in psychology and is closely related to narrative psychology, constructivism, and cultural psychology. It has a broad scope ranging from literary sciences to brain research and from empirical psychology to practice in counseling and psychotherapy. It brings together contributions from personality psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and brain sciences. The dialogical approach thus serves not only as an object of study but also as a platform for bringing together scientists and practitioners from divergent disciplines and subdisciplines.

The conference devoted attention to topics like:

• methods for facilitating the construction and reconstruction of personal meaning
• culture and self in a globalizing society
• dialectical opposites in psychotherapy
• moral development in relation to internal and external dialogue
• meaning reconstruction in the face of loss and trauma
• schizophrenia as a collapse of the dialogical self
• self and identity on the web
• the relation between mechanistic and dialogical metaphors in the study of meaning

Photos from the SICDS. Clicking on the link to the left will open a new webpage containing an online album of photographs taken by Prof. Vincent Hevern at the SICDS meeting. These photos themselves form a subset of a larger album of images taken by Prof. Hevern on his trip to/from the SICDS.
  

3rd International Conference on the Dialogical Self (TICDS)
August 26-29, 2004
Warsaw, Poland

Photos from the TICDS. Clicking on the link to the left will open a new webpage containing an online album of photographs taken by Prof. Vincent Hevern at the TICDS meeting.

4th International Conference on the Dialogical Self
June 1-3, 2006
Braga, Portugal