Hubert Hermans

Hubert J.M. Hermans (born October 9, 1937) is a Dutch academic and psychologist.

Hermans was born as son of a baker in Maastricht, The Netherlands. He studied psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, where he became staff member at the psychological laboratory of the same university in 1965. His dissertation (1967) was on "Motivation and achievement" and resulted in two psychological tests: "The Achievement Motivation Test for adults" (1968; published in English in 1971; and in German in 1976) and "The Achievement Motivation Test for children" (1971; published in German in 1976). Both test belong since then to the most frequently used psychological tests in the Netherlands. In 1973 he became associate professor of psychology at the University of Nijmegen and in 1980 full professor at the same university. As a reaction to the static and impersonal nature of psychological tests, he developed a "Self-Confrontation Method" (SCM; 1974; book published in English in 1995). Application of this method in practice led to the establishment of the "Dutch Association for SCM Consultants" that counted 260 members in 2007. In the nineties of the last century he developed the "Dialogical Self Theory", inspired by the American pragmatism of William James and the dialogical school of the Russian literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin. Since 2002 he is president of the "International Society for Dialogical Science" (ISDS) and since 2006 editor-in-chief of the "International Journal for Dialogical Science" (IJDS). Hermans is considered a key figure in narrative psychology.

For his merits for the Dutch society, he was appointed as Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw (Knight in the Society of the Dutch Lion) in 2002. His 2006 Dutch book "Dialoog en Misverstand" (Dialogue and Misunderstanding) played a role in the preparation of the Dutch government in 2007.

The dialogical self

Hermans’s purpose is to contribute to research and development of dialogical relationships, not only between individuals, groups, and cultures, but also between different I-positions within the dialogical self of the individual person. He does so in the conviction that dialogical relationships between individuals, groups, and cultures cannot exist in separation of productive dialogical relationships which individuals develop with themselves. On the basis of this purpose, bi-annual International Conferences on the Dialogical Self are organized: in Nijmegen (2000), Ghent, Belgium (2004); Warsaw, Poland (2004), Braga, Portugal (2006), and Cambridge, UK (2008). The 6th conference is scheduled in Kyoto (Japan).

Marriages and partners

From 1961-2007 Hubert Hermans was married with Els Hermans-Jansen, a psychotherapist, with whom he cooperated in the development of the Self-Confrontation Method (SCM). The couple has two children and two grand-children. Since 2008 he is married with Agnieszka Hermans-Konopka, who wrote a dissertation (Warsaw, 2006) on the relationship between self and emotions. The couple cooperates on the further development of Dialogical Self Theory in the International Institute for the Dialogical Self (IIDS).

Bibliography

(selection [ For publications in Dutch see the Dutch Wikipedia] )

Books
* Hermans, H.J.M., & Kempen, H.J.G. (1993). "The dialogical self: Meaning as movement". San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-342320-1.
* Hermans, H.J.M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). "Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy." New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-878-4.
* Hermans, H.J.M., & Dimaggio, G. (Eds) (2004). "The dialogical self in psychotherapy". New York: Brunner & Routledge. ISBN 1-58391-855-8.
* Oles, P.K., & Hermans, H.J.M. (Eds.) (2005). "The dialogical self: Theory and research". Lublin, Poland: Wydawnictwo. ISBN 83-7363-320-0.

Articles and chapters
* Hermans, H. J. M. (1970). A questionnaire measure of achievement motivation. "Journal of Applied Psychology, 54," 353-363.
* Hermans, H. J. M. (1987). The dream in the process of valuation: A method of interpretation. "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53," 163-175.
* Hermans, H.J.M., Kempen. H.J.G., & Van Loon, R. (1992). The dialogical self: Beyond individualism and rationalism. "American Psychologist, 47", 23-33.
* Hermans, H.J.M. (1996). Voicing the self: From information processing to dialogical interchange. "Psychological Bulletin, 119", 31-50.
* Hermans, H.J.M., & Kempen, H.J.G. (1998). Moving Cultures: The Perilous Problems of Cultural Dichotomies in a Globalizing Society. "American Psychologist, 1998", "53", 1111-1120.
* Hermans, H.J.M. (2002). The person as a motivated storyteller: Valuation theory and the Self-Confrontation Method. In R.A. Neimeyer, & G.J. Neimeyer (Eds.) "Advances in Personal Construct Psychology" (pp. 3-38).
* Hermans, H.J.M. & Dimaggio, G. (2007), Self, identity, and globalization in times of uncertainty: A dialogical analysis. "Review of General Psychology", "11", 31-61.

Bibliography about Hubert Hermans’s work

* "Culture & Psychology (2001). Special issue: Culture & the dialogical Self. Vol. 7, no. 3," 243-408. [http://cap.sagepub.com/content/vol7/issue3/]
* "Theory & Psychology (2002). Special issue: the dialogical self, vol. 12, no. 2," 147-280. [http://www.psych.ucalgary.ca/thpsyc/Volume%2012/Contents.vol.12.no.2.html]
* "Journal of Constructivist Psychology (2003). Special issue on the dialogical self. Vol. 16, no.2," 89-213. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/psych/upcy/2003/00000016/00000002]
* "Identity: An international Journal of theory and research (2004). Mediated identity in the emerging digital age: A dialogical perspective. Vol. 4, no. 4," 297-405.
* "Counselling Psychology Quarterly (2006). Special issue: The dialogical approach to counselling theory, research, and practice, vol. 19, no. 1," 1-120. [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g747653773~db=all]
*Van Belzen, J.A. (2006). Culture and the ‘dialogical self’: Toward a secular cultural psychology of religion. In: "J. Straub, D. Weidemann, C. Kolbl, & B. Zielke (Eds.). Pursuit of meaning: Advances in cultural and cross-cultural psychology" (pp. 129-152). New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.

Info

*Review article Dialogical Self Theory [http://www.dialogicalscience.com/Hermans%20&%20Dimaggio%20(2007).pdf]
*For the history of the Self-Confrontation Method and Dialogical Self Theory see H.J.M. Hermans, Moving through three paradigms, yet remaining the same thinker. Counselling Psychology Quarterly,2006, 19, 5-25. [http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a747653324~db=al]

References

External links

*Homepage Hubert J.M. Hermans [http://www.socsci.kun.nl/~hermans/]
*International Society for Dialogical Science (ISDS) [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/ISDS/]
*International Journal for Dialogical Science (IJDS) [http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/ISDS/]
*International Institute for the Dialogical Self (ISDS) [http://dialogicalselfinstitute.com/]
*Key figures in narrative psychology [http://web.lemoyne.edu/%7Ehevern/narpsych/nr-theorists.html]