Dialogic introspection

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Dialogic Introspection , English Dialogic Introspection , is a method for researching individual psychological processes such as thinking and feeling , ideas and memories through introspection - the perception of one's own conscious experience - carried out in groups . Since the social reality of the subjects becomes accessible in the experience, the method can be used not only for psychological, but also for social-psychological and sociological questions. It was developed in the Hamburg research workshop , initiated by Gerhard Kleining and Harald Witt since January 1997. The method is considered suitable for qualitative psychology and qualitative social research . It was proposed in 1998 at a conference on introspection and has since been presented at various conferences and congresses.

Dialogic introspection is anchored in Gerhard Kleining's qualitative heuristic methodology .

With this method , introspection , which has been subjectively questioned since the behaviorist criticism by John B. Watson , is proposed again in a modified form as a scientific method, thus making the research field of inner experience accessible again.

The method systematizes the spontaneous and fragmentary everyday introspection with rules for the implementation and recording of the introspection in order to convert the initially subjective introspection into intersubjective , scientifically usable messages and thus improve the reliability and validity of the introspection. The group situation is used to develop content and forms of experience.

The method is dialogical , because the data is collected in the group, which stimulates the participants to engage in various dialogical processes.

history

Introspection refers to the standard method of psychological research at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, in which researchers such as Franz Brentano (1838–1917), Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) or Edward B. Titchener (1867–1927) practiced introspection and which was later carried on in typical test leader-test person experimental arrangements in the Würzburg school , the thought psychology of Oswald Külpe (1862–1915) between 1896 and 1909. Their subject was the experience of psychological processes of judging, thinking and problem-solving. Karl Bühler called it experiential psychology in his “Crisis of Psychology” published in 1928 . The test subjects , mostly the researchers themselves, had to solve thought and judgment tasks and to report what they had experienced during the experiment.

Dialogic introspection transfers the individual survey with the test leader from the Würzburg school to introspection in the group.

Experimental set-up

Approx. 4–12 participants deal with a research subject under the guidance of an investigator, e. B. the experience of a movie. They have the task of observing their own experience with the following instruction:

“Be open and attentive to everything that goes on in you during the film, your thoughts, fantasies and memories, your sensations and feelings. Allow all feelings and ideas. You can take notes during the film. "

After the demonstration, the participants write down their own experiences. This protocol phase can last about 5–15 minutes. It ends when nobody wants to take notes anymore.

Then the participants take turns reporting on their introspection, whereby the following rules apply:

  • Participants report orally using their notes.
  • You can share anything you want without a time limit - in extreme cases, nothing.
  • Comments or evaluations by other participants are not permitted, and discussions are not allowed.
  • The notes remain available to the participants.

In a second round, additions to your own introspection report are possible. By hearing from each other about their experiences of the same event, participants are encouraged to re-track their own experiences and to add to their report.

The procedural rules, which the experimenter ensures compliance, are intended to facilitate the communication of the individuals in the group and help to minimize undesired group dynamic processes . They also serve to weaken the hierarchy , since every participant has the same space available for messages.

The introspection reports are recorded on tape, transcribed and individually analyzed outside the group. The analysis is carried out by searching for similarities in the data according to the rules of the qualitative heuristic methodology.

The group situation interlinks self-dialogues with messages to the group. On the one hand, the individuals engage in self-dialogue with their experience and the attempt to document it appropriately; on the other hand, there is controlled social communication, which communicates one's own experience to the others in the group and takes note of the shared experience of others and relates it to one's own experience. Self-dialogue and communication in the group stimulate each other.

Advantages of the method

She tries to improve individual introspection and the Würzburg method of introspection through changes in the survey and analysis, in particular through

  • systematic and controlled execution with varied documentation of the experience,
  • Separation of introspection and analysis,
  • Combination of internal dialogues and controlled exchange in the group,
  • Control of undesired group influences as in the "Focused Interview" ( group discussion ),
  • Analysis of the data for similarities in order to recognize the intersubjective aspects of the experience.

The method debilitates or weakens the main objections raised against introspection, such as subjectivity and lack of reliability .

Compared to introspective individual examinations, the following advantages are seen in the group:

  • If the method is used correctly, fleeting impressions of introspection can be reported in a more differentiated, detailed and complete manner. The repression-free group situation activates one's own memory, encourages reporting on "banal" or shameful details and can contribute to recognizing one's own experiences in the reports of others ("resonance phenomenon").
  • If there is a heterogeneous composition of the participants, a considerable variation in the data can already be achieved with the first examination; additional groups can expand the database.

Limits of the method

They are seen in the following factors:

  • Limited introspection: Children can have problems getting hold of their fleeting introspection. In mentally unstable states (e.g. acute fear, lack of sleep, exhaustion, stress) it can be problematic to concentrate on your own experience.
  • The linguistic representation: Formulating introspection content is not sufficiently possible for every participant.
  • Cultural peculiarities: In some cultures one's own experience may not be made public. It is said of the Eskimos that it is considered improper to convey one's feelings.

Previous uses

Research has been carried out on various topics:

  • To a spontaneous fright (with a very short introspection phase),
  • for media reception (news broadcasts, short films, TV soaps, internet chat room, animal films with children as participants),
  • to experience architectural spaces (train stations),
  • to biographically significant experiences,
  • to everyday feelings,
  • for supervision and
  • to consider in everyday life.

The application of dialogical introspection, in combination with other qualitative heuristic methods, led to the development of a dialectical theory of emotional experience .

swell

  1. ↑ Dialogic Introspection (2007): http://www.introspektion.net/index.html
  2. ↑ Hamburg conference on introspection and introspection (1998). Focus on introspection as a research method. Journal of Psychology 7 (2) 1999. Asanger , 3-62. A list of the conferences at which the method was presented can be found at: http://www.introspektion.net/html/aktiv.html
  3. ↑ a b Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice. 2nd Edition. Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3929215020 , urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731 .
  4. ^ John, B. Watson: Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. In: Psychological Review , Vol. 20, 1913, pp. 158-171. (Also accessible via http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/views.htm )
  5. ↑ Karl Marbe: Experimental psychological studies on the judgment. An introduction to logic. Engelmann, Leipzig 1901. (Reprinted in Paul Ziche (Ed.): Introspektion. Texts on the self-perception of the ego. Springer, Vienna 1999, pp. 78–97).
  6. ↑ Karl Bühler: The crisis of psychology. Ullstein, Frankfurt 1978.
  7. ^ Gerhard Kleining: On the history of introspection. Journal für Psychologie, Volume 7, Issue 2, 1999, pp. 3–5, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-28708 .
  8. ↑ Thomas Burkart: Methodological objections and criticism of the introspection process. In: Journal for Psychology. Volume 7, Issue 2, 1999, pp. 14-17, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-40106 .
  9. ↑ Thomas Burkart: Methodology: Dialogic introspection in the group. In: Thomas Burkart Gerhard; Kleining, Peter Mayer, Harald Witt (eds.), Dialogic Introspection. Psychological Institute 1, Hamburg 2000 http://www.introspektion.net/html/methodologie.html .
  10. ↑ oral communication by a Canadian anthropologist, cf. Gerhard Kleining: An experiment demonstrating group-based dialogic introspection. In: Mechthild Kiegelmann, (Ed.), The role of the researcher in qualitative psychology. Ingeborg Huber, Tübingen 2002, pp. 207–214, ISBN 3980697533 , urn : nbn: de: bsz: 291-psydok-9437
  11. ↑ Study examples can be found at: http://www.introspektion.net/
  12. ↑ Thomas Burkart: Towards a dialectic theory of feeling. In: Leo Gürtler, Mechthild Kiegelmann & Günter L. Huber (Eds.), Areas of qualitative psychology - Special focus on design. Ingeborg Huber Verlag, Tübingen 2005, pp. 39-62, ISBN 3981008707 .

literature

  • Thomas Burkart: Methodological objections and criticism of the introspection process. In: Journal for Psychology. Volume 7, Issue 2, 1999, pp. 14-17.
  • Thomas Burkart: Methodology: Dialogic introspection in the group. In: Thomas Burkart, Gerhard Kleining, Peter Mayer, Harald Witt (eds.), Dialogic Introspection. Psychological Institute 1, Hamburg 2000 http://www.introspektion-hamburg.net/html/methodologie.html
  • Thomas Burkart, Gerhard Kleining, Harald Witt (Eds.), Dialogic Introspection: A Group-Based Procedure for Exploring Experience. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010 http://www.introspektion-hamburg.net/Intro-Buch_Prospekt_korr.pdf .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice. 2nd Edition. Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3929215020 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Textbook Discovery Social Research. Volume I. From Hermeneutics to Qualitative Heuristics. Beltz Psychologie Verlags Union, Weinheim 1995, ISBN 3621272852 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: On the history of introspection. Journal für Psychologie , Volume 7, Issue 2, 1999, pp. 3–5.
  • Gerhard Kleining, Thomas Burkart: Group-based Dialogic Introspection and its Use in Qualitative Media Research. In M. Kiegelmann (Ed.), Qualitative Research in Psychology. Ingeborg Huber, Schwangau 2001, pp. 217-239, ISBN 3980697568 .
  • Gerhard Kleining, Harald Witt: Qualitative-heuristic research as a discovery methodology for psychology and social sciences: The rediscovery of the method of introspection as an example. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung , Volume 1, 1, 2000 http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/1-00/1-00kleiningwitt-d.htm .

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