The dialogic mind: A dialogic approach to the higher mental functions

By Charles Fernyhough. 1996

Abstract Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Wertsch and others, I outline a framework for the study of the higher mental functions that views them as dialogic processes derived from interpersonal activity. According to this view, the higher mental functions develop through the progressive internalization of semiotically manifested perspectives on reality, such that mature functioning involves the simultaneous coming-into-conflict of differing internalized perspectives. I suggest that such an approach goes some way to account for the open-ended and unconstrained nature of higher mental functioning. I also consider some implications of this approach for current research in developmental psychology, with particular reference to the role of care-givers in mental development, the emergence of perspective-taking and mentalizing abilities in early childhood, and the deficits associated with early childhood autism.

Subfields: Cognitive Science & Psychology

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cognitive Science & Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015, background): “Given the proposed grounding of inner speech in external communication and interaction, it follows that the development of inner speech is likely to be disrupted and/or delayed in individuals with an ASD (Fernyhough, 1996).”
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Auditory Verbal Hallucinations as Atypical Inner Speech Monitoring, and the Potential of Neurostimulation as a Treatment Option (unknown): “Fernyhough (1996, 2004) has argued that inner speech is fundamentally dialogic in nature, or 'shot through' with other voices.”
Verbal mediation of cognition in children with specific language impairment (2012, background): “…in ASD: whether it is the effect of social and communication impairments on the social interactions that provide the foundation for the development of self-directed speech (Fernyhough, 1996), or the online effects of pragmatic lan- guage impairment on the usefulness of self-directed speech.”
Private Speech and Executive Functioning among High-Functioning Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (2007, unknown): “Indeed, several scholars from different traditions have called for studies to be conducted on the PS of children with ASD (Fernyhough, 1996; Hughes, 1996; Russell et al., 1999; Tomasello, Kruger, & Ratner, 1993).”
Maternal mind-mindedness and attachment security as predictors of theory of mind understanding. (2002, background): “Fernyhough (1996) presented a broadly Vygotskian account of how the internalization of dialog relating to perspectival conflict might underlie individual differences in ToM performance.”
Alien voices and inner dialogue: towards a developmental account of auditory verbal hallucinations (2004, background): “On this view, verbal thought develops through the gradual internalisation of external forms of dialogue, with the result that mature inner speech is irreducibly dialogic in character (Fernyhough, 1996; Wertsch, 1991).”
The brain’s conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech (2015, background): “with the view that articulating different perspectives may be an important feature of more complex forms of inner speech (Fernyhough, 1996).”
The varieties of inner speech: links between quality of inner speech and psychopathological variables in a sample of young adults. (2011, background): “an external dialog between them, with the mother typically asking the child questions and the child answering (Fernyhough, 2009). The gradual internalization of these social exchanges (Wertsch, 1980) guarantees that inner speech has an inherently dialogic nature, in the sense of an ongoing interplay”
Security of Attachment as a Predictor of Symbolic and Mentalising Abilities: A Longitudinal Study (2001, background): “A fourth view, mainly influenced by the work of Vygotsky (e.g. 1978), holds that individuals’ engagement with other minds is the result of the internalisation of the perspectives of others in interpersonal contexts, and the foundation of ‘dialogic’ modes of thinking (Fernyhough, 1996).”
What have we been priming all these years? On the development, mechanisms, and ecology of nonconscious social behavior. (2006, background): “…students of language use (e.g., Clark, 1996; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), cultural psychologists (e.g., Nisbett, 2003), philosophers of mind (e.g., Fernyhough, 1996), and political psychologists (e.g., Tetlock, 2002) alike are all arguing that our basic conceptual structures might be richer and…”
Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition (2005, background): “As these are, in essence, representations of social engagements, we may call them “dialogic cognitive representations” (Fernyhough 1996).”
Brief Report: Inner Speech Impairment in Children with Autism is Associated with Greater Nonverbal than Verbal Skills (2009, unknown): “Therefore we would predict that disrupted inner speech development would follow from impoverished experiences of social interaction and/or language difficulties (Fernyhough 1996), both of which characterize CWA.”