Intrapersonal Communication: Technologies of the Self in Educational Material & Practice

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Philosophy, Theory and Critique Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Following the late work of Michel Foucault, this paper traces the genealogy of the technology of the self represented by intrapersonal communication or “inner dialog” and its relationship to both textual and digital educational media. Today, this type of communication is enacted and studied in educational contexts under rubrics such as “self-talk,” “self-regulation” and “self-explanation.” As Foucault suggests, two important precursors for this specific “technology of the self” go back to the Middle Ages and antiquity, particularly with the emergence of writing and the Christian confessional as means of self-reflection and -examination. However, many variations intervene between ancient and modern practices. The paper plots the oscillation of this intra-personal communication between a ritualized, externalized performance and fully internalized self-examination, from the catechism of Luther to self-regulatory communication studied in today’s cognitive science –concluding with a brief discussion of new, related possibilities offered by many-to-many Internet communication.

Author

• Norm Friesen, Boise State U