Self Development and Imaginative Processes in the Transition to Adolescence: A Case Study

This study aims to analyze the process of self-development in the transition to adolescence, departing from the dialogical and semiotic-cultural approaches in psychology. The focus is on transformations that occur in self-system configurations during a critical period of development. Special emphasis was placed on the affective-semiotic processes of self-meaning production and self-image construction. The article presents a longitudinal case study of the adolescent Fernando. Data were collected through four rounds of in-depth interviews. The analysis followed mapping tensions emerging in affective semiotic fields (cass) of the self and their resolution over time. This transition involved a self-imaging process, which consisted of the emer- gence of a complex iconic sign and cultural elements re-creation in the midst of dialogues with significant others, enabling a reposition of Fernando. Researchers argue that the process of self-imaging assumes a self-regulating function in development, whose semiotic dynamics integrates dialogic and semiotic aspects.