Glasser's choice theory

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This article is about choice theory in psychology and education.
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The term choice theory is the work of William Glasser, MD, author
of the book so named, and is the culmination of some 50 years of
theory and practice in psychology and counselling.

Contents [hide]
1 Characteristics
2 The ten axioms
3 In classroom management
4 Education
5 Critiques
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Characteristics[edit]
Choice theory posits behaviours we choose are central to our
existence. Our behaviour (choices) are driven by five genetically
driven needs, survival, love and belonging, freedom, fun, and
power. Survival needs include

food
clothing
shelter
breathing
personal safety
security and sex, having children
and four fundamental psychological needs:

Belonging/connecting/love
Power/significance/competence
Freedom/autonomy
Fun/learning
Choice theory suggests the existence of a "Quality World".
Glasser's idea of a "Quality World" restates the Jungian idea of
archetypes but Glasser never acknowledged this. Nonetheless,
Glasser's "Quality World" and what Jung would call healthy
archetypes are indistinguishable.

Our "Quality World" images are our role models of an individual's

"perfect" world of parents, relations, possessions, beliefs, etc.
How each person's "Quality World" is somewhat unusual, even in
the same family of origin, is taken for granted.

Starting from birth and continuing throughout our lives, each

person places significant role models, significant possessions and
significant systems of belief (religion, cultural values, and icons,
etc.) into a mostly unconscious framework Glasser called our
"Quality World". Glasser mostly ignores the issues of negative role
models and stereotypes in choice theory.

Glasser also posits a "Comparing Place" where we compare-

contrast our perception of people, places, and things immediately
in front of us against our ideal images (archetypes) of these in our
Quality World framework. Our subconscious pushes us towards
calibrating—as best we can—our real world experience with our
Quality World (archetypes).

Behavior ("Total Behavior" in Glasser's terms) is made up of these

four components: acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology.
Glasser suggests we have considerable control or choice over the
first two of these; yet, little ability to directly choose the latter two
as they are more deeply sub- and unconscious. These four
components remain closely intertwined, the choices we make in
our thinking and acting greatly affect our feeling and physiology.

A big conclusion for Glasser, one he repeats often, is the source of

much personal unhappiness is failing or failed relationships with
people important to us: spouses, parents, children, friends and
colleagues.

The symptoms of unhappiness are widely variable and are often

seen as mental illness. Glasser believed that "pleasure" and
"happiness" are related but are far from synonymous. Sex, for
example, is a "pleasure" but may well be divorced from a
"satisfactory relationship" which is a precondition for lasting
"happiness" in life. Hence the intense focus on the improvement
of relationships in counselling with choice theory—the "new
reality therapy". Those familiar with both are likely to prefer
choice theory, the more modern formulation.

Choice theory posits most mental illness is, in fact, an expression

of unhappiness. Glasser champions how we are able to learn and
choose alternate behaviors resulting in greater personal
satisfaction. Reality therapy is the choice theory-based counseling
process focused on helping clients to learn to make those self-
optimizing choices.

The ten axioms:

1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
2. All we can give TO another person is information.
3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship
problems.
4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.
5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what
we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right
now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our
Quality World.
7. All we do is behave.
8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four
components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology
9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control
over the acting and thinking components. We can only
control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we
choose to act and think.
10.All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the
part that is the most recognizable.
In classroom management[edit]
William Glasser's choice theory begins: Behavior is not separate
from choice; we all choose how to behave at any time. Second,
we cannot control anyone's behavior but our own. Glasser also
believed in the vitality of classroom meetings for the purpose of
improving communication and solving real classroom problems. In
the classroom, it is important for teachers to "help students
envision a quality existence in school and plan the choices that
lead to it".[2]

For example, Johnny Waits is an 18-year-old high school senior

and plans on attending college to become a computer
programmer. Glasser suggests Johnny could be learning as much
as he can about computers instead of reading Plato. This concept
is called quality curriculum, which connects students with
practical real world topics, chosen by the student according to
their leanings. Topics with actual career potential are most
encouraged. Under Glasser's strategy, teachers hold discussions
with students when introducing new topics asking them to identify
what they would like to explore in depth. As part of the process,
students need to explain why the material is valuable in life.[2]

Education[edit]
Glasser was no supporter of Summerhill. Most Quality Schools he
supervised had very conventional curriculum topics. The main
innovation was a deeper, humanistic approach to group process
between teacher, student and learning.

A typical example of choice theory and education are Sudbury

Model schools, where students decide for themselves how to
spend their days. In these schools, students of all ages determine
what they will do, as well as when, how, and where they will do it.
This freedom is at the heart of the school and it belongs to the
students as their right, not to be violated. The fundamental
premises of the school are: that all people are curious by nature;
that the most efficient, long-lasting, and profound learning takes
place when started and pursued by the learner; that all people are
creative if they are allowed to develop their unique talents; that
age-mixing among students promotes growth in all members of
the group; and that freedom is essential to the development of
personal responsibility. In practice this means that students
initiate all their own activities and create their own environments.
The physical plant, the staff, and the equipment are there for the
students to use as the need arises. The school provides a setting
in which students are independent, are trusted, and are treated as
responsible people; and a community in which students are
exposed to the complexities of life in the framework of a
participatory democracy.

Sudbury schools are based on the premise that students are

personally responsible for their acts, in opposition to virtually all
schools today that deny it. The denial is threefold: schools do not
permit students to choose their course of action fully; they do not
permit students to embark on the course, once chosen; and they
do not permit students to suffer the consequences of the course,
once taken. Freedom of choice, freedom of action, freedom to
bear the results of action—these are the three great freedoms
that constitute personal responsibility. Thus, members of these
schools learn democracy by experience, and enjoy the rights of
individuals.

Sudbury schools do not perform and do not offer evaluations,

assessments, or recommendations, asserting that they do not
rate people, and that school is not a judge; comparing students to
each other, or to some standard that has been set is for them a
violation of the student's right to privacy and to self-
determination. Students decide for themselves how to measure
their progress as self-starting learners as a process of self-
evaluation: real lifelong learning and the proper educational
evaluation for the 21st Century, they adduce.
Critiques[edit]
Glasser's theories and teachings have not gone without criticism.
In a book review,[3] W. Clay Jackson writes, "Dr. Glasser
postulates that everything contained in the DSM-IV-TR is a result
of an individual's brain creatively expressing its unhappiness. ...
Dr. Glasser demonizes the entire profession as charlatans who
have been brainwashed by their predecessors or who simply
misrepresent many of the psychiatric illnesses to patients as
having a biological basis. ... Despite claiming to have an appendix
full of references demonstrating there is no evidence medications
have a role in curing mental illness, the book simply relies on a
core group of anti-establishment authors. ... However, what is
noticeably absent from the book is a set of randomized clinical
trials demonstrating the success of his teachings."

See also[edit]
Cognitive psychology
Introspection illusion
Sudbury Valley School
Léopold Szondi
References[edit]
Jump up ^ http://www.choicetheory.com
^ Jump up to: a b Charles, C.M. (2008). Building Classroom
Discipline. (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
Jump up ^ Review of Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to
Your Mental Health, Jackson, W. Clay. 2005. The Primary Care
Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol. 7, No. 2
Bourbon, W. Thomas and Ford, Ed. (1994) Discipline at Home and
at School. Brandt: New York.
Personal observations (1996–2005). Teacher. Centennial High
School, Champaign, Illinois.
Weinstein, Jay. (2000). "The Place of Theory in Applied Sociology:
A Reflection." Theory and Science 1, 1.
External links[edit]
The William Glasser Institute official website
The Sudbury Valley School official website
Categories: Cognitive science
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