[From Dag Forssell (930527 23.30) Rick Marken (930527.1300)
Glasser is a mega-star of pop psychology and his version of
control theory IS control theory to thousands (if not millions) of
people.
Quite an exaggeration, I would think.
I think it would help A LOT if Chuck and Ed did for Glasser's
explanation of control theory what Bill Powers and I did for Locke
& Latham's. Why not go through one of Glasser's most popular books
on control theory (I don't know what it is but I'd settle for the
one titled "Control Theory") extract from it about ten of the most
significant misconceptions about control theory and explain why
they are misconceptions and what problems a clinician and/or a
patient would have if these misconceptions were maintained.
What follows is some attempt at this. But you will notice that
Glasser gets progressively more fuzzy as time goes on.
_Stations of The Mind_ 1981 Harper & Row was written by Glasser
with extensive input from Bill Powers, but (knowing him) probably
little arm twisting. It was Glasser's attempt to make BCP easier to
understand. It has one diagram, which is a somewhat confusing
composite. Powers is fully acknowledged.
Next came William Glasser: _Control Theory_ 1984 Harper & Row.
[Not a single picture or chart in the entire book.]
CONTENTS
acknowledgments ix
author's note xi
preface xiii
1. Everything we think, do, and feel is generated
by what happens inside of us 1
2. Our basic needs--the powerful forces that drive us 5
3. The pictures in our heads 19
4. What makes us behave 31
5. We are a control system 38
6. We always have control over what we do 45
7. Why it makes sense to choose misery 53
8. Why we are unaware that we choose much of our misery 70
9. The values in our cameras 78
10. Creativity and reorganization 87
11. Craziness, creativity and responsibility 96
12. Psychosomatic illness as a creative process 103
13. Addicting drugs "chemical control" of our lives 120
l4. Other common addicting drugs, legal and illegal 135
15. Conflict 146
l6. Criticism 159
17. Taking control of your life 171
18. Control theory and raising children 182
19. Controlling ourselves or others with pain or misery 202
20. Taking control of our health 216
21. How to start using control theory 233
index 237
Selected excerpts with comments by Dag in brackets:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Since 1977, when I was introduced to control theory through William
T. Powers' highly theoretical book _Behavior: The Control of
Perception_ (Chicago: Aldine, 1973), I have been fascinated with
the possibilities of using this theory to add strength to our
lives. This book is my attempt to put these possibilities into
practice, but it is a book of ideas, not research.
There is, however, a small but growing body of psychological
research that, though independent of my work, is completely
supportive of my control theory ideas. I am grateful to Dr. Ellen
J. Langer of Harvard University for compiling much of this
corroborating research in her recent well-documented book, _The
Psychology of Control_ (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications,
1983).
[Acknowledgement of William T. Powers as the source of CT, with a
claim of 'my' CT ideas. Has anyone heard of Dr. Langer?]
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Much of this book is concerned with the behaviors we choose as we
attempt to control our lives. As I will explain in great detail,
all behavior is made up of three components: what we do, what we
think, and what we feel. Doing and thinking are always expressed as
verbs, like running or meditating, but feelings are usually
expressed as adjectives, like depressed, or nouns, like depression.
For example, we are used to hearing a man who has just lost a good
job complain that he is depressed, or hearing his friends describe
him as suffering from depression.
To say the man is depressed would be to infer that the depression
happened to him. What I will explain in this book is that it is a
behavior he is choosing in order to deal with the difficulty of
losing his job. To describe accurately what this man is feeling as
a behavior and also be grammatically correct, I would have to say
that he is depressing or choosing to depress.
Therefore, throughout this book, verbs rather than nouns and
adjectives will be used when they refer to feelings. For example,
_headache_ will become _headaching, phobia_ will become phobicking,
and _anxiety_ will become -anxieting._
[We note right up front a focus on behaviors. In Reality Therapy,
which is Glasser's baby, the key question is: What are you DOING?]
........
p. 5 2 OUR BASIC NEEDS- THE POWERFUL FORCES THAT DRIVE US
To be alive is to be driven. Rarely are any of us so relaxed that
we feel nothing inside pushing for attention and satisfaction.
Built into our genetic instructions, into the very core of our
being, is a group of basic needs that we must satisfy continually.
One need is Immediate--the need to breathe to stay alive. Anytime
we get short of air, everything else is unimportant. But immediate
or not, all our needs are urgent in the sense that we quickly
become aware of any that are not satisfied. Once aware, we have no
choice but to attempt to satisfy that need. As soon as that one is
satisfied, another need, or perhaps even several acting together or
in conflict, begins to push for satisfaction. There is no respite
from the forces that drive us.
Through a careful examination of my life, I have come to believe
that I am driven by five needs that together make up the forces
that drive me. While lecturing, I have discussed these with
thousands of people, and almost all agree that they are driven by
the same needs. As I describe them, examine your own life and see
if you are driven by these needs. I believe you will find that you
are, because it is likely that all creatures of the same species
are driven by similar forces.
THE NEED TO SURVIVE AND REPRODUCE.......
.......................
p. 9 THE NEED TO BELONG -- TO LOVE, SHARE, AND COOPERATE....
.......................
p. 10 THE NEED FOR POWER....
........................
p. 12 THE NEED FOR FREEDOM....
........................
p. 13 THE NEED FOR FUN....
.........................
[Glasser takes pains to define what basic needs drive us his own
way. This becomes a major part of his Reality Therapy approach.]
p. 31 4 WHAT MAKES US BEHAVE
The best way to begin the explanation of why we behave is to take
a look at how a thermostat controls the air temperature in a room.
Most of us don't realize that a thermostat is not activated by the
cold or hot air--what activates it is the difference between its
set temperature and the air temperature in the room. It no more
turns on because of what happens outside of it than Susan's upset
was caused by Dave's leaving. Just as we are, the thermostat is
internally motivated and attempts to control the temperature of the
room to the temperature it "wants." Susan, therefore, was not upset
because Dave left; she chose to be upset as her best effort to deal
with the difference between the picture of Dave in her head, living
with her as her husband, and the picture of Dave in the real world,
gone with another woman. Why she chooses upset to deal with this
difficult situation, I will explain in later chapters; first I must
explain the cause of all our behaviors--anything that we do, think,
or feel. ...
p. 32 ....But old or new, all our behavior is our constant
attempt to reduce the difference between what we want (the pictures
in our heads) and what we have (the way we see situations in the
world).
....Whenever there is a difference between what we want and what we
have, _we must behave_ --which means acting, thinking, feeling, or
involving our body, all of which are components of the total
behaviors we generate as we struggle endlessly to get what we want.
............
[Not a bad summary of Control Theory.]
p. 33 ...As you read this book, aren't you are still holding on
to at least one picture you can't get and, if so, becoming more and
more miserable and ineffective as you continue the losing struggle?
This is because we are constructed in such a way that whenever
there is a difference between the picture we want and the picture
we now see, a _signal_, generated by this difference, starts us
behaving, and we will continue to behave as long as that signal
persists. We actually feel this signal as an urge to behave. Try to
look at a painting hanging crooked on a wall and ignore the
immediate urge to straighten it out. For most of us, who have a
picture in our heads that all paintings should hang straight, this
urge is overwhelming. It is almost impossible to ignore the crooked
picture.
p. 33 ...For purposes of this nontechnical book, I would like to
group all the parts of the brain where behaviors are generated and
call them our _behavioral system_. It is this system that is turned
on, and stays on as long as there is a signal to behave. It is this
system that is pouring out all miserable behaviors Susan is
presently using in her desperate attempt to get Dave back.
["Pictures" takes care of the perceptual processes and reference
signals. Focus is shifting to behavior.]
p. 45 6 WE ALWAYS HAVE CONTROL OVER WHAT WE DO
p. 46 .....When we sense that what we have is not what we want, we
generate behaviors that act on the world and, of course, on
ourselves as part of the world. As we examine our behavior, it may
seem, at first glance, to be made up of four different behaviors,
but these seemingly different activities, like our five senses, are
actually four separate components of what is always a total
behavior.
The four easily recognizable _components_ that together make up our
_total behavior- are as follows:
1. _Doing_ (or active behaviors): such as walking or talking, which
means voluntarily moving all or some part of our bodies in some way
that we want to move it. (Some involuntary behaviors necessarily
accompany most routine activities; for example, I don't voluntarily
position my tongue when I talk.)
2. _Thinking:_ voluntarily generating thoughts or involuntarily
generating thoughts as in dreams.
3. _Feeling:_ such as anger and joy, which means we have the
ability to generate a wide variety of feelings, both pleasurable
and painful, just as we initiate thoughts and actions. Some of
these may be known only to us, as when we hide pain or joy, but
most of what we feel is readily apparent to those around us,
especially to those who know us well. Difficult as it may be to
accept, our feelings are just as much a part of our total behavior
as what we do and what we think.
4. _Physiology:_ such as sweating or clenching our fists, which
means the ability to generate the voluntary and involuntary body
mechanisms involved in all we do, think, and feel.
["As we examine our behavior" is part of that "What are you DOING"
emphasis. Glasser has a way of being somewhat right, but then
twisting things around so they fit his pre-existing Reality
Therapy.]
···
------------------------------------------------------
It seems to me, and apparently also to Chuck Tucker, that IF you
understand PCT first, and well, you can fit many of Glasser's
illustrations and suggestions to an enhanced understanding.
For example, Glasser suggests that reorganization from chronic
stress may manifest itself in random changes in the immune system,
causing autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, lupus, multiple
sclerosis etc. There is at present no support for this at all, of
course, (nor does Glasser claim any) but I personally have seen
close relatives who subject themselves to enormous stress due to
personal ineptness and poor choices come down with afflictions like
these. Whenever I personally feel strong stress I get sick to my
stomach. Christine recognizes this and offers zero sympathy.
What happened to me, I think in retrospect, is that I understood CT
from Stations of The Mind well enough to carry me through (and
learn from) the rest. I suspect few people will grasp CT this way,
however.
The next Glasser book was _Control Theory in the Classroom_. Here
he brought in Deming. I don't have the book here, so I go from
memory. I recall checking the definition of CT. It was reduced to
something like:
"Control Theory contends that all our behavior is our best attempt
to satisfy our basic needs."
By this time I had decided to spend the fortune of $30 or so for
BCP, so I could see that Glasser's rewrites was nowhere near the
quality of BCP. I became skeptical. That is why I remember taking
pains to look for the definition and explanation of CT. All I can
remember finding is stated immediately above. As I recall, there
was also zero acknowledgement of William T. Powers existence in
this book. So the above approximate quote is my understanding of
Glasser's current definition of CT.
Perception is too difficult to explain and irrelevant, so it is
gone. The entire hierarchy of references are replaced by Glasser's
basic needs, which he says are universal. Since all behavior is
designed to satisfy these needs, it makes perfect sense to ask:
What are you DOING? and is it getting you what you want? That was
and is the foundation of Reality Therapy as I understand it.
Glasser claims that CT totally supports RT. Obviously.
It seems to me that when you as a therapist ask: What are you
DOING? the conversation naturally will cover Wants and Perceptions,
which we with Ed Ford recognize as most important. But without a
focus here, and an understanding of levels (What are your
priortities?) the progress gets to be random and slow.
Glasser's last book is _The Quality School_ 1990 Harper & Row.
I have been looking through the rambling chapter on "Control Theory
and motivation." I find the following:
"Control theory is a descriptive term because we try to control our
own behavior so that what we choose to do is the most need-
satisfying thing we can do at the time. Although we can control
only our own behavior, it is obvious that much of what we choose to
do is an attempt to control others. For example, many of us attempt
to stop people we love from destroying themselves with addicting
drugs. But to do this we can control only what we do. Control
theory, therefore, is the explanation of this constant attempt to
control both ourselves and others, even though in practice we can
control only ourselves.
Keep in mind that 'control' in this context means to control as in
steering a car or following a recipe. It does not mean to dominate
by using force or the threat of force, as a police officer does to
subdue a criminal. ..."
Does this sound like control of output to you?
It goes on and on. Like other texts on matters psychological, the
torrent of stories, words and suggestions is seductive. At the same
time one gets impressed with the wisdom, it is imprecise enough to
leave lots of unanswered questions and riddles. So one longs for
more of the guru's wisdom.
As Chuck implied and I have found, one can find enough wisdom in
Glasser's writings to support your understanding of PCT, PROVIDED
you learn PCT first from some other source. But then this is true
of all wise suggestions and good literature. All *good* books on
parenting, conflict resolution, leadership, courtship etc. etc.
become good illustrations for PCT. At the same time, the PCT-
understanding person ignores a lot of nonsense in these same "wise"
books, which other people would not know to ignore.
I for one am glad we have Ed Ford's _Freedom from Stress_ which
gives you good PCT without nonsense. We need more books which like
Ed's give you a decent explanation of PCT applied to real world
problems. The pure research reports fail to catch the imagination
of people at large. They do not show how PCT makes our lives richer
and more satisfying. Ed's does. I expect to take a stab at it, but
it will be a while (years). I need to accumulate some real world
experience on top of my understanding of PCT.
Enough for now. We shall see what I get nailed on here.
Best, Dag