# Glasser, CT

**URL:** <http://discourse.iapct.org/t/glasser-ct/4782>\
**Category:** CSG1993\
**Created:** [May 28, 1993, 6:38am UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/glasser-ct/4782 "1993-05-28T06:38:00Z")\
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**Author:** ![Dag\_Forssell](http://discourse.iapct.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dag\_Forssell](http://discourse.iapct.org/u/Dag_Forssell)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 1993, 6:38am UTC](http://discourse.iapct.org/t/glasser-ct/4782/1 "1993-05-28T06:38:00Z")

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[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.

> &nbsp;&nbsp;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  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;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