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Personality and Psychotherapy from the Perspective of the Tree of Knowledge System

Personality and Psychotherapy from the Perspective of the Tree of Knowledge System . Gregg Henriques, Ph.D. Dept of Graduate Psychology James Madison University henriqgx@jmu.edu. A Plea for the Integration of Human Knowledge.

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Personality and Psychotherapy from the Perspective of the Tree of Knowledge System

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  1. Personality and Psychotherapy from the Perspective of the Tree of Knowledge System Gregg Henriques, Ph.D. Dept of Graduate Psychology James Madison University henriqgx@jmu.edu

  2. A Plea for the Integration of Human Knowledge In this time of divisive tendencies within and between the nations, races, religions, sciences and humanities, synthesis must become the great magnet which orients us all…[Yet] scientists have not done what is possible toward integrating bodies of knowledge created by science into a unified interpretation of man, his place in nature, and his potentialities for creating the good society. Instead, they are entombing us in dark and meaningless catacombs of learning. (Reiser, 1958, p. 2-3).

  3. The Tree of Knowledge System A New Map of the Sciences

  4. What is the ToK? The Tree of Knowledge (ToK) System is a new scientific humanistic philosophy that offers a novel way to view of the evolution of complexity. This new view affords new opportunities to build bridges between the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities. As such, it cuts across the disciplinary spectrum and offers a new opportunity for scholars of all stripes to engage in dialogue about the nature of knowledge.

  5. A Special Section on the Theory is forthcoming in T & P Since the outline of the unified theory was published in 2003, there has been quite a bit of activity on the system Two special issues of the Journal of Clinical Psychology were devoted to the critical examination and elaboration of the system Psychology Defined was Selected as the ISI Hot Paper of the Month in Psychiatry/Psychology “From the Big Bang to the whole shebang: quantum gravity, the modern evolutionary synthesis, B.F Skinner and Sigmund Freud, the ToK connects huge pieces of the puzzle of knowledge and offers new, unified picture that could revolutionize, well, almost everything.”

  6. The ToK System was Built in Response to Psychology’s Inability to Define Itself The 19th-century belief that psychology can be an integral discipline, which led to its institutionalization as an independent science, has been disconfirmed on every day of the 112 years since its presumptive founding. When the details of that history are attended to, the patent tendency has been toward theoretical and substantial fractionation (and increasing insularity among the “specialities”), not toward integration. Koch, S. (1993). “Psychology” or “the psychological studies”? American Psychologist, 48, 902-904.

  7. The Unified View Changes the Perspective on the “Single Schools”

  8. Four Major Individual Level Psychotherapy Perspectives Greater focus on relationship, less active, less empirical, more focused on insight and making meaning Humanistic Psychodynamic Behavioral More active, problem focused, empirical, more focused on being happy and behaving effectively Cognitive

  9. Negative Caricatures Humanistic “Simplistic Sympathizer” Behavioral Psychodynamic “Mindless Behaver” “Pointless Pontificator” Cognitive “Cold Debater”

  10. Single Schools of Psychotherapy from the Vantage Point of the Unified Theory

  11. The Justification Hypothesis Defining what makes humans so unique

  12. The Justification Hypothesis is the Mind-to-Culture Joint Point

  13. What Is the Justification Hypothesis? • The JH is the notion that humans have an elaborate self-awareness system because the evolution of language created the problem of justification. In brief, humans became the only animal that had to explain why it did what it did.

  14. The Three Claims That Organize the JH • Freud’s fundamental observation was that the human consciousness system functions as a justification filter for behavioral investments. • This justification filter evolved because language creates the “problem of justification.” • The Justification Hypothesis provides the psychological foundation for a unified theory of culture and links the individual level of analysis (human psychology) with the social level (macro social sciences) using the same language of justification systems.

  15. What Does the JH Do? • Provides the framework for understanding evolutionary changes in mind that led to the emergence of human culture • Links self-awareness at the individual level to cultural belief systems at the group level • Defines what makes humans unique • Provides functional conception of self-awareness • Suggests human psychology is different from animal psychology • Links the natural and social sciences

  16. Justification System Filtering Behavioural Guidance System OVERT BEHAVIOR

  17. The Justification Hypothesis SuggestsTwo Domains of Justification • Explaining ourselves to ourselves • Within the context of self-awareness (private) • The “Freudian Filter” • Explaining ourselves to others • Within the social context (public) • The “Rogerian Filter”

  18. Conclusion: The ToK Maps the Elephant

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