Abstract
This volume is devoted to volitional personal-change endeavors through which individuals attempt to promote internal changes in themselves. It brings together clinical and social psychological perspectives on this issue. This introductory chapter has three main functions: (1) to highlight some of the perennial difficulties in approaching the concept of volitional change, (2) describe certain aspects of the histories of clinical and social psychology in relation to the concept of volitional personal-change, and (3) provide an outline of the contents and issues dealt with in the current volume.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abelson, R. P., Aronson, E., Mcguire, W. J., Newcomb, T. M., Rosenberg, M. J. & Tannenbaum, P. H. (Eds.). (1968). Theories of cognitive consistency: A source-book. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J. & Sanford, R. H. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper.
Antaki, C. & Brewin, C. (Eds.). (1982). Attributions and psychological change: Applications of attributional theories to clinical and educational practice. London: Academic Press.
Appelbaum, S. (1977). The anatomy of change. New York: Plenum.
Aronson, E. (1968). Dissonance theory: Progress and problems. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Back, K. W. (1972). Beyond words: The story of sensitivity training and the encounter movement. New-York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundation of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Baron, R. M. (1988). An ecological framework for establishing a dualmode theory of social knowing. In D. Bar-Tal & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Knowledge. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bateson, G. (1973). Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Ballantine.
Brehm, S. S. & Smith, T. W. (1986). Social psychological approaches to psychotherapy and behavior change. In S. L. Garfield & A. E. Bergin (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change ( 3rd ed., pp. 69–115 ). New York: Wiley.
Berlyne, D. E., (1960). Conflict, arousal and curiosity. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Brickman, P., Rabinowitz, V. C., Karuza, J., Jr., Cotes, D., Cohn, E. & Kidder, L. (1982). Models of helping and coping. American Psychologist, 37, 368–384.
Campbell, J. & Dunnette, M. (1968). Effectiveness of T group experiences in managerial training and development. Psychological Bulletin, 70, 73–104.
Cantor, N., & Langston, C. A. (1989). Ups and downs of life tasks in a life transition. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Goal concepts in personality and social psychology (pp. 127–167 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carver, C. S. & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and selfregulation: A controltheory approach to human behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Cohen, S., Lichtenstein, E., Prochaska, J. O., Rossi, J. S., Gritz, E. R., Can, C. R., Orleans, C. T., Schonebach, V. J., Biener, L., Abrams, D., DiClemente, C., Curry, S., Marlatt, G. E., Cummmings, K. M., Emont, S. L., Giovino, G. & Ossip-Klein, D. (1989). Debunking myths about self-quitting: Evidence from ten prospective studies of persons quitting smoking by themselves. American Psychologist, 44, 1355–1365.
Cowen, E. L. (1982). Help is where you find it: Four informal helping groups. American Psychologist, 37, 385–395.
Cronbach, L. E. & Furby, L. (1970). How should we measure “change”–or should we? Psychological Bulletin, 74, 68–80.
Deutsch, M. (1976). Field theory in social psychology. In G. Lindzey, & E. Decision, (Eds.). Handbook of social psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 412–487 ). New York: Random House.
Doerfler, L. A. & Richards, C. S. (1981). Self-initiated attempts to cope with depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 5, 367–371.
Dweck, C. S. & Legget, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273.
Emmons, R. A. (1986). Personal strivings: An approach to personality and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1058–1068.
Erikson, E. H. (1979). Dimensions of a new identity. New York: Norton.
Fisch, R. J., Weakland, J. & Segal, L. (1982). The tactics of change: Doing therapy briefly. San Francisco: Josse-Bass.
Fisher, J. D. & Farina, A. (1979). Consequences of beliefs about the nature of mental disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 320–327.
Fisher, J. D., Goff, B., Nadler, A. & Chinsky, J. M. (1988). Social psychological differences in help-seeking and support from peers. In B. M. Gottlieb (Ed.), Marshaling social support: Formats, processes and effects (pp. 267–304 ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Fiske, S. T. & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Frank, J. (1961). Persuasion and healing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Furnham, A. (1988). Lay theories: Everyday understanding of problems in the social sciences. Oxford, England: Pergamon.
Fumham, A., Johnson, C. & Rawles, R. (1985). The determinants of beliefs in human nature. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 675–684.
Galambos, J. A., Abelson, R. P. & Black, J. B. (Eds.). (1986). Knowledge structures. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Garfield, S. L. (1986). Research on client variables in psychotherapy. In S. L. Garfield & A. E. Bergin, (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change ( 3rd ed., pp. 213–256 ). New York: Wiley.
Higgins, E. T. & Bargh, J. A. (1987). Social cognition and social perception. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 369–452.
Hovland, C. I. & Janis, I. L. (Eds.). (1959). Personality and persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Hovland, C. I., Janis, I. L. & Kelly, H. H. (1953). Communication and persuasion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kanfer, F. H. & Goldstein, A. (Eds.) (1986). Helping people change: A textbook of methods (rev. 3rd ed. ). New York: Pergamon.
Kanfer, F. H. & Schefft, B. K. (1988). Guiding the process of therapeutic change. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Karoly,P. & Kanfer, F. H. (Eds.) (1982). Self management and behavior change: From theory to practice. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1989). Lay epistemics and human knowledge: Cognitive and motivational bases. New York: Guildford.
Kuhl, J. & Beckmann, J. (Eds.) (1985). Action control: From cognition to behavior. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers of group dynamics. Human Relations, 1, 2–38.
Lieberman, M. A., Yalom, I. D. & Miles, M. B. (1973). Encounter groups: First facts. New York: Basic Books.
Little, B. R. (1983). Personal projects: A rationale and methods for investigation. Environmental Behavior, 15, 273–309.
Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., Mintz, J. & Auerbach, A. (1988). Who will benefit from psychotherapy: Predicting therapeutic outcomes. New York: Basic Books.
Markus, H. & Wurf, E. (1987). The dynamic self-concept: A social psychological approach. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299–337.
Marlatt, G. A. & Gordon, J. R. (Eds.) (1985). Relapse prevention: Maintenance strategies in the treatment of addictive behaviors. New York: Guilford.
Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality ( 2nd ed. ). New York: Harper.
McGuire, W. J. (1985). Attitude and attitude change. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson, (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 233–346 ). New York: Random House.
Mower White, C. J. (1982). Consistency in cognitive social behavior: An introduction to social psychology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Nadler, A. (1991). Help seeking: Psychological costs and instrumental benefits. In M. S. Clark (Ed.), Review of Personality & Social Psychology, (Vol. 12: Pro-Social Behavior, pp. 290–312 ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Nadler, A. & Fisher, J. D. (1986). The role of threat to self-esteem and perceived control in recipient reaction to help: Theory development and empirical validation. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 19, pp. 81–122). Academic Press.
Newcomb, T. M. (1968). Introduction. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook. Chicago: Rand McNally.
O’Hanlon, B. & Wilk, J. (1987). Shifting contexts: The generation of effective psychotherapy. New York: Guildford.
Pervin, L. A. (Ed.) (1989). Goal concepts in personality and social psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Pittman, T. S. & Heller, J. F. (1987). Social Motivation. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 461–89.
Prochaska, J. O. & DiClemente, C. C. (1982). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 19, 276–288.
Prochaska, J. O. & DiClemente, C. C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 390–395.
Reich, B. & Adock, C. (1976). Values, attitudes, and behaviour change. London: Methuen.
Rogers, C. (1970). Carl Rogers on encounter groups. New York: Harper & Row.
Rokeach, M. (1960). The open and closed mind. New York: Basic Books.
Rosenberg, M. J. (1968). Hedonism, inauthenticity, and other goads toward expansion of a consistency theory. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M.
Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Rosenberg, M. J., Hovland, C. I., McGuire, W. J., Abelson, R. P. & Brehm, J. W. (1960). Attitude organization and change. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Schachter, S. (1982). Recidivism and self-cure of smoking and obesity. American Psychologist, 37, 436–444.
Shaver, K. G. (1977). Principles of social psychology. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop.
Silka, L. (1989). Intuitive judgments of change. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Smith, M. B. (1968). The self and cognitive consistency. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Starker, S. (1988). Oracle in the supermarket: Exploring the American obsession with self-help books. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Strong, S. R. & Claiborn, C. D. (1982). Change through interaction: Social psychological perspectives of counseling and psychotherapy. New York: Wiley.
Strupp, H. (1978). The therapist’s theoretical orientation: An overrated variable. Psychotherapy: Therapy, Research and Practice, 7, 245–247.
Strupp, H. H., Fox, R. E. & Lessler, K. (1969). Patients view their psychotherapy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Swarm, W. B. (1983). Self-verification: Bringing social reality into harmony with the self. In J. Suls & A. G. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (vol. 2 ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Taylor, S. E. & Crocker, J. (1981). Schematic base of social information processing. In E. T. Higgins, C. P. Herman & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario symposium. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Travisano, R. (1970). Alternation and conversion as qualitatively different transformations. In G. P. Stone & M. Gaverman (Eds.), Social psychology through symbolic interaction. Waltham, MA: Ginn-Blaisdell.
Watzlawick, P. (Ed.) (1984). The invented reality. New York: Norton.
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of emotion and motivation. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Yalom, I. D. (1975). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
Yankelovich, D. (1981). New rules: Searching for self-fulfillment in a world turned upside down. New York: Random House.
Zanna, M. P., Higgins, E.T. & Herman, C. P. (Eds.) (1982). Consistency in social behavior. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Zilbergeld, B. (1983). The shrinking of America. Boston: Little, Brown.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Klar, Y. (1992). Directions in the Study of Personal-change Endeavors by Clinical and Social Psychologists: An Introduction. In: Klar, Y., Fisher, J.D., Chinsky, J.M., Nadler, A. (eds) Self Change. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2922-3_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2922-3_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7720-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2922-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive