Choice Theory
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Basic belief:-
Perception
determines
Your
behaviour
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Background
• Choice theory /reality therapy is based on
the work of William Glasser, an American
psychiatrist.
• In 1957 Glasser developed serious
reservations about psychoanalytic
counselling methods.
• In 1965 he pioneered the idea of Reality
Therapy-a new approach to psychiatry.
• In the 1980s he wrote a book called “Ten
steps to discipline” as a way of introducing
reality therapy into schools.
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
• Glasser, much to his disappointment found that schools used the
process as an approach to discipline and left out the first 4 steps .
• The first four steps asked teachers to review their own behaviour as
teachers and if it wasn’t working to change it.
• As a result, Glasser disowned the “10 Steps” and has not referred to
it since.
• Instead he developed the Quality Schools Program as a way of
integrating Choice theory into school curriculum.
• The main principles of choice theory in schools are that
– relationships must be being based on trust, respect and elimination of
incidents of discipline
– choice theory is not only a part of our school lives but is a part of our
whole lives
– all students can complete quality work that is significantly beyond what
is considered to be just competence.
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The main beliefs of choice theory
•
The only person’s behaviour we can control is our own
•
All we can give or get from other people is information.
•
All long lasting psychological problems are relationship problems
•
Revisiting the past can do little to change the present
•
We are driven by five genetic needs;-survival, fun, love, belonging and power
•
We can satisfy these needs only by satisfying a picture or picture in our quality world
•
All we can do from birth or death is behave .All behaviour is made up of acting,
thinking, feeling and physiology
•
All behaviour is chosen. We have direct control over only the acting and thinking
components. We can however control our feelings and physiology through how we
CHOOSE to act or think
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The Seven habits
Connecting
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Listening
Trusting
Supporting
Accepting
Encouraging
Negotiating
Respecting
Disconnecting
• Criticising
• Threatening
• Blaming
• Punishing
• Complaining
• Rewarding to control
• Nagging
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
• We can’t make kids do anything. We can’t
make ANYONE do ANYTHING. The best
way we can get students to make positive
choices about the learning that we are
offering them is to get ourselves into their
quality world as their teachers. They can
only do that if they value the relationship
with us
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
A student throws a book of a desk
What are your choices?
How do you make that choice?
The real world
The knowledge
Filter
The behavioural
system
The Quality
World
The involuntary
behaviour
The comparing
place
The valuing filter
The perceived
world
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The world inside your head
World outside
Your head
Touch
Taste
Smell
Hear
See
Think
Needs
Knowledge
Valuing
Perceived
world
Feel
Total Behaviour
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Do
Physical
Needs
Safety (security)
Love (belonging)
Fun (Learning)
Freedom (choice)
Power (Achievement)
Quality
World
The real world
The people ,situations
This is internalised through our senses
•
•
•
•
•
•
touch
feel
smell
sense
hear
see
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The Knowledge Filter
• Allows us to filter in information via the
lens of
• Is it useful?
• It might be useful
• It isn’t useful
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The valuing filter
• This doesn’t mean our values. It means
whether or not the information is important
to us
• It opens up pictures in our memory that
are important to us
• It is like an icon on the desk top
• It goes to the heart of the matter
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The Quality World
• This contains the mental pictures of the
things that are important to us.
• These pictures always need satisfying and
if we had them we believe we are happy
fulfilled and content
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The perceived world
• All we know .All information is
perceived .Our perception tells us if
the information is
• pleasurable or
• painful ,or
• neutral.
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Comparing Scales
• The scales compare perception with the
Quality World.
• In counselling terms “what you want?”
with" what you have got ? ‘
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The Behavioural System
2 Parts
• Organised behaviour
learned behaviours
• Creative Behaviour
• we invent these when we believe our
organised behaviours aren’t working for
us.”
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
All behaviour is total
That is they all occur together
• Acting/ feeling/ Thinking/ Physiology
Question
When your car (teacher and adult)
crashes with a student’s (child’s)
• Who has the greater responsibility?
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE
UNLESS:_
• You manipulate them
• They fear you
• They see the outcome as not important to
them
• They accept the outcome as a reasonable
consequence
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Change using choice theory
It is in our Comparing place (scales) that we
compare what is in our perceived world (got)
with our quality world (want ).
When our scales are out of balance there are
several things that we can do to change
• 1.Quality world;- Add/ adjust /update a picture
• 2.Perceived world:- Challenge the filter
• 3. Behaviour System:•
Add another new behaviour
Refine an existing behaviour Change our
total behaviour through thinking and
focusing
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
The Reality Therapy Questions
Want
• What do you want (The quality world)
Doing
• What kind of choices are you making to help you get
what you want?
Evaluation
• Did it work? Did that choice help you get what you want?
Plan
• Are there any different choices that you could make ?
Information
• Can you think about some information I need to give
you?
• (In choice theory terms, all we can do is give another
person information)
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
First:-Do no Harm
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008
Is what I am doing taking me
closer to or further away from
the person with whom I am
dealing ?
Created by Pet Petersen - 2008