Personality and
Psychotherapy from the
Perspective of the Tree of
Knowledge System
Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Dept of Graduate Psychology
James Madison University
[email protected]
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).
The Tree of
Knowledge System
A New Map of the Sciences
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.
Since the outline of the
unified theory was
published in 2003, there
has been quite a bit of
activity on the system
A Special Section on
the Theory is
forthcoming in T & P
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.”
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.
The Unified View Changes the
Perspective on the “Single
Schools”
Four Major Individual Level
Psychotherapy Perspectives
Greater focus on
relationship, less active,
less empirical, more
focused on insight and
making meaning
Humanistic
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
More active, problem
focused, empirical,
more focused on being
happy and behaving
effectively
Negative Caricatures
Humanistic
“Simplistic
Sympathizer”
Behavioral
“Mindless
Behaver”
Psychodynamic
“Pointless
Pontificator”
Cognitive
“Cold Debater”
Single Schools of Psychotherapy
from the Vantage Point of the
Unified Theory
The Justification
Hypothesis
Defining what makes humans so
unique
The Justification Hypothesis is the
Mind-to-Culture Joint Point
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.
The Three Claims That
Organize the JH
1.
2.
3.
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.
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
Justification
System
Filtering
Behavioural
Guidance
System
OVERT BEHAVIOR
The Justification Hypothesis Suggests
Two 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”

Conclusion:
The ToK Maps the Elephant