Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 219 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-208).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-235).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Sept. 14, 2006). Includes bibliographical references.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Despite more than a century of development, there can be little doubt that many psychologists today still adhere to a worldview that characterised the earliest developments in the discipline. A worldview which holds that there is an external reality, that objectivity is attainable, and that, given enough time and effort, we shall be able to discover the 'truth'. These psychologists have chosen to ignore the occurrence of what may well be regarded as a paradigm shift, in the sense that Kuhnian philosophers of science use this phrase. They tend to believe that if anything exists, it must exist in some measurable quantity. In sharp contradistinction, adherents of the constructivist orientation, who have admittedly been influenced by developments in what is often referred to as the 'new physics', adopt a stance in which they emphasise the essentially subjective nature of what we know- or, at least, believe we know. Constuctivism, in spite of not representing a unitary body of theory, accepts that all so-called knowledge - especially knowledge about other human beings - is dramatically influenced by our assumptions, prejudices, perceptions and constructions about the people, events, and stories that we all tell to ourselves, and to others, about the events that represent our lives. Given the body of constructivist thinking, a question that arises is whether, and to what extent, it is possible to apply this highly abstract worldview to the interpretation of the events that occur in, for example, a single psychotherapy session. In this dissertation an attempt has been made to analyze the events of a single (and singular!) therapy session. The analysis has been conducted at several levels of abstraction. The events are viewed from the perspective of a transcript of the session, from the angle of the therapist's interpretation of what occurred during the session and what he attempted to achieve, from a viewpoint adopted by the author of the dissertation (who also happens to be the therapist in question), and from the position of yet a fourth 'participant' who is referred to as the rapporteur. The latter dwells on the conceptual implications of other discussions in the dissertation. The recursive nature of the interactions between the four 'viewers' of, or 'commentators' on, the process, and the complexities which derive from adopting a constructivist stance in which the alleged certainties of a positivist position are eschewed, are illustrated in the conceptual analysis and description offered. Ultimately, it would appear, a constructivist stance has numerous benefits, although they may not readily be admitted to by those with a low tolerance of ambiguity.

M.A. (Psychology) / Essentially constructionism suggests that there are various realities, each revealing an aspect of a constructed "truth" which may change across time, culture, context and therapist and is therefore relative. It follows that causal connections are arbitrary punctuations which are merely the subjective opinion of the observer and not the objective reality. Although knowledge is relative, by means of mutual perceptions, consensual insights are arrived at which are awarded truth status at a certain point and in a certain culture. The use of two such modern consensual realities in psychology, the Thematic Apperception Test and therapist descriptions, implemented in this thesis, lead us to an issue in the constructionism debate which has yet to be resolved, namely: what is the status of pragmatism in constructionism? In this thesis the issue is discussed and the view taken that pragmatism, with certain reservations, does belong to constructionism. As the debate regarding constructionism only recently gained momentum in therapeutic psychology, it is still of a theoretical nature and hardly any literature is available addressing the practical aspects of constructionist therapy. However, certain guidelines for a constructionist-type therapy could be identified from the literature. Constructionist therapy assumes a co-operative, respecting therapeutic stance. The members of the client system are regarded as experts on their own problem, and the therapist refrains from the prescribing solutions, relying on the client himself to find new opinions and realities, in his life. The therapeutic process is not aimed at disclosing or representing reality by means of language, but at presenting new realities for consideration which tie in with a particular clients' unique way of giving meaning to his own life. In this way the client is placed in a new observing situation with impact to himself and his own problem, enabling him to reach other realities regarding his problem...

This is an analogue study of process and outcome in client-centered therapy focusing chiefly on empathy. Therapist experienced, therapist communicated, and client received empathy were interrelated, and their impact on client depth of experiencing and problem resolution was examined. Thirty subjects engaged in one session of Client-Centered treatment in which they dealt with "splits", internal conflicts characterized by personal incongruence.. Before the sessions the subjects prepared a Goal Attainment Scale, which specified five personalized stages of behavioral and affective change regarding the split. During sessions audio recordings were made which were, later rated for therapist communicated empathy and client depth of experiencing. Subjects also rated therapist empathy, and seven days later they assessed change on their Goal Attainment Scales. Session scores for therapist experienced empathy, therapist communicated empathy, client received empathy, client depth of experiencing, and treatment outcome were then intercorrelated and analyzed in a manner analogous to path analysis. A similar process was applied to the combined results of similar research, and the path generated from this integrative summary and the results of the present study were compared to gain a clearer perspective on the causal flow among the process and outcome variables. As well, scores on the three empathy phases were compared for therapists across the two subjects they interacted with, and the interaction of therapist communicated empathy and client depth of experiencing was examined by a content analysis of each session. The path results suggest that therapist empathic communications lead to client perceptions of therapist empathy, which directly facilitates treatment outcome. Client depth of experiencing was remote from the empathy phases and outcome, failing to demonstrate that experiencing is an intervening variable between therapist empathy and outcome, These results are tentative since only one correlation, communicated by received empathy, was significant at .05. However the pattern is highly supported: by the relations among empathy, experiencing, and outcome derived from the integrative summary. The content analysis of therapist communicated empathy and client depth of experiencing suggested that client self-expression and exploration can be inhibited by therapists making an excessive number of reflections based on inaccurate or insufficient understanding of the client. This implied that there are some cases in which empathy and experiencing may be causally related, although this causal linkage is not consistent when examined across all client-therapist interaction. Comparison of the correlations between the three empathy phases and process and outcome measures, in conjunction with the correlations among the phases, suggested that the phases were related but distinct constructs. Therapist experienced empathy appeared to be a relationship variable that was essentially unrelated to treatment process and outcome. Therapist communicated empathy and client received empathy were relatively stable across clients, suggesting that these variables reflect therapist trait empathy. Of the three phases, client received empathy was most strongly predictive of treatment outcome. Overall, the study suggests that, within first sessions of client-centered treatment, therapist empathic communications are related to the client's perceptions of the therapist's empathy level in the relationship. These perceptions in turn positively influence treatment outcome. Changes in the level of client depth of experiencing may also be affected to a minor degree by communicated empathy, but experiencing does not appear to powerfully influence the treatment process at this early stage. The results suggest that client received empathy, being the empathy phase most predictive of treatment outcome, should be the phase most highly stressed in client-centered treatment. Frequent CRE ratings could furnish the therapist with a valuable index of the efficacy of the treatment process. A further implication for training of Rogerian therapists is that the overall concept of empathy encompasses therapist verbal and kinesic actions beyond the scope of scales measuring communicated empathy, the empathy phase most often stressed in>the training process. Finally, this study points to the potential value of an extensive meta-analysis of client-centered treatment research which would quantitatively integrate and summarize the extant findings regarding this school of psychotherapy. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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Heeding current best practice, many teachers prioritize student-centered instruction as the most effective pedagogy to achieve student learning. However, preservice teachers at a small, southeastern U.S. university have expressed reservations in executing student-centered instructional methods when they become lesson facilitators. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine whether probational elementary teachers have the knowledge and skill set to execute student-centered instruction and identify the characteristics of this method based on their preservice experiences. The conceptual framework consisted of constructivist, humanism, and social learning, theories . The four research questions focused on participants' understanding of student-centered and teacher-centered pedagogical methods, whether or not their understandings changed in practice, and what factors influenced those changes. Purposeful sampling provided 5 probationary elementary teachers who had graduated from the same university. Data included 3 semistructured interviews, 2 classroom observations, and a review of instructional materials. Data were inductively coded and analyzed throughout the collection process. Findings revealed that each participant practiced and could theoretically identify the characteristics of both student-centered and teacher-centered methods; however, they could not identify these characteristics consistently in their own practices. Findings indicated that preservice teachers needed more exposure to student-centered pedagogy. Teachers who develop proficiency with student-centered pedagogy may be better able to empower students to solve problems, make decisions, advocate, and negotiate relationships with others. These characteristics are the foundation for active citizenship making positive social change possible.