DEVELOPING A MODEL OF PERSONAL CHANGE

This research develops a model of personal change. Following the presentation of the model of personal change, the model is critiqued.

Most of what may be described as traditional models of personal change are based in social learning theory. The origins of social learning theory lie in attempts to combine psychoanalytic and stimulusresponse theory into a comprehensive explanation of human development (Grusec, 1992, pp. 776786). Various theories of human development often tend to view people as either active or passive in interactions with their environments (Cohen, 1987, p. 22). A passive concept of human development is behaviorism (Sugarman, 1986, p. 20). Behaviorism emphasizes the critical significance of one's environment to the overall development of the individual (Turner and Helms, 1991, p. 8). Active concepts of human development, by contrast with passive concepts, hold that individuals are not passive beings, but, rather, are capable of actively governing their own development An active concept of human development is the cognitive development theory (Lidz, 1968, pp. 8283).

Erich Fromm, Albert Bandura, and others approached human development from a social approach. Fromm viewed human personality development as a response to human needs, while Bandura's concept of human development was a social learning theory. The behavioral school of human development grew out of the socia

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ctancies are, in part, the product of one's schemata, or set of unrealistic and irrational beliefs with respect to the nature of intimate relationships. Cognitive theory holds that extreme beliefs with respect to "one's self and one's interaction" with one's environment are among the most important of the cognitive phenomena leading to "dysfunctional behavioral responses" (Epstein, 1986, pp. 7475). Basic beliefs are used by individuals in the evaluation of life event. Thus, behavior will be evaluated in the context of one's basic beliefs. If these basic beliefs are unrealistic or irrational, one's expectancies will likely also tend to be unrealistic and irrational. While the essential elements discussed above of all of the approaches to human development and change are valid, a major problem associated with most models based on these principles is that solutions tend to be developed by analysts and imposed on individual clients. This process, thus, tends deny the individual the primary role if effecting personal change in her or his own life. More recently, alternative models of personal change have been advanced. These newer models tend to retain the essential elements of the various social learning approach, but subordi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2364
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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