A SPECIILATIVE STUD'Y OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FORRIIBLIC SCHOOLS ” f ‘

Dissertation for the Degree of Ph. D. .  
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ~ .
CLIFFORD POTTER BORBAS
.1975f

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

A SPECULATIVE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMLNT

AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

presented by

CLIFFORD POTTER BORBAS

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

Ph.D. degree in the dejLartment Of

SECONDARY EDUCATION AND CURRICULUM

wa- Mum

Major professor

Date ' May 16. 1975

0-7639

 

 

I'llll‘lltltflll'Il‘

ABSTRACT
A SPECULATIVE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND
ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BY

Clifford Potter Borbas

The purpose of this study was to develop a model of human growth

and development and a philosophical position consistent with this model.

Part II explored the implications of the model and of the philosophy

for public schools.

The following postulates were made:

l.
2.

Man strives continually for increased satisfaction.

The uniqueness of each person requires as many choices to

be available as possible in order for each person to maxi-
mize his satisfaction.

Man's chief evolutionary accomplishment has been the develop-
ment of a perceptual field of reality--a symbolic representa-
tion of the external world.

He responds to the environment as he perceives it to be, not
as it actually is,

The formation of the perceptual field is affected by the
following factors:

a. The meanings associated with habits can become part of

the perceptual field.

The
a.
b.
c.

d.

Clifford Potter Borbas

The meanings associated with personal experiences can
become part of the perceptual field.

Meaning that is developed through the intellectual
process alone can be incorporated into the perceptual
field.

The direction of perceptual field development is toward
consistency and order.

All perceptions in the perceptual field are related in an
internally logical way, and a change in one can change
others.

The more directly a perception affects one's views of
himself, the stronger will it be and the more vigorously
will it be defended. A

The perceptual field tends to become increasingly dif-
ferentiated over time.

motivation of behavior is due to four factors:

The life-force.

The mental powers.

The tendency toward consistency.

The tendency toward least effort.

Society developed because man found it easier to satisfy

basic needs cooperatively.

But social living requires conformity to group norms and is

therefore inimical to self-fulfillment.

Self-fulfillment requires perceiving a high number of options

for one's behavior, making decisions from among these options,

and

acting on these decisions.

TO.
ll.

12.

T3.

Clifford Potter Borbas

Effective decision making can be taught.

Schools with a self-fulfilling curriculum must develop a

philosophy and teaching methods compatible with the nature of

man, the nature of society, and an ultimate decision-making

process that leads to maximum personal satisfaction.

Such schools would be characterized by maximum student

decision making within a framework that meets these specific

curriculum goals:

a.

b.

To develop the mental powers.

To increase the specificity and accuracy of the percep-
tual field of reality.

To develop the ability and the willingness to overcome
personal and environmental forces in the way of self-

fulfillment.

There are five principles of instruction consistent with

this model of human development:

a.

Instruction is easier to the degree that the students
and the teacher have similar perceptual fields of reality.
Instruction is easier to the degree that students possess
undifferentiated perceptual fields.

Instruction is easier to the degree that the reality of
the classroom experience correSponds to the students'
perceptual fields of reality.

Instruction is easier to the degree that it accounts for
the internal forces.

Instruction is easier to the degree that it recognizes

the developmental process of the perceptual field.

Clifford Potter Borbas

Schools must recognize that the basic character of man is that
of a creator of myths (perceptions) about his life and his world.
These myths have been responsible for his survival and continue to
make possible decision making necessary for his existence. Man also
lives in a natural and social environment that is fundamentally hostile
to his efforts to find personal satisfaction. A self-fulfilling curric-
ulum has been designed with attention paid to the nature of the learner,
the nature of his environment, and to an ultimate decision-making process

(self-fulfillment) that leads to a truly satisfying life.

A SPECULATIVE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND
ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

By

Clifford Potter Borbas

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum

T975

1 |
in: wt rl‘

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my deepest appreciation to my parents, Hope
and Laszlo, who have always given me help and encouragement; to Nancy
Gendell for her friendship and editorial assistance; and to my brother,
Steve, who, without complaining, did more than his share of work on
our summer camp while I was writing this dissertation.

I wish also to thank Dale Alam, Dick Gardiner, Julian Smith,
and John Suehr, my doctoral committee, for their help.

Finally, I wish to thank the kind people at the High Wheeler
Restaurant for tolerating my frequent and prolonged visits, which I

often spent reading and writing.

ii

Ch:
Inter

BIBI
IOCRA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page
PART ONE

I. INTRODUCTION ...................... l

II. A MODEL OF PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT ............ 25

III. THE MOTIVATION OF BEHAVIOR ............... 56

IV. THE AGONY OF ECSTASY .................. 84
PART TWO

V. THE SELF-FULFILLING CURRICULUM ............. ll5

VI. BACK TO BASICS ..................... l4O

APPENDIX--THE COMMON DENOMINATORS OF CULTURE .......... 164

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................... l66

PART I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The history of mankind is a history of people's struggles to
live fulfilling lives. From the snow-capped reaches of the far north
to the steaming tropics, cultures have evolved which have mediated
between the demands of the environment and human desires. The remarkable
variety of human behaviors attests to the ingenuity with which man has
responded to geographical limitations, to forces within himself, and
to cultural designs in order to make decisions that he believed would
contribute to a more fulfilling life.

Underlying social evolution is the fact that man's wants are
insatiable. There is no ultimate level of satisfaction possible, for
all satisfaction is relative to the individual's biological needs for
survival, his past, and his expectations. As man becomes accustomed to
a given level of satisfaction, he simultaneously perceives a different
level as more desirable, and strives toward this newly perceived level.
For this reason, it is difficult to discuss self-fulfillment in spe-
cific terms, for it is a curious blend of objective realities and sub—
jective perceptions that must be understood together.

Any discussion of self-fulfillment must begin with basic needs.
They are the foundation upon which a satisfying life is built. We can

say for certain that there are some basic requirements for human

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existence--food, warmth, and protection from aggression without which,
death results. However, it is also important that they be perceived

as basic requirements by people themselves, because people's perceptions
largely determine the ways they behave.

One reason for the difficulty in defining "basic needs" is that
they often depend upon predictions of events which may occur, if at all,
in the distant future. For example, there can be a wide gap between
what is perceived as adequate nutrition and what actually is. A full
stomach is not necessarily an adequate guide. In many developing coun-
tries, people who have eaten unpolished rice all of their lives see
polished rice as a luxury and buy it when they can afford it. Their
efforts to increase their standard of living by eating "better" food
actually result in lowering their nutritional level. Only gradually
will the reality of the situation catch up with them as their health
deteriorates.

We will use the term ”basic needs" to mean both a perceived
minimum level of food, warmth, and protection, as well as an actual
minimum level below which death results. Only when both of these con-
ditions are met are people freed from psycho-biological bonds to pursue
satisfying lives. Whether or not they achieve personal satisfaction
is due to factors we will discuss later.

The concept "self—fulfillment" is critical to the development
of our thesis. It describes a way of perceiving one‘s existence, as
well as a decision-making process that results in satisfying feelings.
Self¥fulfillment maintains that each person has within his power the
turtential to create meaning to his life. But choosing a purpose to one's

life and exercising control over it is an immensely difficult task. It

runs co
direct

goals.

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he has l
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runs counter to prevailing environmental and personal forces that
direct one's behaviors toward socially useful or personally safe
goals.

Self-fulfillment requires of man a conscious and sustained
effort to use highly developed decision-making skills to select goals
he has consciously chosen, which he predicts will bring him a high degree
of satisfaction. To achieve these goals, he must develop the ability to
make consistently effective choices--those that provide a high degree
of satisfaction within environmental and personal limitations. However,
to maximize the choices that man has available, he must first reduce--
though he can never eliminate--the restrictions that the environment and
his internal forces place on his behavior.

Effective decision making, then, is a function of the develop-
ment of specific and accurate perceptions of the environment and of
oneself, of highly developed intellectual powers, and of the willing-
ness and ability to restrain certain internal forces urging safety and
security and to allow the forces urging growth and personal development
to dominate.

Learning to live a fulfilling life is difficult indeed. It
requires personal strength and perseverance, as well as highly developed
decision-making skills. Some people, of course, are able to develop
these skills by themselves--just as some have taught themselves the
violin or other difficult skill without the help of one more experienced
than they. But, like learning to play the violin, learning to live a
‘fulfilling life often requires assistance to insure that one acquires

‘the proper technique and style conducive to further growth.

We maintain that the skills and attitudes necessary for self-
fulfillment can and should be taught. In many cases, of course, they
are already taught by parents, teachers, and others who are concerned
with the individual's growth rather than just the maintenance of their
society. But there are people--a great many-~who have the potential
for living a fulfilling life but who, instead, live "lives of quiet
desperation." They feel impotent to take charge of their lives in the
face of social and personal restraints.

ii

We believe that every person has a unique genetic endowment
which, when coupled with his special experiences, creates an individual
unlike any other. Consequently, we must also believe that options
should be available from which one can select experiences which he
believes will be most satisfying. But the availability of options
depends on one's perceptions that there are options available. Such
perceptions, in turn, require one to be as free as possible from envi-
ronmental, cultural, and physical restrictions.

Each individual is faced, many times every day, with alterna-
tives, among which he must make the best choice. The environmental
conditions surrounding him profoundly affect the alternatives. These
(:onditions--such as geography, climate, and natural resources--influence
his options by providing a structure to life which determines the ease
cnc difficulty with which basic needs can be satisfied. At any given
nunnent this structure is fixed, and all decisions must be made within
'it. Otherwise, there is the risk that basic needs would not be met.

An agrarian society, for instance, whose land has lost its fertility

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and whose people must work desperately to scratch out enough food to
live, has a severely limited environmental structure. All decisions
made by individuals in this society will reflect their limiting envi-
rdnmental conditions.

The complexity of the environmental conditions is not apparent
from the above example, where only one factor affecting basic needs
was mentioned. Rarely is the situation so simple. The basic structure
within which people must make satisfying choices is a complex combina—
tion of many factors, and natural environmental conditions are but one.

The culture of any society evolves as a response to the ways
basic needs are satisfied. Language, religion, social customs, politi-
cal organization, and beliefs about reality all support and reinforce
the manner of basic need satisfaction. No society will jeopardize its
existence by embracing cultural norms which are not compatible with
basic need satisfaction. To do so would threaten its very existence.

One effect of culture is to provide boundaries within which
permissible behavior may take place. These boundaries may be wide or
narrow, depending upon the mode of basic need satisfaction. A society
faced with harsh conditions against which it must continually struggle
to survive, will evolve a culture which prescribes specific behaviors
for its members. It cannot risk much choice by individuals, for fear
that the choices they make might threaten its existence. In times of
war, people who are otherwise accustomed to great latitude in their
choices, will accept restrictions on their behavior--such as the ration-
ing of goods-~and they may even relinquish democratic decision making

in favor of an authoritarian leader until the danger is past.

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socially

Through child-rearing practices, each society inculcates in its
young its culture. This cultural indoctrination includes teaching
children the nature of reality compatible with the society's acquisi-
tion of basic needs. These assumptions about reality influence indi-
viduals' perceptions which, in turn, influence their actions. Such
conditioning reduces the necessity for direct control to keep people
within the acceptable boundaries, since, if they have been socialized
properly, their perceptions of available choices will coincide with
socially acceptable ones.

Man's individual physical characteristics constitute a third
external restraint, unique to each person. These characteristics--
size, health, coordination, sensory functioning, age, 1.0., and sex--
act as limiting structures in much the same way that natural and
social environmental conditions do. Like the environment, physical
characteristics are so much a part of each person that their effects go
unnoticed in daily affairs. Unlike environmental conditions, however,
physical characteristics can change more rapidly. Some of these are
changes over which one has little or no control, such as aging and its
accompanying disabilities, illness, or injury. However, there are also
physical characteristics over which an individual has considerable con-
trol. He can exercise to improve muscle tone, avoid danger or exposure
to disease, correct poor eyesight or other disabling conditions, and
take advantage of medical treatment to insure that his physical equip-
ment is in proper working order.

Physical characteristics affect behavior in much the same way
as the environment. They contribute to the structure within which each

person must operate and help determine the viability of some choices

instead
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instead of others. The difference between the environment and physical
characteristics as they affect behavior is that the environment is
basically the same for all members of the group and changes gradually
over long periods of time. Physical characteristics, on the other
hand, are individual limitations which can change relatively quickly.

We have seen, thus far, how, at any moment, the natural and
social environment and individual physical characteristics create a
structure within which all behavior takes place. If behavior exceeds
these boundaries, the individual suffers, either because his level of
basic need satisfaction is inadequate or his society punishes him for
violating its norms. Any understanding of individual behavior must
include an awareness of this fixed set of circumstances which acts not
only to limit but also to guide behavior. An individual, faced with
daily choices, sees this structure as fixed, though, over time, it can
and does change.

Unfortunately, this view of man as confined and restricted in
his decision making by forces over which he has no control is too often
true. If personal freedom or autonomy is to go beyond political rhetoric,
it must account for external restrictions as unchanging at any given
moment. What is necessary, then, is that each person be able to per-
ceive choices within environmental limits that will contribute to
increased happiness. While not minimizing the need to change oppressive
environmental obstacles to self-fulfillment, our interest in this work
is to discuss psychological freedom as an internal process leading to

more satisfying lives.

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iii

One's perceptions of his world are the crucial element that
affects his living a satisfying life. These complex and inter-
related symbolic representations of reality are organized in each per-
son's mind to form a particular world view or perceptual field of
reality. In this work, the term "perception" refers to an image, sound,
or other bit of sensory evidence and to the meaning, if any, that one
attaches to this evidence. "Perception" also refers to meanings in
general, conscious or unconscious, directly related to sensory data or
not. As we will see in Chapter IV, perceptions may also be internal
perceptions that are unique to the individual or external perceptions,
which may be held by others as well.

To grasp the concept of perceptual field is difficult, because
it is only indirectly subject to study. We infer its existence, as
well as its character, from human behavior, and a perceptual approach
to understanding individual behavior is the one that we will take in
this work. We will not attempt to divide the perceptual field into
sub-fields, because it is not an entity whose form or function remains
the same when it is dissected. To attempt to analyze one aspect of the
perceptual field apart from the rest of it is like trying to understand
the function of an arm apart from the rest of the body. Some character-
istics of the perceptual field could perhaps be studied, but certainly
not its function. Just as the human organism is more than the sum of
its parts, so too is the perceptual field.

Descriptive terms such as "complex," "interrelated," and

"personal" fail to describe the perceptual field. To speak of perCeptions

only
Chang
is U
in a
as i'

are I

only as if they were a collection of items is to disregard their dynamic,
changing, and interrelated nature. And to speak only of their dynamism
is to ignore the intensely stabilizing effect certain perceptions have

in a constantly changing environment. Nor can we consider perceptions

as if they were all similar in their effects on the organism, for some
are more significant than others. Even the term "perceptual field" or
'"world view" is confusing, for it assumes the consistency of percep-
tions with one another which rarely happens. Even the most mentally
healthy people have contradictory beliefs and behaviors.

Understanding perceptions would be relatively easy if they
were all formed in a single way, but this is not the case. Many,
perhaps most perceptions, are formed, strengthened, and modified through
reinforcement by the environment. However, some perceptions are formed
internally, with no testing of the environment possible. One person
may believe in a hereafter, though he cannot prove the existence of
heaven. Another may believe that America is a "land of opportunity,"
even though he and his friends live in abject poverty. In Chapter II,
we will further discuss the development of the perceptual field.

Each perceptual field is unique and unfathomable. Of the myriad
perceptions which have formed one's world view, only a portion can be
considered on a rational level, and only a few of these are conscious
at any given moment. The vast majority of perceptions have been formed
slowly over a long time or have been forgotten by the conscious mind.
Nevertheless, they can affect behavior as long as they are part of the
perceptual field. While a semanticist might argue that "perceptions"
cannot be "unconscious," the use of the expression "unconscious percep-

tions" signifies a unique relationship between a person and reality

that is
nental

inten

the en

f0 Olen

l0

- that is not ordinarily subject to rational thought. There is no funda-
mental difference between unconscious and conscious "facts of reality"
in terms of their effects on behavior.

The accuracy of a perception depends on the degree to which
the environment reacts in the expected ways. Ideally, if the envi-
ronment fails to respond according to the way it "should," one will
change his perceptions accordingly. However, though man may be rational,
he is not always rational. Instead of modifying his perceptions when
this view of reality does not make sense, he often ignores contradic-
tory evidence, or forces an interpretation on events that supports his
view of reality. In other cases, he may not look for confirmation or
rejection of a particular view, fearing that to test the environment
will prove his perceptions faulty. The importance of accurate percep-
tions of reality, both of oneself and of the environment, cannot be
underestimated. Since perceptions directly affect behavior which, in
turn, affects feelings, it stands to reason that the greater the degree
to which one's perceptual world describes accurately the real world,
the better the chances of making choices that will achieve the desired
ends.

Throughout this work, we will refer to "reality," cognizant of
the fact that no way exists to identify objectively that which is real:
everything, ultimately, is perceptual and hence subjective. However,
when we speak of "the real world" or of "external reality," we are
referring to theoretical criteria with which we can compare ”perceptions
of reality" with "objective reality."

To have knowledge of accurate perceptions in one's world view

enables him to consider available options, to determine the best ones

for I
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inteI
sense
in fa
Howev

decis

ll

for creating the desired feelings, and to act on the basis of con-
scious choice. There are times, of course, when rationality does
interfere with a satisfying experience. One ought to be able to allow
sensations to overcome rationality and to evoke pleasurable feelings
in fantasy, enjoyment of the arts, and sexual expression, for example.
However, such suspension of rationality ought to be itself a rational

decision.
iv

Man's ability to reason has made him the only animal who is
aware of his own existence. This places a tremendous burden on him by
driving him to seek the reason for existence itself. Unwilling to
accept the randomness of events, for then he, too, would be a random
event, man has ordered the world in his mind to give it, and conse-
quently him, a reason for existing.

He has tried throughout history to perceive himself as funda-
mentally different from other animals, and he has succeeded. Unlike all
other animals, he has conquered and subjugated not only his fellow men,
but also as much of the environment as he could. ~He has amassed osten-
tatious displays of worldly goods to prove that he is more than mere
animal. But most indicative of his vanity and arrogance is that
man has invented a God who has made him the chosen species. The trap-
pings of civilization-~the rituals, objects, and customs which have
little relationship to basic physical needs--may be partly due to man's
need to prove to himself that there is a special reason for human life.

Man's quest for the ultimate answer has combined with the human

desire to live a fulfilling life and, in developed nations at least,

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has created an ironic dilemma. Man's success in providing for himself
nearly unlimited choices in terms of goods, services, and lifestyles
has backfired. Instead of finding the fulfillment he is seeking, he
has found frustration. Technology has not delivered what it promised.
While it has made life easier in many ways, the costs are higher than
the benefits. There is a feeling that boring jobs, impersonal commu-
nities, expensive institutions, and the ravaging of the landscape might
all be worthwhile if they brought happiness. But the best that can
happen, it seems, is to use technology to escape what technology has
created. Perhaps this accounts for the insatiable consumerism in this
country. New and better cars, snowmobiles, clothes, and entertainment
are frequently considered synonymous with happiness--but their acqui-
sition is unfulfilling. In his efforts to become fulfilled, man has
falsely equated comforts and possessions with fulfillment itself. While
human desires have always been insatiable and man has always striven to
a higher level of satisfaction, he has never before been so successful.
Until recently, increased levels of fulfillment meant meeting basic
needs more efficiently or acquiring a degree of security unavailable
before. The efforts to live the good life were directly related to
basic requirements for life itself, and therefore, had direct bearing
on fulfillment.

In technological societies, where satisfaction of basic needs
is no longer a serious problem, the issue confronting man is the use to
which technological advances should be put. Though it is apparent that
unlimited acquisition of comforts and possessions in no way assures
fulfillment, most people still see happiness in those terms. This per-

ception may have evolved through the ages as a survival mechanism, when

possession
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possessions did indeed contribute to fulfillment by contributing to
basic need satisfaction. For those in developed nations, at least,
such a perception is no longer valid, but the habit is hard to break.

Not only are people frustrated in their efforts to live sat-
isfying lives by seeking satisfaction where it cannot be found, but the
acquisition of comforts and possessions alienates people from their
sense of self-worth and purpose by placing tremendous emphasis on those
things that have little relationship to a kind of meaning to life that
has substance and endurance. This feeling of frustration and aliena-
tion amid affluence was succinctly put by a youth who said to the psy-
chologist Kenneth Keniston, "You have to grow up in Scarsdale to know
how bad things really are" [70, p. 28].

Technology has freed man from the necessity of spending all of
his time meeting basic physical needs. It has given him an opportu-
nity to make of his life what he wishes, and that possibility is clearly
within his grasp. But the obstacles which he faces are effective blocks
to self-fulfillment. To acquire the ability to maneuver among the
obstacles in ways that maximize personal fulfillment is largely a prob-
lem of perception, and problems of perceptions rightly fall into the

domain of education.

Until recently in technological societies, helping the young
to live satisfying lives and preparing them to contribute to the social
welfare has been a natural part of growing up. Traditionally, the
distinction between children and adults has not been as marked as it is

today, because children were once a vital economic necessity for the

fan-ii:

faIni l

l4

family. In regions where securing basic needs takes much of the
family's time and energy, this is still true. Children developed a
world view from actual participation in important aspects of family
and community life, and, though their perceptions of the world beyond
their communities may have been limited, these perceptions provided
the bases for satisfying lives. There was also a structure to life
that limited choices and provided firm guidelines. A child was able
to grasp fully the opportunities and limitations facing him as he
matured, for they were apparent and easily understood. In this way,
structure provided security and direction for the child and later for
the adult. He knew his position in the social order, and he knew what
was expected of him.

With the gradual development of an industrialized economy, more
and more people left farms to move to cities, where they took jObs in
factories, a trend away from the farm that has continued throughout
American history. To a rural American family, moving to a city in the
late lBOO's must have been a dream come true. Cities provided excite-
ment, jobs, opportunities for recreation, entertainment, education, and
‘ various consumer goods, all of which contributed to personal fulfillment
by increasing the choices available.

The cost of urban living, however, was high. People were
removed from the land, from nature, and squeezed into crowded build-
ings. They no longer satisfied their basic needs by their own direct
labor, because work had become an activity in which one engaged because
it paid a wage, not because it produced anything of intrinsic value to

the laborer.

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urhan se
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Education, too, suffered from urbanization. In a nontechnologi-
cal society, it had been natural and spontaneous, arising out of par-
ticipation in economically important activities; but education in the
urban setting was altogether different. Here, the children were econ-
omic burdens to the parents, unless they could be put to work, and this
was often done. Those who attended school were taught a primitive form
of "career education," in keeping with the demands of the emerging
technological society. Preparing youth for a future in industry was an
important objective. Those who operated the schools decided that immi-
grant children needed to learn English and that all children, especially
poor children, needed to learn middle class values. One speaker at a
National Education Association convention in l888 said in his address:

The kindergarten system, which has already secured a strong hold

in this country, is admirably adapted for laying a general foun—

dation for an industrial career. Manual instruction in some of

its practical phases should be engrafted into our public-school

system. A vast majority of the children now attending the schools

must engage ultimately in some industrial occupation. It is to

be regretted that a portion of the young people of this country

are growing up with a positive distaste for manual labor. We

believe that the introduction of manual training into the schools

of the country would tend to correct this alarming evil [68, p. l5l].
Another speaker, in a similar convention, three years later, spoke on
"The Future High School." He pointed out that "lessons in obedience,
industry, economy, virtue, and other valuable human attributes should be
conscientiously inculcated” [20, p. 628]. Though schools did not only
fit children into the factory system, their bias was unmistakably clear.
By the late lBOO's, the basic structure of American schools was set.

They were universal, tax-supported, compulsory, bureaucratically organized,

class-biased, and racist [38]. Furthermore, they were institutions that

oerpetue

nobilitj

broad s
sive Mo
of the
pedagog
Hhiie I
after I
iorld I

Class,

l6

perpetuated the myths of the American industrialized society: upward
mobility, inevitable progress, and democracy.

The first decade of the twentieth century saw efforts toward
broad social change, including innovation in education. The Progres-
sive Movement in education sought changes in the political control
of the schools, reform in educational thought, educational innovation,
pedagogical change, and the scientific management of schools [38].
While marginally successful, progressive education succumbed shortly
after the Progressive Movement lost steam upon America's entry into
World War I. Since progressive education was supported by the middle
class, which had no fundamental objection to the social structure, the
progressives sought changes within the established order. They espec-
ially wanted a broader decision-making base. A recent resurgence of
progressive educational thought has brought about the establishment of
nontraditional classrooms and "free schools," which offer an alter-
native to traditional education. Generally, these are met with
opposition and/or hostility, and do not constitute a significant trend
away from the traditional methods of formal education.

Though there are classrooms throughout American schools that
help children perceive their environment realistically and help them
make choices that will contribute to more satisfying lives, these are
aberrations from the norm. In the late l960's, John I. Goodlad, the
dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education, along with several col-
leagues, visited 260 kindergarten-through-first-grade classrooms in 100
schools in 13 states to determine the extent to which the reform move-

ment had changed schools. "We were unable to discern much attention

to oIIpil
ocoortuI

leaI
wit!
in I
men
gro
ind
are
ref

T7

to pupil needs, attainments, or problems as a basis for individual

opportunities to learn," he reported.

Teaching was predominantly telling and questioning by the teacher,
with children responding one by one or occasionally in chorus.

In all of this, the textbook was the most highly visible instru-
ment of learning and teaching. . . . Rarely did we find small
groups intensely in pursuit of knowledge; rarely did we find
individual pupils at work in self-sustaining inquiry. . . . We
are forced to conclude that much of the so-called educational
reform movement has been blunted on the classroom door [70,

p. 401].

Most American schools are nineteenth century institutions which,
with few changes, are trying to prepare children to function effectively
in the twentieth and twenty-first centUries. Their role is still seen
as equipping children with the skills and attitudes that would enable
them to obtain and hold jobs and behave in socially acceptable ways.
While neither of these goals is objectionable per se and, in fact, both
are necessary, they fail to get at the root of the challenges facing
educators. The first challenge is to recognize the profound and com-
plex changes that have occurred in man's perceptions of himself and of
his natural and social environment in the past hundred years; and the
second is to adapt the structure and curricula of schools to modern
perceptions, so that children acquire the skills and attitudes neces-
sary to live satisfying and socially responsible lives.

We have grown so accustomed to the impact that technology has
on us, that it is hard to step back and to look at it critically. It
is harder yet to imagine the changes in people's perceptions of them-
selves and of their world over the past hundred years as a result of

technology. But this we must do in order to gain a perspective from

which to make educational decisions.

unknoNI
has or
rity 0
their

securi
ever k
It has
for ot
the oc
Spend

hunidi
ness a

the li

Change
had tI
new or
DErCQF
0f liI
from I

few: i

18

Even a casual tally of the ways technological development,
unknown a century ago, affects us daily will clearly indicate that life
has profoundly changed. For instance, most Americans enjoy the secu-
rity of knowing that acquiring food and warmth necessary to insure
their survival is not a serious problem. We forget that the feeling of
security is a feeling only a small fraction of the world's people have
ever known. We forget, too, how this knowledge has changed our lives.
It has released time and energy, formerly used for meeting basic needs,
for other life-fulfilling pursuits. Occupational conditions, if not
the occupations themselves, have changed. Buildings, where most people
Spend most of their time, are artificially lighted, heated, cooled, and
humidified. Modern transportation has made accessible places for busi-
ness and pleasure which would have been prohibitive in the 1800's; and
the list can go on and on.

More important, even, than the ways in which daily life has
changed, is that individuals' perceptions of themselves and others have
had to change accordingly. This change has brought within one's grasp
new and often frightening concepts, which need to be fitted into the
perceptual field. Communication, for instance, has quickened the pace
of life by enabling the instantaneous reproduction of images and sounds
from remote distances. Far from being the possession of a privileged
few, communication machinery beams signals into nearly every living room
in the country, bringing immediate reports of current events, new ideas,
different lifestyles, and much more. The impact of television, the pro-
liferation of written material, computers, pocket calculators, telephone

service, Xerox machines, photography, and other inventions have enabled

individu.‘
neet. SI
and Me

I
accepted
destruct
isa gen
kind. E
the ques
answer t
incurben
as it we

it must

but unnc
arlSing
reiathr

fIIlfmn
to tame
by the r
the tecl
log to l
lob He:
Us and ‘

educaIiI

19

individuals to compare themselves with others whom they will never
meet. Such communication must affect one's perceptions of himself
and others and of his expectations for the future.

Another phenomenon that affects people deeply, which is now an
accepted part of our lives, is nuclear weaponry. It can wreak instant
destruction on a scale impossible to imagine. When massive destruction
is a genuine possibility, serious doubt is cast on the future of man-
kind. Every person must learn to live with this fact and to confront
the question, "Is there a purpose to life?" The necessity for each to
answer this question in the affirmative and to find that purpose is
incumbent upon us as never before. Living under the sword of Damocles,
as it were, must be a stimulus for discovering a meaning to life, as
it must be for world cooperation.

These and many other changes in the past hundred years go all
but unnoticed in today's schools. Many of these changes are far subtler,
arising from new knowledge of human behavior, learning, and social
relationships and cast doubt on some traditional methods of planning and
organizing instruction.

The challenge facing man is clear. Either he must learn to find
fulfillment amid the technological monster he has created, and, in effect,
to tame that monster, or continue to search frantically for happiness,
by the mere accumulation of goods and comforts. A mind that can create
the technology that the human mind has is surely up to the task of learn-
ing to use what he has built to his advantage, and a large part of this
job lies with education. When we understand the forces operating within
us and within our social structures, we will be better able to design

education to help prepare children for this task.

the WI
possil
that ‘
neces:
nore ‘

IECIUI

the gI
the me
human
ters,

School
iences
PWCes
attesi
a cons
basis

[APPET

the Dr

20

Knowing the changes that have occurred in American society and
the ways that these changes have affected our perceptions is theoretically
possible, since such changes are subject to inquiry and observation.
What is far less subject to inquiry is knowing what adaptations are
necessary in contemporary educational practices to help children lead
more fulfilling lives. This is an area of conjecture, though such con-
jecture must be based on evidence.

Out purpose in writing this dissertation is to contribute to
the groundwork for a reassessment of the structure, the content, and
the methods of instruction of today's schools by developing a model of
human growth which ties together strands of thought from diverse quar-
ters. In Part II, we will discuss the implications of this model for
schools. Educators and others who teach or who plan learning exper-
iences for children base their decisions on their understanding of the
process of human development. The various teaching methods in use today
attest to the lack of agreement as to what this process is. Rarely is’
a conscious and consistent theory, supported by adequate evidence, the
basis for curriculum planning. Unfortunately, such planning usually
happens piecemeal, supported by a vague theory, for which tradition is
the primary evidence.

Our hope for this work is that it develop a particular view of
human growth and of education by which one can examine his own assump-
tions and understandings of the process of growth and of the implications
of that process for schools. It is not important for others to agree
with us; what is important is that each be aware of his reasons for his

beliefs.

with I
has tI
him to
nature
is bet
coltur
studyi

nature

1Oglca
diti0r
the DC
see hc

realit

21

Any look at human growth and development must logically begin
with the biological and psychological "givens." For centuries, man
has tried to discover what his basic nature is, and this search has led
him to postulate every conceivable behavior as part of his human
nature. The reason that so many views exist of what is distinctly human
is because man, unlike any other animal, is primarily a creature of his
culture. Thus, his nature manifests itself in myriad ways and only by
studying both animal and human behaviors can we infer what man's basic
nature might be.

We wish to begin by examining the development of specific physio-
logical characteristics that have enabled man to survive changing con-
ditions. Some of these man has in common with other animals, but one,
the most highly developed nervous system, is unique to him. We shall
see how these characteristics ultimately affect his perceptions of
reality.

Without an effort made to identify man's physiological char-
acter, we will be guilty of making implicit assumptions about the nature
of man that we will later use as the basis for the discussion of growth
and development. We wish, instead, to make the assumptions not only
explicit, but also to remove them from the realm of assumption and
closer to that of fact, by discussing each in some detail.

Following a discussion of the physiological factors which affect
perceptions, we will turn to a description of human growth and develop-
ment from a perceptual point of view, one that respects the uniqueness
and the totality of each person. The physical self, the perceptual

field, and the individual's behaviors must all be seen as coherent and

MMMI
divisit
Ol‘ WEl

NMMI

StandiI
these I
standh
releva
teache
ahil i t

likely

Oherat

Sl'Ster.

22

unified at all times from the point of view of the individual. Any
division of these, even for purposes of discussion, must be temporary,
or we risk losing the dynamism of the organism which is synonymous with
humanness itself.

Throughout this work, our interest lies in acquiring an under-
standing of why people behave the way that they do, and why and how
these behaviors lead to various feelings. The importance of under-
standing why certain behaviors take place instead of others has direct
relevance for teachers. We believe that the appropriate role of a
teacher is to influence the development of students' decision-making
abilities which are likely to result in behaviors that, in turn, are
likely to lead to satisfying feelings.

The last portion of this work describes how a school might
operate if the perceptions of human growth by those in charge were con-
sistent with the model we will develop. The description is more con-
servative than it might be, because we recognize the staunchly conser-
vative nature of schools and know that fundamental change is very hard
to achieve. Any proposal for change, therefore, has a better chance
of adoption the closer it is to traditional practices, because this and
any redefinition of educational purposes must, initially, at least,
defend itself on traditional grounds.

Man's propensity to theorize is a response to his need to make
sense of his world. His intellectual capacity enables him to perceive
so great a quantity of seemingly unrealted events, that in order to
function effectively, he must order these events into frameworks or

theories that are relatively consistent and that facilitate comprehension.

to th
tion

that

diffe
under
Organ
and 3
found
EQUiv
IhEOr
are 0
that

tom 0

evide

23

No theory will last long if it fails to explain events to the satisfac-
tion of the theory's originator or if it fails to predict the events
that it should.

Implicit in the function of a theory which explains and pre-
dicts events is the belief in one's ability to control those events
or, at least, to prepare himself psychologically or physically for them.
This serves survival-related purposes by giving the organism control
over his environment and hence the ability to order his life to maxi-
mize his satisfaction.

Informal theories of the types used constantly by all people
differ from formal ones used for the development of a more abstract
understanding, because formal theories need to be more thorough in their
organization. They must be based on firm evidence, obtainable by others,
and about whose validity there is little question. The evidence is the
foundation upon which the theory is built, and to use shaky evidence is
equivalent to building a home with a shaky foundation. Social science
theories, by dint of the fact that they relate to people whose behaviors
are often exceedingly difficult to understand, employ "soft" evidence,
that may be open to differing interpretations. It is very possible for
two or more theorists to observe the identical evidence and to use that
evidence to support very different conclusions.

The description of human growth and development that follows
is not a theory in the sense just described, but it may point the way
for a formal theory. We recognize that many of the conclusions are
tentative, and we do not attempt precise and thorough explanations of

all the conclusions drawn. Nonetheless, the inexact nature of this

work,
desig
descr
predi

judgn

24

work, at this point, may still be useful for teachers and others who
design learning experiences for children. 'The ultimate proof of a
description of human behavior, of course, is whether it explains and
predicts what it claims to. We leave to the reader the final

judgment.

CHAPTER II

A MODEL OF PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

The search for human nature--the unique tendencies, character-
istics, or instincts that clearly separate humans from other animals--
has both fascinated and frustrated investigators for centuries. The
wish to understand his psycho-biological roots is the same one that
motivates man's search for knowledge in general, and culminates in the
belief that from knowledge will come power to improve the quality of
human life. Clearly this belief has merit, for life has changed dramat-
ically, and often for the better, through the discovery of new knowledge.
If a human nature were identified, it might provide a key for under-
standing diverse human behaviors and social organization. Examination
of those behaviors and organizations could be made in the light of this
discovery and judgments made as to their compatibility or incompatibil-
ity with human nature.

Unfortunately, while much valuable knowledge of cultures has
been accumulated over the years by anthropologists and others--seeking
an answer to the question, "What is man?"--no definitive answers are
forthcoming. Many anthropologists, looking at the uniqueness of each
culture, conclude that man's behavior is almost exclusively a function
of his culture, and there is, in fact, no distinctly human nature. This

idea has been expressed, among others, by those who have studied accounts

25

of chi
human

of a c
have n
dents

nature
becaus

the sc

centur
also I
tons i
NOS ()1
hehau
in evI
gorie
PIEre
UHiye
TiStiv

26

of children raised by animals. Presumably, if there were some uniquely
human tendency toward certain behavior, it would appear even outside
of a cultural setting. While clearly not the final word, because records
have not been consistently kept and there have been relatively few inci-
dents reported, these accounts suggest that ". . . the search for human
nature among 'wild' children has always proved fruitless precisely
because human nature can appear only when human existence has entered
the social context" [43, p. l2].

This cultural relativist view has gained favor among twentieth
century intellectuals, but, at the same time, a body of research has
also developed which indicates that there are strikingly similar cus-
toms throughout all known cultures. Professor George Murdock [51]
was one of the first to describe the existence of specific univerSal
behaviors. He identifies 73 items* which, according to his data, occur
in every culture known to history or ethnography. Most of these cate-
gories are quite general and relate to survival necessities or functional
prerequisites to survival. What is suggested by the identification of
universal human behaviors is that there may well be common underlying
motives for their occurrence, which may be the sought-for human nature
or common bond uniting all humans in a fundamental way.

Identifying the common denominators of human existence is fraught
with difficulty. Chief among the problems facing the investigator is
the eternal confusion between what are genetic and what are cultural
traits. For instance, is man an innately aggressive creature who must

learn to cooperate, or is he an innately cooperative one who learns to

 

*See Appendix.

fight?
he cor
Terri]
have ‘
ence l

hook,

gAanfi-Jna-

h w;

Fan

Oil?

27

fight? This dichotomy is a classic example of polar positionsthat can
be convincingly defended. Two careful observers, Robert Ardrey, in The_

Territorial Imperative, and Ashley Montagu, in The Human Revolution,

 

have taken just these positions. To illustrate the degree of differ-
ence between them, their hypotheses are stated below. Early in his
book, Ardrey proposes:
. . Man, I shall attempt to demonstrate in this inquiry, is as

much a territorial animal as is a mocking bird singing in the

clear California night. We act as we do for reasons of our evo-

lutionary past, not our cultural present, and our behavior is as

much a mark of our species as is the shape of a human thigh bone

or the configuration of nerves in a corner of the human brain.

If we defend the title to our land or the sovereignty of our

country, we do it for reasons no different, no less innate, no

less ineradicable, than do lower animals [51, p. 208].

Ashley Montagu vigorously attacks the concept of innate human

aggression and territoriality, as described by Ardrey.

Everything points to the non-violence of the greater part of

early man's life. To the contribution made by the increasing

development of cooperative activities, the very social process

of hunting itself, the invention of speech, the development of

food-getting and food-preparing tools, and the like [50, p. llS].

ii
There are several difficulties inherent in the investigation of

human nature. Probably none is avoidable, so each person looking at the
range of human behavior and interpreting what he sees to be "basically
human" must carefully examine his procedure and his results. The most
striking problem is identifying what is uniquely human primarily through
introspection, either intentionally or accidentally. Though the intro-
spective method is unscientific, yet, to a degree, it is unavoidable.

Each person brings his own unique perspective to bear on his investigation

28

and interprets the evidence and reaches conclusions which may incor-
porate his biases. This is especially likely in a field as essentially
subjective as "human nature." The conclusions one draws, then, must be
considered carefully in the light of other evidence or, at least, one's
biases acknowledged. To grasp uncritically at what appears to be the
unifyingtendency toward certain behaviors in all humans may place one
in the untenable position of actually having identified those char-
acteristics as innately human which bear a curious resemblance to the
traits he sees in himself. Ellsworth Faris has made the following
observation:
The ability to conceive of human nature thus always involves the
ability to take the role of another in imagination and to discover
in this manner qualities that we recognize in ourselves. We regard
as inhuman or non-human all conduct which is so strange that we
cannot readily imagine ourselves engaging in it. . . . Human nature
is, therefore, that quality which we attribute to others as a result
of introspection [5l, p. 98].

A second problem awaiting the investigator of human nature is
that innate human tendencies can easily become lost in the expanse of
cultural adaptations. Since man is a creature of culture rather than
instincts, his nature can manifest itself in various ways depending upon
the characteristics of the natural environment, the history of his
people, and other factors. Behaviors may, therefore, relate to basic
human tendencies in extraordinarily diverse ways. For instance, while
every human group has a belief in the supernatural, these beliefs vary
widely in their effect on the daily lives of people and on the way
these beliefs are practiced.

A further difficulty arises in trying to compare behaviors among

different cultures in order to identify a common origin. Even with

Murdock
lar hek
hehavic
natura‘
Perhaps
more be
family
is thi:
basic |
food 0
coniug
behaui.

SEVGra

29

Murdock's "common denominators of culture," there is no proof that simi-
lar behaviors are caused by similar human tendencies toward those
behaviors. Does the fact that all cultures have beliefs in super-
natural powers indicate that the tendency toward such beliefs is innate?
Perhaps it is, but perhaps it is just a cultural manifestation of other
more basic tendencies-~the wish to explain dreams, for example. The
family unit, too, is found to be a basic social unit in all cultures.

Is this innate, or could it be the result of efforts to meet certain
basic needs, such as the creation of a strong unit to insure sufficient
food or of a system to minimize conflicts over sex partners? A more
confusing aspect of this problem develops when one realizes that a single
behavior or custom might be the result not of a single factor, but of
several factors, all of which have been obscured over the centuries.

The third problem is that even similar social structures or
behaviors in different cultures did not necessarily evolve because of
anything innate in human nature. The similarity may be due to the rela-
tively limited choices that the various social groups had to meet their
basic needs. Given the environmental restrictions on behavior and the
same physiological equipment and basic needs of all human beings, simi-
lar activities may have arisen by accident.

The temptation is great, in the light of conflicting evidence,
subjective interpretations, and the variety of cultural organization,
to conclude that there is no common bond, other than the biological,
that ties all humans together and that, consequently, the search for a
human nature is bound to be unsuccessful. However, there appears suf-

ficient evidence that some common bond does unite all of mankind, and,

in soi‘
helieu

risks.

need a
ratheI
and 0‘
only

effec
towar
aeina

envir

URQE

30

in spite of the problems inherent in the search for human nature, we
believe that the benefits from a successful search are worth the
risks.

We know that culture profoundly affects the ways that basic
need acquisition is organized. But why is it organized in one way
rather than another? And when and why does it change? Anthropologists
and other investigators seeking the answers to these questions have
only tentative explanations, and they reject any simplistic cause-and-
effect relationship. But the fact that all human behavior is directed
toward an increasingly satisfying life offers a clue. Unlike most other
animals, people make choices based on complex perceptions of their
environment, which are unified into perceptual fields of reality.

The development of the perceptual field is neither random nor
haphazard. There is a systematic development in the ways perceptual
fields of reality are formed, as well as in the ways that they function
in order to provide the individual with appropriate information with
which he must make choices. Since a perceptual field as sophisticated
as man's is unique to him alone, the development and functioning of this
field is where the search for human nature must begin. If this search
proves fruitful, it should cast light on the reasons both for the simi-
larities as well as for the differences that are observed among people
in different cultures. But, more important, if we can identify a dis-
tinctly human nature, we will have taken a first step toward the

understanding of human behavior.

years l
any otl
dddDIEt
the met
the prI
taking
centra'

Change

3l
iii

The history of the development of man over more than a million
years has been characterized by an evolutionary phenomenon unknown to
any other living organism. While human and nonhuman animals alike
adapted to the changing conditions of their physical environment through
the modification of physiological structures, something happened to
the proto-humans which was qualitatively different from the changes
taking place in their ape cousins--the development of a highly complex
central nervous system. No evidence exists to suggest why such a
change took place, and we can only speculate as to its causes.

More than two million years ago, the ancestors of man, who had
far more in common with apes than with modern man, must have led a harsh
existence. It is likely that they were fairly easy prey for predators,
being neither strong in comparison with other animals, nor very fast
afoot. Like all animals, they were driven by instincts to meet their
basic needs. Man's ancestors had no culture, no language, and nothing
approaching a special nature that really set them apart from the apes.

Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, certain of
proto-man's physiological structures were passed on, through the genetic
process, to subsequent generations, while other such structures gradu-
ally became extinct. The interbreeding of those possessing a given
trait increased the probability that it would occur in the offspring.
The change in proto-man's physiology included a change in his brain
size, which, for the first time, made possible a process that we regard
as uniquely human—~thought. The harsh environment had exacted greater

accommodation from the proto-humans than mere physiological adaptation,

alone N'
having ‘
survive
to thei
answers
capable
narrelc
the enI
Ehtlror
Upon SI
Graces

lilac

32

along with instincts, could handle. Many bands must have died out,
having failed to meet the challenges of the environment. Those who
survived did so because they were able to use their intellectual powers
to their advantage. But the brain alone did not give man ready-made
answers. It did not just provide a sophisticated set of instincts
capable of triggering responses as problems arose. The brain is a
marvelously complex mechanism which requires a unique relationship with
the environment. Unlike other organs which operate irrespective of the
environment, the brain is effective only to the degree that it acts
upon sensory information. Although other mammals have brains which
process sensory data, the exceptional powers of the human brain out man
in a class by himself.

The human brain, using the information about the environment
which the senses have gathered, forms in the mind of each person an
image of the world--the perceptual field of reality or a world view.

A crucial element in the development of this representation of the
environment is the instinctive awareness that an order actually exists.
Without such an awareness of order, a perceptual field would not and
could not develop, for every event and act would appear to be without
cause or effect. Functioning in a world without apparent order would
be akin to attempting to solve a mathematical problem without under-
standing the values of the numbers or the meanings of the expressions.

The critical difference, then, between man and beast is that
the development of a perceptual field of reality and the accompanying
intellectual powers permitted man to perceive the world in a framework

with components which are structurally related to one another and which

operate
forces
underst
to have
suffic'
to pen
cal ac.
creati
which,

rBoard

heed t

33

operate in an understandable way. This is not to say that all the

forces are understood, but only that one believes that they can be

 

understood because all events are caused. Nor does what is believed
to have caused an event necessarily do so. An "act of God" may be a
sufficient explanation for the cause of an event to satisfy the need
to perceive a world order. History is full of instances of unequivo-
cal acceptance of the explanations for truly significant events--the
creation of the universe, human nature, the origin of life, and so on--
which, when viewed from the modern perspective, are ludicrous. But
regardless of their inaccuracy, such explanations satisfied the innate
need to perceive the world as ordered. As a result of the ability to
perceive an order to his world which allows its comprehension, man is
able to predict some events and, consequently, to control them.

The primitive humans who observed that every day before dawn
animals move toward the water hole, could assume that there was a
reason behind this behavior and that unless some event changed the situ-
ation, animals would continue to behave this way. This ability to
understand that the regular movement of animals had a cause may have
led some hunter to suggest that he and his fellow hunters hide along
the game trail before dawn and attack the animals they knew would happen
along. Unlike the hunting practices of animals, those of man were not
guided by instincts but by reason, primitive as it may have been. Man
could choose the time of day or night to hunt, plan a strategy, develop
tools commensurate with the type of game he was seeking all because his
world had order, giving rise to predictability. Once the ability to
predict events was established, some of those events could be controlled

to help man insure that his basic needs would be met.

to me
under
effic
devel
pract
tant,
Share
stitu
of ii
Cepti
Survi
would

COVEr

rEStr
3 Str
0“ a

ignOI‘I

34

Culture developed as man established routines in his behavior
to make the securing of basic needs easier. He found cooperative
undertakings--hunting, gathering, fighting, and farming--much more
efficient than individual ones, and, over the course of millenia, he
developed language, division of labor, rules of conduct, and many other
practices to enable his society to function smoothly. But most impor-
tant, he institutionalized perceptions into a world view that was
shared by all the members of his group. These unified perceptions con-
stitute a complex set of socially accepted beliefs about all aspects
of life. Cooperative effort could not have arisen without unified per-
ceptions, and this ability to cooperate may have been a key to man's
survival. Institutionalized perceptions release time and energy that
would otherwise be used to rediscover what others before him had dis-
covered.

The child entering the world confronts an environment that both
restricts and enhances his future development. The environment presents
a structure to his life by dictating how he is to be cared for--strapped
on a cradle board or laid in a cradle, how he is to be treated--
ignored and left alone or made the center of attention. He accepts
certain food, clothes, and customs as normal, and when he grows a little
older he will regard those from other regions with suspicion, disdain,
or curiosity because they are "different." The language and religion
he learns, too, will restrict his development by teaching only a rela-
tively small number of symbols from the vast human repertoire. The
growing child acquires by degrees the customs and cultural beliefs of

his society until the perceptions he holds of his physical and social

envir
naliz
uniqc

do ic

tatic
pror

Cl‘Edl

a se
CDul

that

ten:

Dr
‘D

35

environment are an internalization of the culture itself. The inter-
nalization of the cultural norms and expectations, along with his own
unique perceptions acquired throughout life, do for man what instincts
do for animals: help determine his behavior.

Man's survival has been due not primarily to physiological adap-
tation but to cultural adaptation made possible by a brain that has
provided him with intellectual power and flexibility essential for
creating a world view that enables the prediction of events. Wolfgang
thler [39] has identified three universal human characteristics which
distinguish man's intellectual processes and abilities from those of
apes which we feel account not only for man's survival but also for
his potential for living a fulfilling life.

The first characteristic of man's intellectual processes is that
his thought is not restricted in time or space. Man has a sense of time,
a sense of the sequence of events. Without this ability, a world view
could not develop, for it requires a cause-and-effect understanding
that can only come through perceiving the temporal sequence of occur-
rences and inferring relationships between them. These perceptions are
incorporated into the perceptual field to provide information for
future behavior. Such behavior would not be possible if man were
restricted in his ability to conceive of the future. In actuality,
though, man does a relatively poor job of predicting the future, com-
pared to his ability to examine the past, but his ability is still far
greater than that of even his closest nonhuman relatives--the apes.

thler has reported that chimpanzees in the laboratory have

been observed to use sticks as tools to reach desired objects placed

too far
appear

suggest
and err
sticks

tree to
ing" on
between

ever, w

AI Some
sibIe:

UnkDOWr
Objects
of brai
enabllr

thrn ‘

“III. I

'6

and lime

“Eerie

36

too far from their cages to be reached with their hands. They also
appear to reflect on the problem and suddenly "figure it out." thler
suggests that this shows insight--a solution to a problem without trial
and error. Chimpanzees also were able to make tools by putting two
sticks together to make a long one, or by breaking a branch off of a
tree to use to reach an object [39]. This degree of "advanced think-
ing“ on the part of man's cousins only underscores the difference
between the human mind and that of other animals. No chimpanzee, how-
ever, was observed making a tool without an immediate use for it,
indicating that such thinking was restricted to the present and pos-
sibly to the immediate future. Man, on the other hand, typically
designs tools and other technological apparatus without an immediate
need for them and with an eye to the future.

Kbhler's second universal characteristic is concept formation.

 

At some point in the development of the brain a new function became pos-
sible: man could not only manipulate concrete objects with a precision
unknown to any other animal, but he also became able to manipulate
objects in his mind regardless of their physical existence. The duality
of brain and environment has been a critical evolutionary development,
enabling sensory information to be transferred to the brain, which, in
turn, reconstructs a representation of the external world. By neces-
sity, it is a world far simpler than the external one, and the ability
to form concepts--mental "pictures"--of events and forces, both real
and imagined, is crucial to this reconstruction.

The power to conceptualize has also been the basis for commu-

nication beyond the basic signals for fear, pleasure, hunger, and others

that naI
connunir
The use
tangible
sented t

rules tt

Oh the a
the inst
aSproacl
kould he

CIOVIdeg

37

that many animals have. Though man could have used other means of
communication, vocalizing was the easiest and most efficient way [17].
The use of language requires a high degree of symbolic ability, for
tangible and intangible objects, forces, and feelings are all repre-
sented by symbolic sounds which are combined according to rigorous
rules to express complex ideas.

Culture is possible because of language, and language depends
on the ability to conceptualize. Without the ability to communicate
the institutionalized perceptions that define culture, no unique
approach to coping with the environment could develop. Each person
would have to discover anew the basic facts of reality that culture
provides.

The third universal characteristic described by thler is the

ability to calculate forces and to combine numbers. This ability,

 

unique to man, has enabled him to create the objects his mind has
imagined. Without this ability, stresses could not be calculated and
all but the simplest tools would be impossible to make. No ape, for
example, can build a bridge, for to do so requires a conceptualization
of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal supports and the forces affect—
ing each. This relatively simple bit of engineering is only possible
for man. The chimpanzees observed by Kbhler were able to calculate
only the simplest of forces, such as the series of psycho-motor move-
ments necessary to release a banana from a hook [39].

It is interesting to watch a three-year-old child play with
toys. He has a rudimentary understanding of the forces at work, and

one can watch his attempts at building or manipulating objects in ways

that ad“.
llEVET a(
necessaI

able to

brain i ;
Nay tha'
facing

developr
i‘I'C‘ht he
Cetenti

IO Surv

38

that adult "common sense” indicates cannot be done. A chimpanzee will
never advance beyond this point, but the child will soon acquire the
necessary ability to calculate the forces at work and will then be
able to generalize these perceptions to other situations.

The significance of the devel0pment and functioning of the
brain is that it set man apart from the rest of the animal kingdom in a
way that was fundamental--not just one of degree. The human infant,
facing the world for the first time, is not a neutral object, lacking
developmental direction and waiting to be molded by whatever environ-
ment he happens to find himself in, but rather is a person whose
potential includes the culmination of his ancestors' successful efforts
to survive. The development, organization, and functioning of the
perceptual field of reality, which enables man to organize eventsin
understandable patterns of thought and the uniquely human mental powers
make possible predictions of future events so that satisfying choices
can be made.

Man's intellectual powers--his ability to comprehend, apply,
analyze, synthesize, and evaluate data to a sophisticated degree--does
not make him the rational creature we might like him to be, but rather
the theorizing animal that he is. And man must theorize to survive,
for he has virtually no instincts to guide his decisions. Faced with
seemingly random events and forces with which he must contend, man
. invents mental structures to facilitate this task. These structures or
theories constitute working hypotheses that are sufficiently accurate
from man's point of view to be considered reality. The ability to

form perceptual fields does not bestow on man the choice of perceiving

the wor
The dee
is not
has bee

to it e

39

the world as ordered or not, but rather the requirement that he do so.

 

The deep-rooted impulse toward forming a world view of his environment
is not one over which man has control. The survival of his species
has been due to this human nature, and now his personal survival is due

to it as well.
iv

A newborn child must feel the world to be a frightening place
indeed. Possessing untrained senses and an uncontrollable body, he is
entirely dependent on others to meet his every need or desire. Most
other animals are considerably more developed at birth, compared to
the adults of the species, than is a human baby. Shortly after birth,
most other animals move on their own, forage for food, and possess
more discriminatory senses. They are equipped with instincts that
evolved with the survivors of their species, instincts which direct
their behavior in very specific ways. Reaction to aggression--fleeing,
hiding, or fighting, selection of mates--lifetime or temporary bonding,
nest building, caring for the young, and many other behaviors need not
be taught. An animal as simple as the honey bee has elaborate instinc-
tual behavior, enabling a hive of up to 80,000 bees to live coopera-
tively through a "sophisticated" division of labor. The human baby,
on the other hand, has none of the "advantages" of strong instincts to
guide most of his behavior. What he does have is a human brain and
specific human tendencies which will create an ordered picture of the
world in his mind.

How are perceptions selected that will become part of the per-

ceptual field of reality? Obviously, some selection process is

hehau

bEhau

4O

necessary, for otherwise one would be bombarded by myriad perceptions

—-thoughts, feelings, and experiences-~which would overwhelm the senses.

And not only must there be a selection process, but there must also be

an ordering process as well, so that an organized world view develops.
We infer from behavior that the formation of a perceptual

field of reality is affected by seven factors:

l. The meaning§ associated with habits can become part of the

 

perceptual field.

 

A habit is a behavior, repeated often enough so that it
becomes internalized and takes place without conscious thought. Many
of the decisions one makes each day and their resulting behaviors have
become habitual. These habits not only include social ones, such as
the clothes one wears, language, social graces, religion, and so on,
but also individual habits like the psycho-motor skills that an experi-
enced driver uses to control an automobile.

The importance of habit for the perceptual field is not the
behavior itself, but the meaning that the individual attaches to that
behavior. One can see this in the practice of religion. The act of
attending Mass, for example, in and of itself, has no effect on the
individual (assuming, of course, that God does not care). It becomes
important only when the act has acquired a meaning that influences
other perceptions and other behaviors. In fact, it is the meaning rather
than the rituals that makes religion important, and the intent of
religion is precisely to affect the individual in some meaningful way.
When this meaning becomes internalized, it forms part of the perceptual

field. The stronger the meaning to the individual, the more it will

41

affect the ordering of the experience into an understandable frame-
work, and important beliefs, such as religious ones, may influence
other perceptions as well. A Christian fundamentalist, whose world
view depends on his belief in the literal interpretation of the

Bible, filters all perceptions through that framework. Faced with
anthrOpological evidence supporting the evolutionary theory, the
fundamentalist will form conclusions consistent with his religious
orientation and will reject the scientific interpretation. The effect
other habits have on the perceptual field is not necessarily as striking
as is the above example, but they all serve the same general purpose:
to order the world in an understandable way.

2. The meanings associated with personal experiences can
become part of the perceptual field.

Since man has evolved as a theorizing animal, he must discover
meaning to his world, for that is the key to his survival and to his
living a satisfying life. The creationcrfthis meaning involves the
creation of literally thousands of meanings for experiences and obser-
vations which must relate to one another. The process is much like the
one a painter uses to develop an image on canvas. He employs colors
and textures, each of which may have a meaning to an observer, but, when
they are combined with one another in some orderly fashion, they evoke
a meaning both more than and different from the accumulations of indi-
vidual meanings of the colors and textures.

The variety of human behaviors even within a single culture
strongly suggests that it is personal experiences that account for the

diversity among people rather than cultural conditioning, for while the

42

culture affects its members rather uniformly, personal experiences may
be as varied as the environment and circumstances permit. Such exper-
iences may result in important self-perceptions, and such perceptions
are seen as having the most significance to the individual.

Similar experiences over a period of time, whether caused by
conscious choice, unconscious choice, another's choice, or by the
exigencies of daily living, may create perceptions of reality in the
same way as habits, because, in fact, they have become habits. Habits
may acquire meanings that become crucial to the maintenance of the per-
ceptual field simply because no alternative meanings are considered. A
person who has followed a set routine for years sees meaning in that
routine which has now become part of his reality.

The meanings associated with nonhabitual experiences may also
become part of the perceptual field by strengthening related meanings
or by providing an explanation for the cause of an unknown observa-
tion. For instance, if one sees people putting coins into the cup of
a blind man, the meaning acquired from the observation may be that people
are generally kind, or that people are generally gullible, or that blind
people are generally wealthy, or combinations of these and other mean-
ings. Whichever meanings become part of his world view will be those
that confirm other previously held perceptions or which are later con-
firmed by the meanings of subsequent experiences.

3. Meaning that is developed through the intellectual process

 

alone can be incorporated into the perceptual field.

 

Not all meaning that becomes part of the perceptual field is a

direct result of environmental stimuli--either cultural conditioning

43

or personal experience. The mind of man has so developed that he can
be his own source of knowledge. Although the environment plays a part
in the internal formation of such meanings, its influence may be mini-
mal. All significant perceptions are partly due to this intellectual
process, because the senses only provide the raw materials from which
the brain must invent meanings. These are meanings the brain derives
both from sensory data and from the relationship between sensory data.
In some cases, however, sensory data are so lacking that a complete
picture is impossible without the intellect "filling the gaps." This
requires the ability to abstract the principles of an understood phenom—
enon and to apply them to a similar phenomenon whose causes or elements
are unknown.

Another method of "filling the gaps" is to use one or more per-
ceptions as the raw ingredients, the same as one would use sensory data.
The resulting perceptions, in turn, can be used to generate other per-
ceptions, and so on. The process of increasingly differentiating the
perceptual field, which we are postulating is a basic tendency, could
not take place without the use of higher order perceptions in the
places of sensory data.

Suppose an anthropologist spends several months living with a
Stone Age people, in order to understand their culture. He has taken
copious field notes, but, because he is merely an observer in the life
of the people he is studying--and hence too close for adequate per-
spective--he tries to refrain from making judgments of any kind. Upon
his return to his familiar culture, the anthropologist then reviews his

notes. Accumulating sensory data in the field has ended, and no ,

44

additional data are forthcoming. His notes refresh his memory, but do
not constitute new data of any kind. But from the experience of living
with the Stone Age people, new, subtler, and more specific perceptions
may arise. He may realize, from reviewing his notes on family rela-
tionships, that a particular child-rearing pattern emerges that he had
not noticed at the time. From this perception of a particular child-
rearing pattern, the anthropologist may understand adult patterns of
behavior which may have developed in childhood. These perceptions
about adult relationships may make clearer the role that religion, art,
and economics have for these people, and a fuller understanding of the
entire culture may develop as a result. In short, then, the anthro-
pologist, wishing to relate relatively undifferentiated perceptions on
a more complex level, creates from these perceptions more highly spe-
cific ones. These perceptions, in turn, may form the raw material

for the further differentiation of perceptions.

The same process is used by each person to develop self-
perceptions, which are formed largely through inference and through the
extrapolation of evidence that may only be vaguely related to him.

For instance, people one thought were friends may appear to avoid him

or to treat him coldly; he may do poorly in school; and he may be unable
to do anything that pleases his parents or other significant people
around him. While all these negative perceptions may only exist in the
person's imagination--and certainly it is vague evidence at best--they
may seriously affect his self-perceptions.

4. The direction of perceptual field development is toward

 

consistency and order.

 

out 1
can iI
A has
world
relat‘.
“sense
him.

one an
greate

the de

DEFCEOI
CEDIIOI
OI CON;
Ned tI
Werld \
tiargOr
CeDtual
The I‘ee
CeDtior
aCCUrar
CUeht G
extrepc

{Ongjst

[Time m

45

The perceptual field is never fixed, but rather changes through-
out life. Perceptions can become increasingly differentiated, they
can increase in number, or they can change in relation to one another.

A basic tendency in all people is for the perceptions contained in one's
world view to move away from inconsistency and toward order. Only when
relative order is realized in one's environment will it make sufficient
“sense" to permit the accurate prediction of the effects of events on
him. The greater the degree to which perceptions are compatible with
one another and prove valid when tested against the environment, the
greater is the likelihood that effective behavior--that which achieves
the desired feelings--will take place.

New perceptions or modifications of old ones must fit into the
perceptual field in ways that are compatible with previously held per-
ceptions. Not only will consistency be maintained by the incorporation
of compatible new perceptions, but the perceptual field will be strength-
ened through more perceptual evidence that supports the validity of the
world view. The greater the number, the larger the degree of differen-
tiation, and the broader the scope of perceptions contained in the per-
ceptual field, the easier is the job of day-to-day decision making.

The reason for this is that one is likely to have highly specific per-
ceptions of the issue about which a decision is necessary, and to give
accurate information about options and their consequences. In subse-
quent decision-making situations, comparatively less inference and
extrapolation are necessary to determine the appropriate course of action
consistent with the perceptual field.

To illustrate this last point, imagine an explore who, with a

crude map, must lead a party across an uninhabited expanse of barren

lun. He
but he is
ability II
theland.
nuntains
nountain:
andthe.
the barr
reality

when the

drld deci

in .
&

Percept
this Dr
as CaUS
can 0”]
Celived.

I'le WI

46

land. He knows that there are mountains, valleys, rivers, and lakes,
but he is not certain about their locations. Considerable inferential
ability must be employed to orient his crude map to the geography of
the land. At first, he can only use observable landmarks, such as high
mountains, and draw them on his map. From the positions of several
mountains, he may infer the approximate location of lakes and rivers
and the direction of the flow of the river. As his party travels through
the barren land, he can confirm or modify his predictions as to the
reality of the geography. When enough evidence has been collected and
when the map has been completed, far less inference will be necessary
and decisions will come more easily.

5. All perceptions in the perceptual field are related in an

 

internally logical way, and a change in one can change others.

 

In innate human tendency is to organize one's sensory data into
perceptual fields so that prediction of events is possible. However,
this process can only take place if one views every event and experience
as caused by some understandable force. This understanding, in turn,
can only occur if each person sees the environment as logically con-
ceived. Perceptions, then, that are seen to be unrealted to others are
virtually useless, for they will not aid in the prediction process and
they will not be incorporated into the perceptual field.

There is another reason, too, why all perceptions in the world
view must be related in a logical way. A good portion of an individual's
perceptual field does not come from specific sensory data, but rather is
made up of inferred or extrapolated perceptions derived from the data.

These perceptions, which lack the evidence of sensory data, could not

occur

system
direct
relati
ported

the v0

sisten
Situat
hencep
needs

dence

Of his
tions

tion 7‘
or ign
and th
that t

the ch

47

occur unless the world were seen as logical and related, because a
systematic procedure is necessary to arrive at other perceptions not
directly supported by such evidence. One first must assume that a
relationship between all perceptions exists and then order the unsup-
ported perception into what appears to be the approximate position in
the world view.

How does the human organism handle a perception that is incon-
sistent with other perceptions that make up his world view? Such a
situation is critical, because it casts doubt on the validity of the
perceptual field itself. All a theory, such as one's world view,
needs to cast doubt on its accuracy is one bit of contradictory evi-
dence that cannot be explained. Each person depends on the consistency
of his perceptual field to such an extent that inconsistent percep-
tions will be handled immediately and with the thoroughness the situa-
tion requires. A likely initial reaction to such perceptions is to deny
or ignore them. If there is a conflict between one's perceptual field
and the perceptions of a single incident, reason will probably allow
that the latter perceptions were erroneous for some reason. This is
the characteristic way people respond to para-psychology, for example.
It is disconcerting, at best, to believe that mental telepathy, fore-
casting the future, and communication with spirits are actually possible,
because the perceptions of these feats are not compatible with the world
views of most people. However, when evidence accumulates and the new
perceptions can no longer be ignored or denied, the perceptual field
must accommodate them in some way.

When acupuncture was announced in the United States a few years

ago, it was met with acute skepticism by the medical community. Only

as SiI
profe:

oerceI

slowly
have 5
become
sary n
accept
its De
tor tr
Envirr
guarar

any he

logica
cant I
[Elati
tual f

5

*0 re.

ahi’Sic
the E
luSt a
lCal

and Ca

48

as significant evidence of its effectiveness accumulates are medical
professionals gradually willing and able to alter their deeply held
perceptions about the human nervous system.

The acceptance of an inconsistent perception need not take place
slowly, though it usually does. There are many cases of people who
have seen a flying saucer or who have "found Jesus" and who suddenly
become "believers." Presumably their perceptual fields make the neces-
sary modifications in existing perceptions immediately, in order to
accept the new discovery of truth. The resistance encountered in accept-
ing perceptions that are inconsistent with world views is understandable,
for there must be modification of many other perceptions about how the
environment operates. This is painful, especially when there is no
guarantee that one's resulting consistent perceptual field will work
any better at predicting the effects of events upon him.

Since all perceptions in the perceptual field are related in a
logical way, a change in one can change others. Change in a signifi-
cant perception may alter the entire world view, creating illogical
relationships between perceptions. Since the function of the percep-
tual field depends on its logical internal structure, the tendency is
to re-establish the state of consistency.

Though no precise analogy to perceptual field exists in the
physical world, a crude comparison can be made by using a theoretical
free enterprise system model, which tends to move toward equilibrium
just as perceptual field moves toward consistency. Under the theoret—
ical capitalist system, there is a relationship between land, labor,

and capital, which changes over time according to decisions by

indi
dema
a ch
and

CUStI

factI

49

individuals and by physical factors beyond human control. A shift in
demand for a particular commodity manifests itself sooner or later in

a change in the availability and hence in the price for land, labor,

and capital. This, in turn, affects consuming habits and can even affect
customs. Even a small change in one of the interrelated factors--and

all factors are related to all others in some way--affects other

factors.

6. The more directly a perception affects one's views of him-
self, the stronger will it be and the more vigorously will it be
defended.

The purpose of the perceptual field is to enable the individual
to make effective decisions that will bring about satisfying feelings.
But all perceptions in one's world view do not have equal meaning.
There is a vast difference in intensity between, let us say, a man's
view of himself as sexually attractive and his view that if he exceeds
the speed limit regularly, he is bound to get caught. The one may be
integral to his views of himself, while the other describes his rela-
tionship to a portion of the environment. Since it is the individual
or the self* that exists, acts, and experiences feelings, the signifi-
cant self—perceptions must be vigorously defended, for they are
synonymous with what the individual perceives himself to be. Percep-
tions that are merely descriptions of his relationship to the environ-

ment are not nearly as important, for they are not integral to a

 

*We define the "self" as a basic theoretical unit in the human
organism which experiences thoughts and feelings. We will refer to one's
views of the "self" as his "significant self-perceptions" or "values”--
basic perceptions that define for him who he is.

defin
one's
centr
of in
greatI
self-I

the d'

50

definition of the self. The relationship between perceptions within
one's world view can be understood if one imagines a series of con-
centric circles. The smallest circle represents the self and circles
of increasing distance from the center represent perceptions. The
greater the importance of a particular view to the maintenance of one's
self-perceptions, the shorter will be its distance from the center of

the diagram.

Each ring of the concentric circles
represents a perception of reality.
The greater the importance of a par-
ticular perception to the maintenance
of the self, the shorter will be the
distance from the self to that circle.

The greater the importance of a perception to one's views of
himself, the more critical its role will be in his perceptual field,
and the more staunchly will it be defended against attack. Any threat
to an individual's fundamental definition of himself must be countered
effectively, otherwise his entire world view may be in jeopardy. The
extent to which significant self-perceptions will be defended knows no
limit; one may hold these perceptions dearer than life itself, for, in
fact, they are life itself. One need only think of those who have died
defending their honor, or who have taken their own lives because of

shame, to understand the significance of self-perceptions.

entie

reasc
brair
highl
chanc
likel

SEVET

flora—a.-

survi
that

his n
adult
both

a chi
lhis

iull;
hetab,
reqUiI
the cl
Effort
pl‘lh'ir

dcCord

51

7. The perceptual field tends to become increasingly differ-

entiated over time.

 

The ability to generalize principles and to employ abstract
reasoning is a function both of the physiological development of the
brain and of experience. Each complements the other; a person with a
highly develOped brain, living in a deprived environment with little
chance for experiences that will stimulate the intellect, is no more
likely to develop a highly differentiated perceptual field than is a
severely retarded child in a highly stimulating environment.

. . A child which is perfectly normal at birth can develop
into an idiot if his education is unfavorable enough. . . . The
personality develops in exact proportion as the educative value
of the environment offers the correct cultural support at the
right moment [43, p. 7l].

Since the development of a perceptual field is critical for
'survival, the young child has been equipped with a special physiology
that helps him acquire this perceptual field. The human child, like
his nonhuman animal counterparts, has a higher metabolic rate than an
adult, which affects the perceptual field in two distinct ways. First,
both his brain and his body are growing fast. By five years of age,
a child has reached 80 percent of his intellectual capacity [12].
This fast rate of growth begins before birth and gradually slows until
full body size is reached during late adolescence. Second, a high
metabolic rate also provides the young child far more energy than is
required for maintaining life. Through the release of this energy,
the child discovers his world by sensory as well as intellectual
efforts--creating, imagining, testing, exploring, questioning, and
playing. His acquired perceptions are incorporated into a world view

according to the factors we have discussed.

late
biol
will

seer

expe
enti
DSyc
pora
one

diti
Phys
real
Chan
Ship
the

ing]

ated

Stim
of C
Em

090p

52

As the child matures and his metabolic rate approaches that
of an adult, his physical energy decreases. He is no longer stimu-
lated to expand and differentiate his perceptual field, according to a
biological timetable. From this point on, any change in perceptions
will come from his interaction with his environment or, as we have
seen, from internally created perceptions.

It is impossible to imagine a normal human life that does not
experience sufficient sensory stimulation in daily living to differ-
entiate perceptions. The very process of maturing--both physical and
psychological--provides changes in perceptions, which need to be incor-
porated into the overall world view. The process of aging forces on
one the requirement of adjusting his world view to the changing con-
ditions of his life. Not only may he be experiencing a decrease in
physical vigor, but also he may see younger people, who may perceive
reality differently, taking over decision making in the society and
changing familiar procedures.

Of course, life is more than just aging. One forms relation-
ships, has children, and acquires vocational and other skills. Through
the experiences that these and other life situations present, increas-
ingly specific perceptions of the environment are formed and incorpor-
ated into the perceptual field. Increasing differentiation, however,
is not automatic; it occurs only to the degree that there is sensory
stimulation for it to do so. Unfortunately, after the high metabolism
of childhood slows to the adult level, the rate of increasing differ-
entiation of perceptual fields slows greatly for most people. Many

people place themselves in ”ruts" of one sort or another, providing

both
acqu

furt

perc
the

animl
and ‘
of t!
Print

not c

honht
but n
UndEr
Orlgi
longe
tUre

haste
and d
heNev.
th’Jug’
of an(

53

both a comfortable routine to life and reducing opportunities for
acquiring new or more specific perceptions. We shall discuss this

further in Chapter III.

In this chapter, we have hypothesized the development of the
perceptual field of reality and of the concomitant mental powers as
the fundamental distinguishing feature that separates man from other
animals. Through countless millenia, man has acquired the ability
and the requirement to form in his mind an interrelated representation
of the external world, which Operates according to internally logical
principles. He must use his perceptual field to make decisions that
not only satisfy basic needs, but that also lead to a satisfying life.

Man is more dependent on his environment than any other animal.
Nonhuman animals have instincts to guide or determine their behavior,
but man's behavior is almost totally a function of his environment, as
understood through his perceptual field. Though he may deny his animal
origins and flatter himself that he has transcended nature and is no
longer affected by it, man has only substituted the controls of cul-
ture for the controls of nature. To be sure, man is more-or-less the
master of culture, at least to the degree that he invented it and can
and does change it. The irony of the “nature versus culture" dilemma,
however, is that culture is intimately dependent on nature, and man-—
though he may deny it-—is thus dependent on them both. His recognition
of and accounting for the external world is as necessary for his exis-

tence as a flower is to a honey bee.

54

Some views of human nature attempt to show that man has certain
tendencies, or needs--aggression, cooperation, love, growth, and so on--
which manifest themselves in general ways throughout all cultures [51].
But as we discussed at the beginning of this chapter, anthropological
evidence for innate tendencies is far from conclusive, and the prob-
lems of investigation are many. The cultures of man are so diverse
that one can postulate almost any tendency as to man's basic nature and
find sufficient "evidence" to prove such a hypothesis. This may satisfy
those with the desire to give their theories the weight of scientific
thought, but it does little to advance the understanding of human nature.
We feel it is necessary to identify what constitutes the lowest common
denominator of man’s nature and to discuss the innate forces or tenden-
cies we believe to be at work.

Our search for the lowest common denominator has resulted in
the hypothesis that the development of the perceptual field of reality
according to specific principles and of the concomitant mental powers
are the fundamental features that separate man from other animals.

These features constitute the psychological ties between all humans.
Support for this view is not yet scientifically based, though we believe
that experimental evidence can be obtained. We have developed a highly
plausible explanation of the process that awaits further analysis. At
present, it should perhaps be treated with guarded skepticism, particu-
larly in view of its speculative nature.

At the outset of this chapter we contended that if a human
nature were identified, it would provide a key for understanding diverse

human behavior and social organization . . . and that examination of

pert
QUES
were
aeth
diff

and

55

those behaviors and organizations could be made in light of this

fact. . . . We do not believe these statements constitute merely wishful
thinking and will attempt to show, in the last two chapters, how this
perception of human growth can contribute to answering such important
questions as, "How might school curricula be organized, if school design
were consistent with our view of human nature?" and "What teaching
methods may work best?" However, before we can begin to answer these
difficult questions, we must examine how perceptions affect behavior

and amplify our definition of self-fulfillment.

CHAPTER III

THE MOTIVATION OF BEHAVIOR

The demands of the environment on ancient man were severe
enough to have provided the stimulus for a novel means of responding
effectively to environmental conditions. Unlike other animals, for whom
instinctual behavior is sufficient to insure basic survival, man's sur-
vival has been due to his capacity to use his intellect. Over many
thousands of years, the human brain increased in size, making possible
the development of a perceptual field of reality and of intellectual
powers. These qualities of mind enabled man to create a mental picture
of his world and reduce complex and otherwise incomprehensible environ-
mental conditions to understandable terms to which he could then respond.
Man's unique adaptive and decision-making ability bestows upon him the
special need to remain constantly in touch with his environment, since
it provides him with his cues for effective behavior. Unlike other
animals that act instinctively, man's environment provides the seed
from which his total reality is built.

The maintain a viable relationship with his environment, man
must continually modify his perceptions so that they reflect current
data about external reality. If he fails to do so, his perceptual
field becomes an inaccurate representation of the external world, a

consequence as disastrous as using an outdated map in one's travels.

56

Ir

6(

de

57

Inaccuracy in the perceptual field would be reflected in incorrect pre-
dictions about the environment. But even a perceptual field that
accurately portrays the external world does not automatically provide a
decision-making apparatus which effortlessly determines the best course
of action. Behavior is the result of complex determinants, which
interact in characteristic ways, to indicate to a person which of the
perceived options is most likely to achieve his goal.

These determinants of behavior which we infer from observation
may be individual mechanisms which respond together, or they may be a
single force that functions in a variety of ways. To facilitate under-
standing of behavior, however, we have postulated four tendencies or
general principles that affect the ways in which one will behave to

achieve satisfying feelings. These are the life-force, the mental

 

powers, the tendency toward consistency, and the tendency toward least

 

 

siege:-

How does behavior arise as a result of the combination and inter-
action of these four general principles? To answer this question, we
must understand what behavior is. We have discussed the organism's
need to make choices among perceived options that will achieve the
desired emotional results. But the act of choosing is not as simple as
flipping a coin or turning on a switch. If decision making were pri-
marily the process of choosing one option from among many, then choices
would be the external embodiments of internal meanings. But meanings
do not exist in the external world apart from the internal processes
that created them. Rather, decision making is a continuous process of

interaction between the individual and his environment that creates

cont
ligh
deci
need
unco
of t

of t

ing

many
are l
the

easi'
Othel
5" ir

behal

58

continuous meanings for him, meanings which he must then examine in the
light of his chosen goals. This examination and, in fact, the entire
decision—making process, usually takes place unconsciously, but it

need not. Whether or not one arrives at decisions consciously or
unconsciously, the fundamental procedure is the same. Consciousness

of the decision-making process is largely a function of perceptions

of this process, and perceptions are learned.

Every behavior has as a goal the ultimate creation of satisfy-
ing feelings. Each person, though, facing his world each day, has
many goals that he may wish to achieve. Many of these are related or
are pre-conditions for other goals. Some are serious goals for which
the individual will apply great effort, while others are frivolous and
easily brushed aside when their achievement becomes difficult or when
other goals supersede them in importance. In general, the more important
an individual perceives a goal to be, the more specific will be his

behavior to attain that goal. The graph below illustrates this point.

 

4
3
Specificity
of
Decision 2
(0 = very specific)
l
0

 

l 2 3 4

Perceived importance of goal
(0 = very important)

A per!
cific
beautj
watch
person

cific

59

A person faced with the necessity of finding food will make more spe-
cific decisions to achieve that goal than he will to marvel at the
beauty of a sunset, since eating food is generally more important than‘
watching a sunset. If, however, under different circumstances, this
person places a high value on watching a sunset, he will then make spe-
cific decisions about his behavior to make sure that he is in the

right spot at the right time. Generally speaking, long-range goals

do not have the urgency that immediate goals have. Perhaps this is

due to the fact that they are further away in time, and immediate goals
intervene.

In the process of selecting a goal, each person acts in a man-
ner in which he can predict the consequences of his behavior. These
consequences include a general or specific emotional experience. The
act of choosing a goal, however, requires the choosing of a host of
other goals as well, and many of these may be unconscious choices.

Take, for example, a person who decides that he is hungry for apple pie.
His goal is to eat a pie that will make him feel the way he remembers

it felt when he last ate apple pie. But to eat a pie he must first

bake one. Baking requires a variety of ingredients combined in a cer;
tain way, some of which need to be purchased, and so forth. All of

these intermediate goals must be satisfied before the ultimate goal is
reached. However, while most of these goals are conscious, there are
many minor, but necessary, goals that must be achieved as well. Included
among these are the psycho-motor decisions essential for goal attainment.

The vast majority of goals that every person sets for himself

each day are composed of thousands of minute goals. The sense organs

give
uses
ultil
lndll
iaile
able
rate
Chang

previ

decis
Simpll
tensi<
ficat'

UOCOOE

aid, 1

QSthn

60

give a constant source of feedback to the individual who, unconsciously,
uses his mental powers to judge the effect of the minute goals on his
ultimate desire to achieve satisfying feelings. At any moment when the
individual senses that the meaning of his previous "bit" of behavior
failed to meet his predictions of what the meaning should be, he is

able to alter his behavior. Such failure may have been due to inaccu-
rate predictions or to a change in external conditions. He can then
change goals, cease further behavior toward the goal, or repeat his
previous behavior.

An example that shows clearly the nondirectional nature of minute
decisions inherent in the decision-making process is the case of a
simple conversation which has some specific goal: the reduction of
tension, the request for a favor, an agreement on some matter, a clari-
fication of views, or other purpose. The decisions, both conscious and
unconscious, that each party must make in a conversation are innumer-
able. The vast combinations of words, gestures, facial expressions,
and vocal inflections make practically unlimited meanings possible.

The conversational decisions that are selected involve both the ultimate
goal as well as decisions based on the reactions of the other party in
the conversation: his comments, facial expressions, and so on. Either
or both persons may choose to reword previous statements, support their
positions better, appeal to specific feelings or beliefs in the other,
and, in general, maintain a constantly flexible position ready to
respond to changes in their dialog.

Behavior, then, which has been referred to as a choice or an

option is really the result of many actions caused by the interaction

of ti
behir

earli

The L

basic
minim
avoid,
to re
0r SDI
Cd] r;

have t

StirWul
GEt ac
Whlch
and th

abiljt

61

of the individual and of his environment. The motivational forces
behind any decision making are the four general principles named

earlier.
ii
The Life-Force

The basic drive behind all animal behavior, as old as life
itself, is what we will call the "life-force"--the internal pressure
on the bio-psychological systems to keep them from reaching equilibrium
with the environment, which is death. A most primitive instinct, the
life-force undoubtedly arose as a condition of physical survival eons
ago. For millions of years, this force has operated to insure that
basic conditions necessary for life did not fall below the biological
minimum. Thus, the life-force generates the search for food, the
avoidance of predators, the building of homes or dens, the stimulus
to reproduce, and other physical conditions necessary for individual
or species survival. Operating as it has for so long in the biologi-
cal realm, it is little wonder that the responses of the life-force
have become very specific.

When a serious threat to the self is present, the life-force
stimulates specific behavior to combat this threat. If one does not
get adequate nutrition, for example, he may feel tired and seek rest,
which is his body responding to the threat by decreasing energy output
and the need for food. In some cases, a deficiency in a nutrient may
cause a craving for foods which contain that nutrient.

With the evolution of the mental powers and of the accompanying

ability to create a perceptual field, the basic life-force also began

to prote
world vi
crucial

may very
basis ir
percepti

are Cl‘Ed

frOm thr
action t
unscathe
he can b
in his 1'
with adv
on these
”lficant
Would no
to majnt
“at not
externai
be 50 mu

Will be

1eCIUa]
me life

 

62

to protect the perceptual field--the all-important world view. The
world view enabled man to make effective decisions, and, as such, was
crucial to his existence. A serious threat to one's perceptual field
may very well incapacitate him, because his decisions then have no
basis in what he perceives to be reality. The most critical of these
perceptions are self-perceptions around which all other perceptions
are created.

Just as the life-force generates action to defend the organism
from threats to its physical well-being, so, too, does it generate
action to protect self-perceptions from attack. No person can weather,
unscathed, attacks on his deep-seated views of himself any more than
he can be deprived of food and water. If a person places strong faith
in his independence, personal strength, and ability to cope effectively
with adversity, he will resist any perceptions which might cast doubt
on these personal traits. To believe adverse criticism of such sig-
nificant self-perceptions would be catastrophic; although physical death
would not result, one may become incapable of making effective decisions
to maintain the self. The significant self-perceptions under attack
may not necessarily even be "positive" or "useful" perceptions from an
external point of view. One's belief that he is lazy and unloved may
be so much a part of his world view that any criticism of this belief
will be just as strongly resisted as if it were a "positive" perception.

Since the importance of the perceptual field and of the intel-
lectual powers for survival is such a relatively recent phenomenon,
the life-force has not evolved the specificity with which to cope with

serious threats to significant self-perceptions. Such threats are

 

 

counterec
person, s
native we
discredit
questioni
ception n
responses
does so i
another i
to the ai
l
help p90;
DOSitive
their won
Usually n
and ther
ba59d on
have faii
more fu],
may be ll
"Someoni
de'trov l
'“dlvidu
Signing
to aCCep
Struggle

Undertak

 

 

63

countered by general defensive responses on the part of the threatened
person, such as refusing to recognize the possible validity of alter-
native ways of one's viewing himself. Another typical response is to
discredit threats to self-perceptions. The source may be called into
question, or the mental process that dealt with the contradictory per-
ception may be seen as responding inadequately. These defensive
responses to perceived threats to the self may suggest why punishment
does so little to change behavior and why a confrontive encounter with
another is not likely to achieve change: one simply becomes unreceptive
to the alternative behavior or viewpoint.

These defensive responses may explain why it is so difficult to
help people with negative self-perceptions to see themselves in a more
positive light. To do so is to require them to reconstruct part of
their world view and acquire a new set of assumptions. Such a task will
usually meet with resistance. It is arduous, requiring time and energy,
and there is no assurance that the resulting feelings from behavior
based on a different world view will be any more satisfying. One must
have faith in the possibility that a different perceptual field will be
more fulfilling before he will take such a drastic step. Such a faith
may be instilled by a close friend, a teacher, a counselor, or a therapist
--someone who clearly cares about the individual,ku)does not intend to
destroy his ability to make effective decisions, and who supports the
individual and his efforts to live a fulfilling life. The threat to
significant self-perceptions may lessen, and, consequently, resistance
to accepting different self-perceptions may lessen as well. Thus, the
struggle to change self-perceptions may become easier, successful, and

undertaken willingly.

basic 1
contini
functir
will rl
when a
the des
to sell

5

the ill

Str
Lii
(OWEry

64

What role does the life-force play when people have adequate
basic necessities and reasonably secure self-perceptions? Does it
continue to generate behaviors toward some goal, or does it cease to
function? We believe that it continues to generate behavior that
will result in pleasant feelings, although its force is much weaker
when a threat is absent. In fact, we believe the life-force is behind
the desire to increasingly satisfying feelings that ultimately may lead
to self-fulfillment. Below is a graph illustrating the strength of

the life-force compared to the seriousness of a threat to the self.

4
Strength of 3
Life-Force

(O=very weak strength) 2

 

 

l 2 3 4
Seriousness of threat to self
(0 = very low threat)
There exists a continuum of purposive behavior from that gen-
erated to acquire the basic necessities for the maintenance of life on
the one end, to the ultimate decision-making process--self-fulfillment--

on the other.

Effort to acquire self-fulfilling
basic necessities dec1Sion making

For millions of years, the life-force has affected behavior almost exclu-

sively at the basic need end of the continuum, and consequently, it

65

generates specific actions to respond to physical threats to the well-
being of the organism. However, man has for a comparatively short
time been able to transcend the need to devote all of his time and
energy to securing basic necessities. While the life-force generates
behavior toward increased satisfaction, it does so weakly the greater
the distance one moves toward self-fulfilling decision making. Thus,
while threats to the self will be strongly countered, threats to sig-

nificant self-perceptions are only met with a generalized response.

Mental (Intellectual) Powers

Because of man's requirement to cope more effectively with the
conditions of his environment, his brain developed unique powers of
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation [4].
These intellectual qualities, along with the equally unique perceptual
field of reality, enabled man to make effective decisions. Though
they developed together and are integrally related, the intellectual
powers and the perceptual field are two distinct elements, and are both
essential for decision making.

The role of the mental powers is threefold. First, these
powers determine which sensory data are relevant for the individual so
he may cope effectively with the forces and events in his immediate
environment. This requires a selection process, for all data are not
equally important. The situation must first be understood or compre-
hended, a function of the most basic of the mental powers. Without such
comprehension, sensory data may well be generated that will have no

meaning for the individual.

that are
data. U
and the
that hav
ofneces
These pe

to a mor

ments of
tion abo
about fu
as does

Dl‘imaril
0Perate .
unfamjij‘
the case
He has (it
t1'OHShipg
Hi5 DErcE
9650mm1
forces Ca
Witter eng
how It is
it' The

Component.

66

Analysis, too, may be used to create meanings from sensory data
that are confusing because of the complexity of the source of those
data. Using this power, one determines what is relevant and what is not
and the relationships between the relevant data. From the sensory data
that have been judged to be pertinent, perceptions may be formed, which,
of necessity, are an oversimplified representation of the environment.
These perceptions are then related to previous perceptions to contribute
to a more highly differentiated world view.

The second function of the mental powers is to process the ele-
ments of the perceptual field in ways that provide explanatory informa-
tion about oneself and the external world and predictive information
about future events. Rather than operating directly on sensory data
as does the first function of the intellectual powers, these powers--
primarily those of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation--
operate on perceptions alone. The ability to apply a concept to an
unfamiliar situation is an example of this power. This would occur in
the case of a mechanic who is used to repairing only automobile engines.
He has develOped in his mind an understanding of the functional rela-
tionships between the various parts of the internal combustion engine.
His perceptual field includes an understanding of how the passage of
gasoline, the emission of exhaust, the electrical current, and other
forces cause the crankshaft to turn. If a customer brings him a lawn
mower engine that will not start, the mechanic would probably understand
how it is supposed to operate, even though he had never seen one like
it. The picture in his mind of the functional relationships between the

components of the automobile engine could be modified sufficiently to

67

apply to the smaller engine. As a result of his efforts, a new set
of perceptions-~those relating to lawn mower engines--will be incor-
porated into his perceptual field. Thus, the mental powers are used
to respond to specific situations, by acting on perceptions to create
still other perceptions, which may later become part of the perceptual
field.

The third function of the intellectual powers, and one to which
we have alluded already, is establishing a relationship between per-
sonal experiences and the appropriate perceptions in his world view.
This relationship provides the theoretical framework for creating mean-
ing from that experience. Not only does one use his intellectual powers
to create meaning from his experiences, but also he uses these powers
to determine what behaviors are most appropriate. The answer is not
always clear, and sometimes it is even thoroughly confusing. Let us
take the case of a doctor examining a sick patient: He must correlate
the symptoms that the patient describes, the symptoms that he observes,
and the results of diagnostic tests. The doctor then must theorize
what is wrong with his patient, based on previous learning and experi-
ence. If his theory suggests a specific illness, the doctor may con-
duct further tests or check for symptoms that he knows must be present
if his theory is correct. In this instance, the doctor is not using
his mental powers only to incorporate information into his perceptual
field, as he did as a medical student; nor is he using these powers
solely according to his own prior perceptions, as he did when he con-
structed his theory of his patient's illness. He is using his intel-
lectual powers to establish a relationship between the realities of the

external world and the world of his perceptions.

68

All people use their mental powers every day in making choices
that bring about satisfying feelings. The process is automatic, though
not always accurate. One's analysis, for instance, may not really be
an analysis at all, but the identification of superficial components in
an external situation or in a perception. 0r one's efforts at synthe-
sizing evidence or perceptions to form a composite theory may leave
significant evidence out. This suggests that not only is there a wide
range of intellectual ability possible, but also that this ability
can improve. As we will discuss in the next chapter, the development

of these powers is a key to self-fulfillment.
iv
The Tendency Toward Consistency

Every living system strives toward the creation of internal
balance, which is a condition for life. Each organism must continually
supply its cells with nutrients, remove waste, replace or repair dying
or damaged tissue, maintain the proper blood chemistry, coordinate the
responses of internal systems, and so on. If an organism becomes
unable to function in a way that maintains the proper relationship
between the internal systems, death may result.

Critical complications, too, may arise from disequilibrium of
the perceptual field, a condition that is analogous in many respects
to a serious threat to life. Such disequilibrium may occur when some
perceptions fail to interrelate in jig-saw fashion with other percep-

tions that the individual has, to form a coherent, consistent picture

of reality. The more basic these perceptions are for the maintenance

69

of the individual's world view, the more serious this situation becomes.
Let us take, for example, a person who has developed the belief that
behavior is motivated by selfish intentions and that he must, there-
fore, protect himself from others. But, at the same time, many people
treat him with respect and kindness, creating perceptions that conflict
markedly with his previous perceptions. These dual views about his
relationships with others are fundamental views of reality and must
generate inconsistent behaviors. Actions consistent with one cannot

be consistent with the other. This situation will continue until these
contrary perceptions are made compatible, or until one of them is elimi-
nated.

So serious is the situation caused by inconsistent perceptions
that one will strive to create unity in his perceptual field and espe-
cially among his significant self-perceptions. He must do so, for an
accurate world view is vital to his survival. The perceptual field
that most people create from diverse and even incompatible perceptions
is sufficiently consistent to give the impression of an accurate por-
trayal of reality. Thus, one's behavior is meaningful to him and con-
sistent from his point of view at the moment when he acts, for he tries
to make the best decision that he can from the options he sees available
to him. The consistency of the perceptual field has caused Prescott
Lecky to note that behavior is usually in character, not because sep-
arate acts are related to one another, but because all the acts of an
individual have the goal of maintaining the same structure of values
[4l, p. 5l].

If one's structure of values if fragmented, inconsistencies will

create behaviors that either are so inappropriate for the situation that

they creai
others as
seek the l
sional he
feelings,
other cha
T
not mean
state occ
stimulus
Physical
ditions,
View SO a
h
but are L
inconsi 51
ability (
SlStency
to One W
lfa sit
DErCeptul
Seqvent
we” of .
"ass li
imDOrtan

he] IBIS '

70

they create unpleasant feelings for him or behaviors that are viewed by
others as inappropriate. In such a case, one may seek or be made to
seek the help of a therapist. The goal of one who seeks such profes-
sional help is the same as the goal of everybody: to create pleasant
feelings, which are the consequences of behaviors that, among their
other characteristics, maintain the consistency of one's values.

To say that the perceptual field mgve§_toward consistency does
not mean that it j§_always consistent. Rarely, in fact, does such a
state occur. The process of day-to-day living provides a continual
stimulus to create new perceptions, either because of changes in one's
physical state or new or different experiences and environmental con-
ditions. These perceptions must take their places within one's world
view so as to disrupt his sense of reality as little as possible.

Most people recognize some inconsistencies in their own actions,
but are unable or unwilling to do anything about them. And a minor
inconsistency does not usually affect, to any appreciable degree, the
ability of the person to make satisfying choices. Generally, the incon-
sistency relates only to a small portion of one's sense of reality and
to one which is only seldom called upon to guide decisions. However,
if a situation arises that calls for information from that part of the
perceptual field which is inconsistent with the rest of it, the sub-
sequent behavior could be out of character when seen from the point of
view of one's total picture of reality. For example, white, middle-
class liberals usually articulate the belief that racism is wrong, and
important self-perceptions may depend on this faith. Such articulated

beliefs often emanate from the secure confines of a predominantly

7l

middle-class institution like a university or a nearly all-white suburb.
When these people are actually confronted with a situation requiring
actions or decisions about this issue, they may find that their values
are not as strong as they had perceived them to be. The "What if your
daughter married a Negro?" question is a cliché now, but it represents
a kind of inconsistency within one's world view that may not manifest
itself until the conditions are right.

It is somewhat misleading to speak of perceptions and behavior
as if they were distinctly separate entities. Behavior, of course,
depends on perceptions, but perceptions depend on behavior as well.

The interdependence of these two characteristics of man is just as
crucial to human life as the interdependence of the perceptual field
and the environment. A young child who touches a hot stove forms a
rapid and indelible perception about the relationship between stoves,
heat, and pain. Many perceptions concerning man's relationship to
environmental conditions would not and could not develop were it not
for some behavior on his part.

The person who responds to an external situation by some action
that is consistent with his perceptual field may, if his behavior
achieves the predicted result, reinforce his own views of reality. 0n
the other hand, if his behavior does not achieve the desired result, he
may choose to modify either his perceptions or to assume that his beha-
vior was inappropriate, or both. Decision making can almost always be
improved, and an individual may recognize his own shortcomings. However,
decision making is always related to one's perceptions of reality. Help-
ing students acquire accurate and differentiated perceptions are funda-

mental tasks for teachers and topics we will discuss later.

72

The Tendency Toward Least Effort

George Kingsley Zipf, in his Human Behavior and the Pringjple

 

of Least Effort [85], stated, "It is the expressed purpose of this book

 

to establish the principle of least effort as a primary principle that
governs our entire individual and collective behavior of all sorts."
Relying heavily on the study of linguistics to prove his point, Zipf
provides empirical evidence for a human law of least effort. Through
the use of statistics, he shows that there is an inverse relationship
between the length of words and their frequencies of use, and claims
that this is because the effort required to pronounce a long word is
greater than that required to pronounce a short one. Zipf ends this
treatise with this statement: ". . . We are finding in the everyday
phenomena of life a unity, an orderliness and balance that can only give
feaith in the ultimate reasonableness of the whole person whose totality
lies beyond our powers of comprehension" [85, p. 544].*

In its broad application, the principle of least effort may
serve as an explanation of all animal behavior. However, we feel that
fuller understanding of personality development and the motivation of
behavior can occur by postulating other forces or tendencies that

affect the individual as well. In this way. we can more directly

 

*Others have found fault with this approach. Joseph H. Green-
berg, writing of Otto Jespersen who believed,with Zipf, that the
general movement of languages is toward simplification, has said,

"What is probably an internally conditioned drift toward morphological
*simplification [of Indo-European languages] has therefore been mistaken
for a universal linguistic trend. An objective survey fails to disclose
any'decisive correlation between morphological complexity and usual
criteria of cultural evolution" [27].

73

relate behavior to what we feel are the causal forces or tendencies.

An all-encompassing principle as that of "least effort" might require
forcing the evidence to fit the theory. In order to avoid this situ-
ation, we are postulating, therefore, a fourth determinant of behavior,
a tendency within each human and nonhuman animal to achieve goals

(both conscious and unconscious) using the least effort possible.

Like all of the tendencies we have discussed, the tendency
toward least effort evolved as a mechanism for survival. Probably as
ancient as life itself, this tendency gradually came to be a basic
determinant of behavior long before proto—man emerged. Those animals
which were able to secure basic physical necessities with the least
effort had a better chance of survival. First, they required relatively
less food, because their energy output was relatively less. Since their
energy output was relatively less, they were better able to flee, fight,
or meet other basic survival requirements. The animals that survived
possessed this trait and passed it from generation to generation.

With the advent of theorizing man, this tendency became modi-
fied. No longer did it affect only the physical output of energy, but,
since the perceptual field and the intellectual powers played such a
crucial role in man's life, it began to affect these areas as well.
When man considered possible goals, this tendency narrowed their number
and influenced the process chosen to achieve those goals by making more
appealing the one that was perceived to require least physical, emo-
tional, or intellectual effort. This tendency is a guiding force that
suggests that over a period of time the paths of least resistance will

be followed. To do otherwise is simply an inefficient and wasteful use

74

of energy. This tendency can be seen at work in any school class-
room. If a child is able to select his goals, he will generally select
those that minimize the amount of energy he must put forth. If, as is
usually the case, the goals are selected for him, he will minimize the
effort needed to achieve the goals. Teachers recognize this tendency
at work in their classrooms. They usually assign homework, test stu-
dents, and award grades so that in order for the student to achieve
his goal, the minimum effort required--which is the minimum level of
performance--will be a certain degree of effort with which the teacher
feels comfortable. Most teachers realize that if they suddenly dis-
pensed with all course requirements, their students would likely reduce
to a minimum the amount of effort they will put forth in that class.

The tendency toward least effort not only affects behavior;
it also affects the effort that the mental powers exert on perceptions
to create higher-order perceptions. Generally speaking, thinking is
hard work and is often resisted. The temptation is great to seize on
simplistic explanations and easily understood analyses that give the
impression of describing reality accurately.

Thus, the tendency toward least effort affects the perception
of choices, as well as behavior. Suppose a man is leaving his place
of work for the day. If his goal is to get home in the shortest amount
of time, he will probably take the route that allows him to achieve the
goal the easiest way. That is, he will take what he perceives to be
the least effortful--though not necessarily the shortest or the quickest--
route. It makes no sense to do otherwise, and, without thinking about

the process for achieving his goal, he will naturally make the choice

75

that requires least effort. If, however, one's goal is not only to
arrive at his house, but also to experience the beauty of the fall
colors in the nearby countryside, he will alter his travel plan and
will take a route that he perceives will enable him to achieve his new
goal. His second route will probably require more effort, but it is
still the easiest and most efficient, from the standpoint of the goals
he has chosen.

The idea that people seek to minimize the amount of work or
effort that they put into the attainment of a goal has been included
in discussions of motivation for a very long time. Classical free
enterprise economic theory, in fact, is based on the premise that each
person will seek the most satisfaction for his money, the most money
for his labor or for the commodities he is selling, and the most effi-
cient use of land, labor, capital, and management.

Adam Smith, whose The Wealth of Nations (l776) provided a

 

teoretical basis for capitalism, wrote,

. It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease
as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same,
whether he does, or does not perform some very laborious duty,
it is certainly his interest . . . either to neglect it altogether,
or . . . to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as

. authority will permit [72, pp. 7l7, 7l8].

About a hundred years after Adam Smith, Henry George published

his classic Progress in Poverty (l880), in which he agreed with Adam

 

Smith that human efforts to conserve energy provided a scientific base
for free enterprise economics. He wrote, "The fundamental principle of
human action--the law that is to political economy what the law of
gravitation is to physics--is that men seek to gratify their desires

with least exertion" [2l, p. 204].

76

Robert Assagioli has said of the human tendency toward least
effort,

A realistic observation of the flow of the psychological life
in ourselves and in others shows clearly the existence of a
number of differing and conflicting tendencies. . . . Another
basic conflict is that between inertia, laziness, tendency to
preservation, craving for security (which expresses itself in
conformity) on the one hand, and the tendency toward growth,
self-assertion and adventure on the other [l, pp. 36, 37].

Abraham Maslow also realized that a tendency toward safety,
security, and least effort occurs in all pe0ple. After several dis-

cussions on this point with Frank Goble, author of The Third Force [25],

 

Maslow added the word “challenge” to his list of environmental factors

necessary for self-actualization [24].

vi

Now that we have described briefly the four forces or tenden-
cies that are the internal determinants of behavior, we are ready to
see how they affect perceptions to cause one type of behavior instead
of another. To illustrate the decision-making process, we will take
a common situation and show in some detail how choices might be made
in terms of the four determinants of behavior. We have selected for
our decision-making study a mythical school administrator--a Dr. Jones--
whom we will observe for part of his working day. We have acquired
special research skills enabling us to examine not only his behavior,
but also the internal processes that give rise to that behavior.

Let us suppose that our administrator's current task is to make
la decision between several competing curriculum innovations proposed

for'the following year. Not only must he review the proposals and make

77

a judgment on educational grounds, but he must also choose a program
that has community support and the support of the faculty. This, then,
is part of Dr. Jones' environment--the external conditions with which
he must contend.

The goal which Dr. Jones seeks is that of maximizing pleasant
feelings or, inversely, of minimizing unpleasant ones. In order to know
what specific behavior he will choose to maximize satisfaction, it is
necessary to understand Dr. Jones' perceptions of his world, for they
are an important key to his behavior. Dr. Jones, like all other people,
will only perceive as possible options those experiences or behaviors
that, because of his unique personal history, are real or true for him.
Thus, from the vast potential number of choices available to him,

Dr. Jones perceives a very limited selection from which he will choose.
Satisfying feelings may come from his belief that he is contributing

to the education of students, that he is pleasing his colleagues, com-
munity leaders, or faculty members, that he is receiving a regular pay-
check with which he can buy goods that give him satisfaction, or a
combination of these motivating factors. In all likelihood, satisfy—
ing feelings derive from his achieving a variety of goals, some of which
may be contradictory with one another. Satisfaction might come from his
choosing the curriculum innovation that he believes will most signifi-
cantly improve education for the children in his district. 0n the other
hand, community leaders, who are the administrator's:friends and from
whom he also derives satisfaction, may object to the proposed innovation.
Many other factors may also contribute to his goals, not the least of

which might be pleasing the powers-that-be that guarantee him his job.

78

Even before Dr. Jones' day begins, we can make very rough pre-
dictions about the types of behavior in which he will engage. They
must satisfy four conditions: first, he will engage in purposeful beha-
vior from his point of view; second, he will engage in behavior that
he perceives as affording the greatest satisfaction; third, all his
behavior will be consistent in terms of his perceptions and his goals;
and fourth, his goals and behavior toward those goals tend to repre-
sent the least effortful choices. The satisfaction he seeks may not be
immediate satisfaction, but, depending on what he perceives as desir-
able goals, satisfaction may occur only after a long period of unpleas-
ant prerequisites.

Upon entering the administration building, Dr. Jones greets the
receptionist, secretaries, and his colleagues and engages in casual
small talk with them. On the one hand, he may value their friendship--
his relationship with them is enjoyable. On the other hand, however,
such behavior is a way of testing the environment, in this case the
office complex, to sense the moods and dispositions of others with whom
he must work. It is to his advantage to ascertain the psychological
climate, so that he can use such information later to his advantage in
his decision making. If, through this informal and nearly unconscious
testing process, he discovers that the superintendent had an argument
with his wife, Dr. Jones may consciously choose not to discuss a con-
troversial aspect of the proposed curriculum alternatives with him on
that day.

When he is ready to begin his day's work, Dr. Jones has already

registered in his mind certain information about his environment that

79

will facilitate his acquiring the satisfying feelings which are his
ultimate goals. He has discovered this information using the easiest,
least threatening means that he perceived available to him--casual
conversation coupled with careful observation of those with whom he

was speaking. Dr. Jones could have approached the goal by a different
route. He could have asked each person directly for a report on his
mental health. Not only would this approach result in less accurate
information, for it would probably not elicit honest responses, but

also its directness would cause tremendous anxiety. The tendency toward
least effort militates against the direct, confrontive approach.

All of the psycho-motor responses Dr. Jones made from the moment
he awoke are, of course, unconscious. They and other unconscious deci-
sions involve hand-eye coordination, such as the many decisions that
must be made while driving a car, and the delicate sensing of others'
meanings of their language, facial expressions, and vocal inflections.
The primary difference between those behaviors that are unconsciously
and those that are consciously motivated is simply that the reasons for
some have entered the conscious mind, while the reasons for others have
not. Awareness of one's motives is a function of experience, intellec-
tual ability, and the desire to understand his reasons for behaving the
way that he does.

Sitting down at his desk and scanning the curriculum proposals,
Dr. Jones must make a decision. He has met with various representatives,
reviewed the budget, and has read hundreds of pages of rationales for
each pr0posal. He must weigh in his mind the effects of any decision.

That is to say, his intellectual powers will enable Dr. Jones to acquire

80

a mental picture of how the programs will appear in operation and their
consequent ramifications for other programs, present and future, for the
education of the school district's children, and for his own goals for
personal satisfaction. Such mental picture will require the formation
of higher-order perceptions from the basic information presented to
him. These perceptions will fill the enormous gaps, which exist in
even a detailed proposal. Dr. Jones will construct probable situations
that might arise from the adoption of such a proposal and the probable
consequences of those situations. The more realistic Dr. Jones' per-
Vceptions are, the more accurately will be his predictions about the
consequences of the curriculum innovation that he finally selects.

Another important consideration affecting Dr. Jones' choice of
proposals will be the effect of that choice on his time and energy, once
the decision has been made. The tendency toward least effort suggests
that if one of the options will require a difficult job of "selling" to
the various factions in the community, it may be rejected because it is
"not worth the trouble." 0n the other hand, a proposal that, once it
has Dr. Jones' approval is out of his hands and frees him for other
pursuits, may well be the one that is finally approved.

Our brief observation of Dr. Jones has been an attempt to tie
together the four factors which, along with the perceptual field, are
the determinants of behavior. Though our description of the decision—
making process was over-simplified, it suggests that these factors
operate simultaneously and influence, to a greater or lesser extent,
all aspects of decision making.

The difficulty in identifying the specific effect of each of

the determinants of human behavior is that the effect changes from

81

situation to situation, though we assume that each determinant is
always present. Furthermore, some of the determinants generate contra-
dictory behaviors. The life-force generates in the organism the need
to explore, to investigate, to experience satisfying feelings for the
self, on the one hand, while the tendency toward least effort minimizes
activity and promotes safety.

Most personality theories recognize the contradictory tenden-
cies to explore and reach out, on the one hand, and to maintain safety
on the other. "One can choose," Maslow writes, "to go back towards
safety or forward towards growth. Growth must be chosen again and
again; fear must be overcome again and again. Anything that increases
fear and anxiety tips the dynamic balance between regression and growth

back towards regression and away from growth" [46, p. 3].
vii

Thus far, we have discussed the development and functioning of
the perceptual field of reality and the motivation of behavior. While
this does not provide an adequate basis for the prediction of behavior,
it does suggest avenues of investigation for future research as well as
certain processes whose understanding will contribute to an understand-
ing of behavior.

It is difficult to predict--let alone understand--human behavior,
because the human organism possesses a brain which functions in ways
that cannot be compared to those of any other animal. This boon to

man is a bain to the investigator of human behavior. Unlike animals

whose responses to environmental conditions are fairly direct and

82

subject to understanding, man can create his own motivation. All human
behavior has its roots in sensory information that the organism has
acquired from the environment. But man can use his intellectual powers
to transform his initial perceptions into higher-order perceptions,
thereby creating new meanings to facilitate his understanding of his
world. Although much of man's specific behavior is, at this stage in
our understanding, impossible to predict, we can formulate certain
guidelines or principles to suggest general criteria that behavior will
meet.

Since each person possesses a unique perceptual field which has
developed because of his peculiar life experiences and which determines
behavior that will be satisfying to him, the first step in the predic-
tive process must be an understanding of that perceptual field. This
is tantamount to knowing another person intimately-~an endeavor that
can easily take a lifetime, and, for practical purposes, is an impos—
sible task. A realistic alternative is to identify and to understand
the past behavior, for it will suggest what the significant self-
perceptions of an individual are. These perceptions are very likely
to be consistent both with his present behavior and with the elements
in his perceptual field.

The implications of this general predictive pattern are enormous
for teachers and others for whom the prediction of behavior is important.
Though this pattern is extremely general at this point, the elements
of a more sophisticated system are present. Effective teaching involves
a sensitive balance between an awareness of the world views of one's

students, an awareness of the external conditions that affect them, an

83

ability to understand those conditions, and an ability to develop and
put into practice techniques that one predicts will facilitate the
(development of the intellectual powers and the perceptual field.
Arriving at a proper balance obviously requires careful thought about
these issues and inevitably requires judgments about reality itself,

knowing full well that it is a manifestation of one's own perceptions

CHAPTER IV

THE AGONY OF ECSTASY

Man's successful adaptation to environmental conditions has
been a triumphantevolutionary achievement. He has developed ways to
meet his basic physical needs by using his intellectual powers to
create a perceptual field of reality, and he has formed complex social
systems in which to do this. Furthermore, once his basic needs have
been satisfied, man desires a higher quality to his life and seeks
experiences that provide increasing satisfaction for the self.

Man's ability to insure the satisfaction of his basic needs on
a mass scale has been possible for a realtively short time--probably
about lD,000 years. This historical point in time represents the
earliest occasion that man was able to accumulate and to protect surplus
commodities on a large scale. This surplus allowed people the freedom
to devote some of their time and energy to pursuits other than the
acquisition of basic necessities. However, although social systems
have evolved primarily to enable people to satisfy their basic needs,
they have not developed institutions or customs supportive of personal
growth. We will explore this issue further in this chapter.

While man has the intellectual capability to become self-
fulfilled, he also has powerful tendencies toward security, tendencies

that can easily overwhelm his desire to reach out, explore, and try new

84

85

experiences. These tendencies are those that limit him to actions which
he has tested and found safe. Acting together, the tendencies toward
gyrowth and those toward security generate behavior that, for most
people, is safe and nonthreatening. Is man, then, destined to live
knowing that whether or not he achieves a fulfilling life depends on
innate tendencies over which he has no control? Is he like Sisyphus,
condemned forever to push a huge boulder up the mountain, only to see it
roll to the bottom, just as he nears the summit? The vast majority of
people live in just this way. They believe their condition and their
prospects for improvement are dependent on forces over which they have
no control. They see luck or fate playing a large role in their lives.
However, since we believe that self-fulfillment is within the capacity
of each human being, the profoundly disturbing questions at the heart of
our investigation are: "Why do so many people live unhappy, unsatis-
fied lives?" and "What can teachers do to change this situation for
their students?” A discussion in some detail of the process of self-
fulfillment may shed light on ways in which we may be better able to
help ourselves and others develop such a process.

Heretofore, we have dealt primarily with the individual and with
the development of his psychological nature, by focusing on the develop-
ment of the perceptual field of reality and the internal forces and
behavior as its consequence. We have only briefly mentioned the environ-
ment, which we earlier defined as both the natural and the social forces
that affect one's life. The forces of the environment include physical
restraints, which man must overcome to survive, and social restraints,

which inhibit behaviors not conducive to the acquisition of basic

86

necessities. The environment is fundamentally hostile to man's living
a fulfilling life, and such a life can occur only when he has developed
the ability to cope effectively with its hostile nature.

The natural environment has, for many millions of years, pre-
sented to all forms of life an uncompromising and consistent barrage of
forces, with which plant and animal life alike has had to contend. The
burden of survival has always been on the living organism and never on
the natural environment, whose forces act dispassionately according to
natural law, irrespective of the needs of living organisms. A harsh
environment has forced extinction on all but a relatively few of the
countless forms of life which have emerged on earth, and those that
have survived were able to make sufficient changes in their structures
to adapt to changing physical conditions. Since the natural environment
imposes on man a set of circumstances which limit rather than expand
his possible choices, man must develop strategies to deal with the
obstacles and also to enhance his satisfaction. But this is only half
of the challenge before him: the social environment also imposes
restraints on his self-fulfillment.

Though man's relationship with the natural environment is one
which requires of him any and all accommodation to its forces, his
relationship with his culture is entirely different. While it, too,
presents a structure of controlling social forces to which he must adapt,
it also provides or creates certain conditions that enhance survival and
even the possibility of self-fulfillment. Furthermore, unlike the
natural environment, the social environment is man-made and hence arti-

ficial and changeable.

87

Social systems developed when man discovered that cooperative
actions resulted in consistently more satisfaction than was possible
when humans engaged in individual actions. Community living required,
and its success depended upon, cooperation among the members of the
community. The behaviors of individuals must complement one another
to secure basic necessities, and the community members must perceive
others' behavior as complementing theirs. One person who failed to
behave in such a manner could have seriously jeopardized morale in the
community, and consequently, could have jeopardized the community's
survival.

In order to secure basic necessities for its members, every
culture has created formal arrangements for minimizing potential con-
flicts over the mode of acquisition and distribution of basic neces-
sities. This has resulted in restricting from the range of possible
behaviors those actions likely to be inimical to the efforts of the
group to survive. All societies impose limits on the behaviors of
their members in order to insure that its ability to survive will not
be in danger. Those who transgress these boundaries face social sanc-
tions, the harshness of which depends upon the infraction. Culture,
then, channels man's vision, minimizing the likelihood of certain beha-
viors that are perceived to be hostile to the group effort. It there-
fore maximizes the likelihood that others will occur that enhance the
traditional goals of satisfying the requirements necessary for survival.

In order to guarantee that the community members would cooper-
ate on mutually beneficial tasks with a minimum of coercion, techniques

of social control evolved. The primary technique of social control is

88

the inculcation of common perceptions concerning significant aspects

of the community's history and goals. These cultural myths have become
part of the perceptual field of reality which, in turn, influence
laehaviors that are compatible with this reality. For example, in a
society that depends on hunting--traditionally a man's role-~male
children will grow up seeing no other role for themselves as adults
than that of a hunter.

But the cultural perceptions of reality taught to each person

are often far subtler than this. They affect every aspect of one's
life. Even his language carries with it cultural perceptions of
reality. By its very nature, language influences to a considerable
degree what is and what is not perceived [62, pp. l50-l5l]. Certain
words carry with them special meanings that relate to and help create
cultural reality. It is difficult, for example, to perceive something
if there is no word for it: for this reason, the Navahos do not per-
ceive the color orange; their language has no thought symbol for it.
On the other hand, a language may contain many words for objects that
are especially important to the environment. There are, for instance,
6,000 Arabic words dealing with camels, including 90 to describe camel
pregnancy [62, pp. l50-l5l].

In English the word "love" may influence our perceptions of that
emotion more than we realize. It is a general expression that we use to
describe a great many relationships. One might "love" his neighbor, his
wife, his child, his mother, his job, his dog, the weather, his country,
his freedom, money, and so on. And each "love'I is qualitatively differ-

ent. One can only specualte as to how the perceptions of English—speaking

89

people would differ if there were, let us say, half a dozen specific
expressions for which "love" is now used.

Society--composed of people whose perceptions and behaviors
together form their culture--influences what is and what is not per-
ceived. No individual, confronted with a natural and social environ-
ment, is able to see the vast number of possible choices for decision
making, because his community has eliminated most of them from possible
consideration by systematically reinforcing behaviors compatible with
the prevailing myths, and by discouraging others. Society also pre-
sents so consistent a view of the acceptable reality that one cannot
help but learn it--because no other view is available. We must not
underestimate the power of the important people in one's life to influ-
ence his perceptions. One learns from others--especially from signifi-
cant others--the appropriate responses to most situations. Those whom
one will tend to emulate will be people from whom he seeks approval:
parents, teachers, and friends. These people have the ability to give
rewards, praise, status, and emotional support--all of which provide
satisfaction, since they reinforce significant perceptions.

To insure the satisfaction of basic physical needs, every cul-
ture must disregard the unique personality of each of its members and
develop a system compatible with an idealized personality type char-
acteristic of that culture. This personality type is defined by the
romanticized memory of personal traits necessary in the past and by
those believed necessary for the future. Incorporated into the cul-

tural myth, the idealized personality type represents an amalgamation

90

of those personality traits that are most valued for the survival of
the community. In traditional cultures, the difference between the
historical way of life and the present way of life is likely to be
small, as is the difference between the idealized personality type and
the actual traits necessary to maintain that culture.

The purpose of cultural myths, and particularly the idealized
personality type, is precisely to generate certain perceptions that,
according to community beliefs, are necessary and appropriate for the
maintenance of the social system. However, in technological societies
the emphasis on physical survival is no longer so critical. Today,
due largely to improved agricultural productivity, many people in
industrial countries can meet their basic physical needs without having
to devote all of their time and energy to that task. The battle to
survive is really no longer a struggle for basic necessities, but rather
a struggle to discover a meaning for one's life and to have qualitatively
better experiences than ever before possible.

This curious twist, caused by man's success, has rendered his
social order antagonistic to his effort toward self-fulfillment. Per-
haps what is needed is a new mythology, a perception of man, not as one
who must struggle to stay alive, but one whose physical existence is
assured and who must strive to make his life truly rewarding. In all
fairness, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that, while con-
gratulating ourselves that our basic necessities are assured, the vast
majority of mankind sees in this fact no cause for rejoicing. Their
lives are still literally struggles for survival.

Until society develops structures enabling individuals to

experience fulfilling lives, we must realize that society will continue

91

to acculturate people to the prevailing myths, which guarantee that the
behaviors of the members of the group will be compatible with one
another and oriented toward the common goal of survival. To achieve
self-fulfillment within such a basically hostile environment is exceed-
ingly difficult. It requires nothing less than the ability and desire
to moderate the social restraints one faces and to define his society
according to his personal goals.

Man's evolution has put him in a dilemma. His adaptation to
environmental change has been eminently successful, due to the develop-
ment of intellectual processes that have emerged over more than a
million years. The ability to understand the effects that complex
forces and events in the environment have on man has enabled many people
to meet their basic needs with unequalled success. But man's intellec-
tual ability does not only enable him to acquire basic necessities. It
also enables him to dream of what could be. The difference between his
existence and his wishes is the grand dilemma. Restricted perceptions
of what choices are available, internal forces that generate protective
behavior, and environmental conditions that further limit options seem
to make the achievement of self-fulfillment an almost impossible dream.

However, while most people are unable to achieve the qualitatively
superior lifestyle that they intuitively know is possible, some overcome
the obstacles to self-fulfillment and live fully satisfying and intensely
meaningful lives. Is the difference between these two groups of people
due to environmental factors alone? In part, of course, it is. People
who are born in a country ravaged by war, famine, or political upheaval

must devote their energy to physical survival. There simply is neither

92

the time nor the opportunity for individuals to put forth the effort
necessary to overcome the tremendous environmental obstacles standing
in the way of self—fulfillment.

Though the environment is always hostile to individuals seeking
true personal satisfaction, some conditions are less hostile than
others. It seems likely that those raised in a loving family, provided
with opportunities for self—expression and self—discovery, and urged to
create realistic perceptions about themselves and their environment,
have a better chance to achieve self-fulfillment than those who were
stifled during their childhood years in their attempts to perceive them-
selves as capable of c0ping with their world.

But this explanation is not sufficient to account entirely for
the differences between fulfilled and unfulfilled individuals. To be
sure, people receive reinforcement for certain behaviors from their
environment, and, in so doing, develop patterns of behaving that
increase the likelihood of similar behavior occurring again. The degree
to which the habits that are acquired through environmental reinforce-
ment contribute to personal satisfaction is the degree to which the
environment is conducive to self-fulfillment.

However, the critical element lacking in any environmentalist
explanation for behavior is the fact that man, unlike nonhuman animals,
can reason, and, while the reasoning process is partly a function of
environment, it is not entirely so. Regardless of his environment, man
can create options in his mind, form higher-order perceptions, seek
substantiating evidence for his views of reality, and act in accordance

with what he has rationally determined to be in his best interest. We

93

therefore contend that self-fulfillment is within the reach of all
people, though for many, whose experiences have not encouraged the
development of appropriate skills and perceptions, the struggle may be
especially severe.

Before we can design a plan of action for helping others, how-
ever, we must understand more clearly just what self-fulfillment is.
What is the difference between a fulfilled life and an unfulfilled one?
The answer to this question will provide us with some clues for help-
ing others attain self-fulfillment. The sources for information per-
tinent to this question come from our observation of those who appear to
be living thoroughly satisfying lives and from a logical extension of
our study of human development.

To take control over one's life means to respond in effective
ways to minimize the effects of internal and external forces that
restrain one from behaviors he has identified as likely to bring a high
degree of satisfaction. The important elements needed to live a ful-
filling life are the same elements that have made possible human survival:
the mental powers and the perceptual field of reality.

While all people use their mental powers to choose behaviors
that are perceived to bring a predictable degree of satisfaction, self-
fulfilled people are able to do this more consistently, more effectively,
and their predictions of the results are more accurate. This superior
level of decision making is a function of well-developed mental powers,
of a highly differentiated and accurate perceptual field, and of the will
or desire to make effective decisions.

Of the four determinants of behavior that we discussed in the

last chapter, the mental powers are most subject to conscious control.

94

The other three--life-force, tendency toward consistency, and the tendency
toward least effort--are so deeply rooted in man's psyche and respond
so automatically that they are not directly available for examination
or for control. But, by using his mental powers, man can not only come
to understand his safety-oriented tendencies that inhibit growth, but
he can also partially control these forces, if and when he chooses to
do so. Furthermore, through use of the mental powers, he can develop a
deep awareness of his motives, feelings, self-perceptions, and needs,
as well as an awareness of the anticipated feelings that certain beha-
viors might bring. Such awareness allows an individual to understand
consciously the internal processes which lead to behavior and to analyze
them and the behaviors they generate in terms of his consciously deter-
mined goals. If he finds that his unconscious impulses to act are not
consistent with his goals, he must take some remedial action. His
decision might be to alter or to postpone his goal-directed behavior and
to allow his internal forces to generate behavior, rather than to over-
ride those forces with his conscious mind. We often refer to the pro-
cess as "intuition" or a "sixth sense," when we allow internal forces
to dominate our decision making, even though our conscious thoughts may
be urging other behavior. Often these forces can generate effective
behavior by using sensory data in ways that the conscious mind cannot.
What would be preferable, we believe, is to develop one's mental powers
so~that "intuition" could be analyzed and its component parts discovered.
If an individual's intuitive impulse to act is not consistent
with behavior toward his goals, and if he has detennined that achievement

of his goals will bring greater satisfaction than engaging in the

95

behavior urged by internal forces, a most difficult decision will be
necessary. Such a decision will be nothing less than behaving in a
manner that runs counter to the internal forces. Since these forces
evolved precisely in order to generate behavior essential to survival,
they are powerful indeed. Self-fulfilled people are able to muster the
strength to control these forces, when their mental powers determine
that their control will be in the ultimate interest of the self. The
strength required to control consciously one's behavior in the interest
of the self should not be underestimated. Tremendous effort must be
made again and again, because, although one may develop skills making
such conscious control easier, the internal forces are deep-rooted and
always urge survival-related behaviors that guarantee safety, security,
and least effort. Evidence of the extreme difficulty with which con-
scious decisions are made can be seen in the vast number of people who
have plans, dreams, ambitions, and goals that are never fulfilled.

They act as if the forces preventing their achieving what they desire
are overpowering. And for them, they are. What they do not realize

is that there are people in similar circumstances who live fulfilling
lives precisely because they have not let the internal forces that urge
moderation of their dreams maintain the upper hand.

Mental processes serve yet another function in self-fulfilled
people. Because people have developed the ability to use their intel-
lectual powers effectively, they can see relationships between percep-
tions and between sensory data and perceptions better than others can.
This ability allows one to create very specific perceptions of the

myriad components of his world view. A highly developed perceptual field

96

contributes to effective decision making by presenting a clearer view
of the relationships between elements in the world view on which
prediction of the effects of one's behavior is based. The complexity
of one's perceptions of reality is related to self-fulfillment,
because the complexity makes possible the understanding of subtle,
though possibly essential, details of the external world.

Acquiring the ability to see complex relationships between the
various segments of one's perceptions of reality is, in large part, a
function of learning to use one's mind, and the process of mental
development can continue throughout life. Mental development, as well
as effective use of one's mental powers, requires considerable effort.
The gap is large between the minimum mental effort needed for survival
and the mental exertion necessary for self-fulfillment. To refuse to
accept as final that which has been neatly described but which appears
incomplete, and to attempt to discover the subtle relationships that
lie beneath the surface of the issue, may require an immense effort and
may run contrary to the basic tendency toward least effort. As might
be expected, this all but insures the likelihood that most people will
remain unfulfilled.

Closely related to the ability to perceive subtle relationships
between forces and events in one's environment is the ability to form
higher-order perceptions from lower-order ones. A self-fulfilled per-
son uses his highly developed mental powers to make possible the tasks
both of selecting perceptions from which higher-order perceptions can

be created and of creating those perceptions.

97

An additional ability possessed by self-fulfilled people is the
ability and the willingness to create or modify perceptions even when
they may create extreme discomfort, because the resulting view of
reality may conflict with their significant perceptions. It is most
difficult, for example, for a person to examine his behavior and to
admit to himself that his behavior isnot consistent with certain deeply
held views of himself. Consequently, for his self-perceptions to be
consistent with his behavior, he must modify those flattering percep-
tions of himself and create, instead, more accurate ones. While the
data are always available from which one can examine his behavior, most
people are unable or unwilling to do so.

Thus far, in our description of self-fulfilled people, we have
identified several characteristics that enable them to make qualita-
tively better decisions, which directly lead to fuller and more satis-
fying lives. Using their Inental powers, self-fulfilled people have a
deep understanding of themselves--their internal forces, their goals,
their strengths, and their shortcomings--which is crucial to effective
decision making. They also possess the ability, to a greater degree
than most, to create higher order perceptions from lower ones, and they
can see complex relationships between perceptions or between perceptions
and sensory data in ways that would escape most others.

Perhaps the most significant attribute of self-fulfilled pe0ple
is their ability and willingness to take control of their own lives.

The difficulty here is immense, for it fliesirlthe face of deeply rooted
tendencies within each person and runs counter also to environmental

forces. Self-fulfilled people know, as Spren Kierkegaard said, "To

98

venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one's self. And
to venture in the highest sense is precisely to be conscious of one's
self" [50].
iv

One's perceptual field of reality develops continually over
his lifetime, but its development is not merely an accumulation of
perceptions of the forces and events which affect him. Rather, having
created a multitude of perceptions that describe his world view, each
person must constantly judge the accuracy of his perceptions and amend
or discard those which no longer are valid. Though all people have the
intellectual ability to make accurate judgments about their perceptions
of reality, not all of them do so. The degree to which perceptions are
accurate probably represents the degree to which behavior creates the
desired feeling. A necessary condition for self-fulfillment, then, is
the ability to conduct valid tests for the accuracy of perceptions.

Contained in each person's world view are perceptions of differ-
ent, though related, origins, which require, in turn, different tests
of validity. The two types of perceptions that we identify are per-
ceptions of external and of internal origin. These may be seen as polar

positions on a continuum. Except in extreme cases, there are external

and internal elements of both in every perception.

Perceptions of External Origin
Perceptions of external origin are those which describe forces
or events that exist independent of the individual. Included in this

category are perceptions of reality for which identical sensory data

99

are available to a large number of people. Thus, perceptions of exter-
nal origin include the force of the wind, the heat of a fire, a wheel,
social customs, the power of the leader, etc. These perceptions are
not limited in time or space, for they can travel in the form of ideas.

It was only when man was able to acquire knowledge from remote
sources, both in terms of distance and time, thatcustoms and technol-
ogy could develop. Cultural characteristics could be passed to succeed-
ing generations, which may have added to or modified them, suggesting
that perceptions of external origins have a cumulative or modifiable
attribute as well. In technological cultures, perceptions of external
origin have been combined and modified over hundreds of years to create
sophisticated environments, which would have been impossible if per-
ceptions were not cumulative or modifiable. It is this category of
perception, in fact, which now enables man to use his time and energy
to pursue activities other than the acquisition of basic necessities.
He does not have to invent the wheel in order to make use of it. He
can simply acquire the perception of the wheel, which has been passed
from generation to generation for thousands of years.

By what criteria must one judge perceptions of external origin
while, at the same time, recognizing the subjective nature of all exper-
ience? The dilemma created by the duality of subjectivity and objec-
tivity is real indeed. One could reason that since every "fact" is
only perceived to be so, and since all perceptions are subjective, all
facts are subjective, and one person's perception of reality is just as
"good" and "true" as another's. Ikia fundamental sense, this reasoning

has merit, though it is a conclusion of last resort, because it evades

lOO

verification and assumes the subjectivity of all reality. This

is a serious error, for, while man may not be able to discover that which
is real or true in an absolute sense, elements of reality and truth do
exist in certain perceptions and not in others. Theoretically, it is
possible to discover what these are.

Each person must develop processes to test the validity of per-
ceptions of external origin. These processes must inevitably include
external criteria, because such perceptions exist within the world views
of many individuals. The type of testing process which is selected is
important, for it may largely determine the outcome of the test. There
is a tendency to use a verification process that confirms one's views
regarding the validity of a particular perception, because it requires
the least mental effort. How many of us, for example, in order to ver-
ify our perceptions, seek out a few close friends who see reality in
terms similar to ours? There are other ways to verify perceptions that
are not likely to disclose inconsistencies. These include creating
"straw men" that can quickly and easily be knocked down, superficial
testing, drawing inaccurate or incomplete comparisons, and so forth.
Another common method of dealing with the problem of reality testing
is to believe that a particular perception is an absolute truth. This
"truth" may be a religious belief, cultural norm, or scientific “fact,"
such as Ptolomy's astronomy, accepted for centuries by millions who, for
religious reasons, needed a belief in a geocentric universe.

Testing one's perceptions of external origin thoroughly, accu-
rately, and honestly depends primarily upon the individual's willingness

to do so, though he must also possess the necessary skills. And his

lOl

willingness will likely depend both on his belief that even if his per-
ceptions prove faulty, significant self-perceptions will not be affected,
and in his belief that accurate perceptions are beneficial to him.
Testing the accuracy of a perception involves confirmation from a
variety of sources as to the meaning of the perception, the procedures
‘for testing it, and the meanings of possible outcomes. Thus, the sub-
jectivity of individual observation and interpretation is reduced,
though not eliminated, by prescribing the framework for the investiga-
tion and by soliciting others' observations and interpretations as well.
The actual verification of perceptions of external origin is
generally a far less formal procedure than the above outline suggests,
although it is similar in principle. Consider, for instance, the man
who has taken a new job and who wants to understand the relationships
between the people there. An accurate understanding of these relation-
ships will facilitate decisions he might make and may therefore con-
tribute to his fulfillment. A reasonable way to gain this understanding
would be to become acquainted with as many people in the organization
as he can, and compare and contrast their views. Having created initial
perceptions, he might speak with others who have had various experiences
with people in the organizational structure to see how their perceptions
compare with his. He then might form tentative hypotheses about who's
who in the organizationeuuisee if subsequent events prove or disprove

his hypotheses.

Perceptions of Internal Origin
At the other end of the continuum are perceptions of internal

origin. These are perceptions that are unique to each person, that

 

 

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102

relate only to or primarily to him, and that have no transferability to
others.* These perceptions of reality do not possess the independent
nature of those of external origin, and they must be created-~not just
acquired--by each person. While environmental factors can and do influ-
ence the form that internal perceptions take, they can do so only
indirectly. For instance, one's perception of himself as loved and
wanted or his perception of his life as having purpose or meaning can
only be an individual discovery. Perceptions of internal origin are the
significant perceptions that help create the uniqueness of each indi—
vidual, for they include the values that form the bonds among the
multitude of perceptions in one's world view. Effective decision making
requires accurate knowledge of one's innermost perceptions. But such
perceptions obviously cannot be verified in the same manner that per-
ceptions of external origins can. In order to verify perceptions of
internal origin, internal criteria must be established, against which
these perceptions can be judged. While external evidence may be help-
ful in this regard, it can only be supportive.

A test of accuracy for perceptions of internal origin might
include examining a perception from various points of view, to see if it
appears different under different circumstances, exploring its theoreti-
cal implication for other perceptions, analyzing its effects on oneself
or others, and discovering the consistency or inconsistency with other

perceptions. The ultimate purpose, of course, is to determine whether

 

*To be sure, perceptions of internal origin may well be generated
by external conditions, but their uniqueness lies in their categorical
difference from those of external origin.

103

or not the perception serves the explanatory or predictive function one
would like it to serve. Let us suppose, for example, that one has
acquired the belief that the property of other people is not to be
taken without their permission.* This perception of the sanctity of
private property can be examined according to several hypothetical sit-
uations: Would this ethical principle still apply if a very poor person
stole from a very rich one? Would it apply if the owner did not miss or
did not need the object that was stolen? Would it apply if one believes
that the owner is evil? These and other such situations suggest that
the perception of property rights needs to be further differentiated,
so that it can be applied more effectively to a variety of situations.
To be sure, one might solicit others' advice, consider religious teach-
ings on the subject of stealing, or learn the legal consequences of
getting caught. But if the perception of property rights is to have
fundamental significance as a workable ethic, each person must discover
the specific meaning (or accuracy) of it for himself.

Since nearly all perceptions contain elements of internal and
external origin, a combination of the testing procedures usually must
be used. Not only must perceptions be accurate, but they must also be
specific, enabling one to see the depth and the scope of his existence
and with it innumerable choices from which decisions can be made that
will generate satisfying feelings. One must also develop the ability

to bring as much of his perceptual field as possible into his conscious

 

*The sanctity of private property is a perception of external
origin to the degree that it is a professed social norm, but one of
internal origin when it has been internalized and is used as a signifi-
cant perception in one's world view.

lO4

mind, so that he can use his mental powers to choose his behavior.
Decisions will be made regardless of the degree to which the relevant
perceptions are conscious, but our contention is that awareness of
one's motives, desires, options, and goals is alway§_preferable to
ignorance of them. The self-fulfilled person directs his life through
conscious choice, rather than having it directedby forces and events

beyond his control or even his understanding.

Self-fulfilled people have developed a unique relationship with
their environment-~both the natural and the social--that enables them to
enjoy greater freedomwithin environmental restraints. This special rela-
tionship is an important characteristic of self-fulfilled people, for
it allows them to minimize, to a great extent, the threat that the envi-
ronment always poses to the satisfaction of basic needs as well as to
self-fulfillment.

Unfortunately, most people fail to realize the cultural arbi-
trariness of the perceptions and of the behaviors they have grown up
believing were necessary or best. Even when they suspect that there
ought to be more to their lives, their socially induced perceptions of
reality direct their behaviors primarily toward social rather than per-
sonal goals. One can describe the general human condition as one in
which people are programmed through the process of acculturation from
early childhood to reSpond to their environment in rather limited, but
in socially beneficial, ways. Social controls are so pervasive and
inescapable that people learn to accept them without even realizing

that such controls are present.

105

Such controls are, of course, a mixed blessing. While they
limit drastically human responses to forces and events to those that
have community approval, they also make possible certain kinds of satis-
faction. One of the advantages of the orderly structure of society is
that it provides guidelines for perceiving one's world, thus making
easier the conversion of sensory data to perceptions. A highly stable
social order, then, provides a tremendous sense of security for its
members.

While high stability is a fundamental characteristic of tradi-
tional societies, it is not a characteristic of many technological ones.
Where social change is rapid, people may not have the comfort of a stable
social structure on which to rely, because social customs and traditions
are no longer observed as scrupulously as they once were. In theory,
such an opportunity might enhance the possibilities for self-fulfillment,
for it would allow individuals relative freedom from social controls.

In fact, however, most people do not regard this situation as bene-
ficial, but instead, view it with alarm.

Alvin Toffler describes the physical illness that arises from
one's inability to adjust to rapid change--a failure which underscores
the need to develop the ability, which self-fulfilled people have done--
to form a special relationship with their environment, so that they can
minimize its negative effects on them and maximize their satisfaction.
Toffler states:

Future shock is a time phenomenon, a product of the greatly accel-
erated rate of change in society. It arises from the SUper-
imposition of a new culture on an old one. 'It is culture shock

in one's own society. But its impact is far worse. . . . Unless

intelligent steps are taken to combat it, millions of human beings
will find themselves increasingly disoriented, progressively

106

incompetent to deal rationally with their environments. The malaise,
mass neurosis, irrationality, and free-floating violence already
apparent in contemporary life are merely a foretaste of what may

lie ahead unless we come to understand and treat this disease

[79, p. ll].

The ability that self-fulfilled people have developed to achieve
satisfaction within a hostile environment can be developed by others,
though it is by no means simple. Just as developing the mental powers
runs counter to the tendencies of internal forces, so does discover-
ing a special relationship between the environment and oneself run
counter to prevailing social forces.

Two characteristics self-fulfilled people possess that enable
them to achieve satisfaction from a hostile environment are highly
differentiated and accurate perceptions of that environment. Such
people are masters at perceiving the intricate relationships between
both those environmental forces that restrict and those than enhance
satisfaction. They are aware--more than most people--of the structures
inherent in the social order: organizational, political, and family
structures, and the informal structure of communities, groups of people,
and nations. The structural elements, essential for an understanding
of one's environment, include the formal and the informal lines of
communication, the sources of power, the uses of power, the require-
ments for entrance, the ties with other organizations, groups, or
individuals; the systems of rewards and punishments; the effects of the
structure on individuals; and the process of structural change.

While difficult to achieve, a sophisticated intellectual grasp

of one's environment is richly rewarding, for it then allows one to

make very specific decisions based on very specific and accurate

107

perceptions. Having the fullest possible knowledge of the structural
elements in one's environment enables him to maneuver around obstacles
in his path, while remaining fully aware of his proximity to the
accepted boundaries of the social structure in question.

Accurate and precise understanding of environmental forces
serves the function of partially releasing one from the control of
those forces by bringing the elements of social structures to the con-
scious mind, enabling the mental processes to direct behavior toward
satisfying goals. While the self-fulfilled person is still subject to
environmental forces, his ability to understand the structures leading
to those forces provides him both increased choices based on accurate
knowledge of his environment and on accurate predictions about the
effects of those decisions on him. Rollo May has said that, as one
becomes aware of the deterministic experiences in his life, he moves
toward freedom and responsibility. Freedom, according to May, is an
individual's capacity to know that he is the determined one [50].

Every organization-~commercial, educational, religious, or
social--imposes controls on its members so that they will perceive the
purpose of the organization, as well as certain portions of their world
view, in similar terms which will maintain the organization. Each
organization, then, contains, in miniature, the kinds of forces society
imposes on its members. By examining the ways in which one might
respond to the controlling forces of an organization, we can see how
such an individual might do the same within the larger society.

For example, an individual who works for a large corporation

in a middle management position is under tremendous pressure to conform

108

to certain expectations not only within the organization, but also
during his nonworking hours. William Whyte has documented this in

The Organization Man [83]. There are recognized, though perhaps infor-
mal, lines of communication, codes of ethics, decision-making proce-
dures, entertainment rituals, special jargon, and ways of perceiving
problems, and much more. Conformity to these mores carries attractive
monetary or status rewards, and certainly many people deeply involved
in such organizations have seriously compromised their unique identi-
ties for an amorphous group identity. There is nothing wrong with
leading such a life, of course, if, after examining the consequences--
both positive and negative--one consciously decides that that is how he
wants to live. Unfortunately, there are many for whom such conscious
decision making has not been possible, because they joined an organi-
zation and became caught up in its structure before they realized what
had happened to them.

A self-fulfilled person, joining such an organization, would
possess the qualities we have discussed in this chapter. He would be
cognizant of the necessity for him to adapt his job to his personal
requirements rather than vice versa. Of course, behaving in ways that
might make his job and hence his life more fulfilling, such as setting
his own hours, individualizing decision-making procedures, re-defining
his job to fit his personality, and so forth, he might run afoul of
regulations or procedures prohibiting those behaviors. But, a self-
fulfilled person not only has the temperament to dare not to fit into
the expected mold, but also he does so with success, for he has a

sophisticated awareness of specific limits to which he can go without

109

making the re-definition of the organizational structure counter-
productive to his personal goals.

Needless to say, adapting the structure of one's environment--
whether it be an organization or a society--to one's personal require-
ments is not the way to reap the rewards that that environment bestows
on its members. External rewards are more often provided to those who
conform to external demands, rather than to those who fail to or who
choose not to conform. Status, prestige, or income may not accrue to
the self-fulfilled person, but such external rewards may not be impor-
tant to him. If they are, he will make the necessary accommodation to
realize these goals.

An important decision facing all people and especially relevant
for self-fulfilled people who adapt environmental structures to their
own personal requirements is determining the degree to which each per-
son has the responsibility to maintain and support the social environ-
ment. Can a person ignore customs or laws in his search for self-
fulfillment? While a complete response to this question is beyond the
scope of this work, we can suggest some important considerations.

The social order must be maintained, for man could not survive
without it. However, there is no absolute way of organizing society.
Any given culture may change form and develop new social structures
which may, in turn, affect people differently. We believe that the
test of beneficial social change, and, in fact, of society itself, is
the degree to which it reduces as many obstacles as possible in the

path of self-fulfillment and benefits the greatest number of pe0ple.

110

If an individual chooses to exceed permissible social limits,
he must accept responsibility not only for that act but also for the
ramifications it may have for the social order. He must carefully
weigh the morality of his actions by assessing them according to his
values, and the resulting behavior should be consistent with his fun-
damental perceptions. In addition, it should be supportive of the
belief that the existence of society involves tacit agreement among
its members not to interfere with the efforts others are making to
live satisfying lives. We suggest that whatever behavior one decides
is appropriate must be such that, if it became acceptable behavior on
a wide scale, it would be supportive of social living. Though this
is an oversimplification of an ethical decision-making process, it does
suggest that one has an obligation to support certain kinds of customs
or laws, and he cannot ignore them simply because it is in his imme-
diate interest to do so. Other kinds of customs or laws, however, may
ethically be violated because they have little, if any, effect on the
community. For instance, crimes involving injury to pe0ple or loss of
property could not be condoned, while personal preferences, which may
be socially unacceptable, such as victimless crimes, might be acceptable
from an ethical point of view.

Though highly differentiated and accurate perceptions of the
environment are crucial for self-fulfillment, one additional ability is
also necessary. Self-fulfilled people are able to insulate themselves
from the impact of certain traumatic events by allowing the intellec-
tual powers to mediate between these events and the self. This ability

to withdraw oneself from immediate contact with a troubling situation

111

and to cope with it intellectually instead of, or in addition to,
emotionally, provides greater perspective than otherwise might be
possible. With this perspective, the self-fulfilled person can under-
stand the components of the situation, analyze them, and enter fully
into the situation when he chooses to do so, whereas people who have
not developed their mental powers to this degree may become totally
involved in a situation, fail to see its components and, consequently,
fail to make the best decisions.

Closely related to the ability to respond effectively to sig-
nificant events in a detached manner is the ability to rehearse intel-
lectually possible traumatic events prior to their occurrence. By
caping with possible future events intellectually, an individual can
familiarize himself as much as possible with the emotional impact of
the event and explore in his mind possible responses. If and when the
event actually occurs, his ability to cope with it effectively will be
enhanced by his previous intellectual preparation. This is essential,
for if an individual does not believe he is able to handle an experi-
ence, he will not be able to do so. Finally, decision making in a time
of crisis is likely to be more effective because of previously con-
sidered responses which may even have become weak habits, thus requiring
less conscious thought.

Bruno Bettelheim sees the intellectual understanding of possible
events as a critical determinant of how successfully one will cope with
his environment. While he was imprisoned by the Nazis, he saw fellow
prisoners literally going berserk because of their inability to with-

stand the brutal treatment of their captors. Some preferred suicide to

112

continued dehumanization, and others cooperated with the Nazis. Most

of the prisoners, though, allowed their psychological condition to
deteriorate to a point where they were unable to function effectively.
Bettelheim attributes his survival to his ability to view the events
almost as an observer rather than as a participant. As a psychologist,
he consciously abstracted himself from the immediacy of the prison

camp experience by trying to understand the process of dehumanization
used by his captors and its effects on the prisoners. He feels that he
was sufficiently uninvolved to maintain his rationality and, in fact,
his sanity. This experience led him to hypothesize ". . . that while an
integrated personality and strong inner convictions, nourished by
satisfying personal relations, are one's best protection against
oppressive controls, another cardinal defense is the intellectual mastery

of events as they happen" (emphasis ours) [3].

 

vi

Man can break the bonds that restrain his fulfillment, but not
without pain and even agony. Man must develop a relationship to his
culture and society that runs counter to the prevailing social and
personal forces. The effects of culture are toward control, prediction
(Himassbehavior, and conformity. Self-fulfillment, on the other hand,
requires sustained determination and persistence to escape from or at
least to modify the strong and pervasive forces that urge conformity,
that limit perceptions, and that provide external direction for beha-
viors. Man cannot be taught to live a fulfilling life in the same way
that he can be taught to perceive the environment according to the

reality of his culture, because self-fulfillment is an intensely personal

113

experience which each person must create for himself. A fulfilling
life is not achieved through the subtle mechanism of unconscious adap-
tation to environmental conditions, but through a conscious and contin-
uous effort to restrain the personal and environmental forces tending
toward safety, least effort, and conformity to social expectations.

A fulfilling life must be reaffirmed again and again and decisions must
be made based on a sophisticated understanding of the environment and
of oneself.

While self-fulfilled people have unusual perceptual and intel-
lectual powers, self-fulfillment itself involves more than just using
these powers for effective decision making. It is a process, not a
product--a way of perceiving one's existence that places one on a dif-
ferent experiential level than most people. The quality of the satis-
fying experiences is high precisely because the individual has based
his decisions on accurate perceptions of himself and of his environ-
ment and has accurately selected choices that his perceptions and mental
powers indicate are the most satisfying options open to him. Thus,
the self-fulfilled person is consciously aware of his struggle to move
beyond the level of acquiring basic necessities. He has created a
meaning to his life, based on his knowledge of himself and of his envi-
ronment, and all his efforts seek to actualize this meaning.

A self-fulfilled person is deeply aware of the human condition,
which Bruno Bettelheim has described as ". . . man's inner ability to
govern himself, . . . with a conscientious search for meaning despite
the realization that, so far as we know, there is no purpose to one's

life" [3]. The self-fulfilled person is able and willing to undertake

114

the most difficult responsibility of all: to create for himself a
l ife based on a realistic and rational appraisal of himself and his

environment and to make conscious decisions consistent with the mean-

ing he has found.

PART II

CHAPTER V

THE SELF-FULFILLING CURRICULUM

The preceding chapters have presented a view of human develop-
ment that sees man as having develOped the ability to reach beyond a
survival level of existence and to experience a style of living that
is fully and deeply satisfying. However, man has also developed inter-
nal forces, which, along with natural and social forces, restrict this
ultimate process of life. On balance, the tendencies toward safety,
restraint, and conformity overpower the forces of growth, as evidenced
by the relatively few people--even those whose physical needs are
satisfied--who appear to live truly fulfilling lives. While most people
merely adapt to the demands and expectations of the physical and social
environment, we believe that the potential for self-fulfillment is
within the reach of each person. Ultimately, the degree to which an
individual will achieve self-fulfillment depends on him alone, for he
must wage a continual struggle to overcome obstacles to his style of
living. But, while the achievement of self-fulfillment is ultimately
dependent upon the individual, another important factor is the opportu-
nity and the encouragement to create perceptions, to develop the mental
powers, and to learn the techniques conducive to effective decision

making.

115

116

Two questions, to which we wish to address ourselves in Part II,
are: "How can one encourage in others the development of perceptions,
mental powers, and decision-making abilities that make possible a ful-
filling style of life? and "What techniques can we successfully employ
for this task?" It seems probable that, on an individual basis, people
can be helped to develop the appropriate skills and attitudes necessary
for a fulfilling style of life. But, is such instruction possible on
a mass scale? A detailed answer to this question is beyond the scope
of this work, but our study suggests that such instruction may not be
possible. Even if this were true, however, it does not follow that no
effort should be made to help others achieve fulfillment. Even though
the interests of the social order are opposed to individual self-
fulfillment, the social order must not be allowed, without opposition,
to dictate the terms of life to its members, without regard for their
unique personalities.

To discover appropriate techniques to help people move toward
self-fulfillment requires, first, the understanding of the component
forces and tendencies that both encourage and restrict such growth. A
second requirement is the development of an environment in which effec-
tive decision making can be taught and learned; and a third, the crea-
tion of specific techniques to strengthen those forces and tendencies
that urge one toward maximizing his satisfaction while minimizing those
that urge restraint. Part II will concern itself with the second and
third requirements.

The context for our discussion will be the public elementary

and secondary schools, because they offer the logical arena for helping

117

young people on a large scale. Schools purport to try to help students
live better lives, and the adoption of a curriculum aimed at self-
fulfillment may reasonably be expected to approach this goal. A second
reason that public schools have been chosen is that, by and large, they
must improve the job they are doing of helping students perceive them-
selves as healthy, competent, independent, and intelligent people.
While the structure and content of most schools teach some necessary
skills and attitudes, these schools also encourage competition and
conformity, which may result in negative self-perceptions.

The suggestions that follow attempt to provide both general
guidelines and specific suggestions for incorporating our view of human
development into schools. This chapter will examine the structural
aspects of a self-fulfilling curriculum--its philosophy, organization.
and day-to-day procedure. Chapter VI will then discuss the classroom
aspects--specific principles of instruction, staff requirements, and

suggestions for teachers.
ii

Schools serve a unique purpose in those societies that have
deemed it necessary to create them, and the nature of schooling is
different from that of any other institution. Schools always try to
make sure that children learn the appr0priate perceptions of reality
that the adults in control of the schools believe are necessary. There
may also be some interest in improving society or in helping children
actualize their potential.

The design of school programs and structures always incorporates

the designers' views of human nature, and, though there are many different

118

concepts of what schools ought to do to and for the students, several
features are common to all schools. All schools reflect a uniformity
in their perceptions of human growth and development. Furthermore,
schools are always controlled by adults who have the final word and
who are regarded as responsible for the degree to which students
learn. Activities take place in schools which have been prescribed
indirectly by society and directly by teachers in order to meet the
system's stated or unstated goals. A system of external rewards is
always the consequence of behavior, and schools accept the notion that
perceptions become more specific with a child's age.

Viewed within the framework of human growth that we discussed
in the preceding chapters, this curriculum framework is logical and
consistent. Using the concepts we have described, we can discuss the
general purpose and function of schools.

Humans are the only animals that depend to an exceptional degree
on their environment for appropriate information about effective ways
to act. The problem of dependence on sensory data from the environment'
is compounded by the fact that man has chosen to form relationships with
others for mutual cooperation. These two human characteristics require
each person to develop a world view that is similar to that of others in
his group. This would then facilitate mutual co-existence and coopera-
tion. Schools are designed with this dual relationship in mind, though
most important, from the point of view of society, is the inculcation
of the acceptable myths of reality that have enabled the society to
survive.

Since children are born physically weak and with highly undif-

ferentiated perceptions, they are initially dependent on adults for

119

their every need. As they grow, they depend on adults for fewer and
fewer needs, due to their increased physical strength and coordination,
their increased perceptual fields, and their ability to use their men-
tal powers more effectively.

The role that adults play in the course of this maturation is
critical, for it is experiences that affect perceptions, which, in turn,
facilitate the development of one's world view and of skills conducive
to social living. Parents and other adults are instrumental in permit-
ting and encouraging specific experiences that they feel are desirable,
and they forbid others. In this way, the child creates increasingly
sophisticated perceptions and develops socially useful habits. Of
course, the child's parents may not have the interests of society in
mind when they train him to behave in certain ways. They probably
want him to acquire those habits that will make him a "decent" member
of the family: the ability to cooperate, to obey, to share, to refrain
from undue noise, to follow directions, to communicate his wishes, to
care for himself, and so forth. Not surprisingly, these are also use-
ful habits when the child enters the larger society.

Since the process of developing socially useful habits, as well
as a more highly differentiated perceptual field, is a function of age
as well as experience, it continues at least throughout childhood and
often throughout adulthood. It is logical, then, to see school as a
natural continuation of the educative process that had begun at home.
The school room is a larger social group than the family, and the teacher
is another adult, who designs and controls the experiences that take

place at school. These experiences continue to be those that develop

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independence in children along socially approved lines, and which seek
to insure that the child's behavior will be predictable and conducive
to the maintenance of the social order.

Children acquire the socially approved perceptions of their
environment through the structure of formal education as well as through
the process of specific school activities. The general procedure by
which schools operate-~the age or ability grouping, hierarchical organ-
ization, the order in which materials are presented, the system of
rewards and punishments, and the expectation to conform to external
requirements and judgments--all teach children attitudes about reality
that are deemed important by adults. The specific activities, too,
teach the nature of reality, as well as more highly differentiated
perceptions.

Teachers generally acknowledge that learning occurs when experi-
ences children have are meaningful to them; that is, when the experi-
ences relate to previous meaningful experiences, so that meanings, in
turn, can be attached to the new experiences. Teachers, realizing that
classroom learning alone is often inadequate, try to relate classroom
activities to the nonschool world. They may schedule field trips,
show films, or invite speakers to address their classes. Or they may
design more elaborate programs to bridge school and community life
or to appeal specifically to student interests, such as sponsoring work-
study opportunities in the community, individually designed programs,
outdoor education, classes to teach student-requested subjects, like
popular culture, and many others.

The role of the teachers has always been important in the edu-

cative process. Teachers represent the society at large and its

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demands which students are not even expected to accept or understand.
They are merely expected to conform uncritically to the wishes of the
adults. To insure that conformity in schools takes places, teachers
are given the power to set requirements and restrictions, to judge
behavior, and to dispense rewards and punishments. Part of the reason
teachers are given this power is, of course, to prepare students for
the society at large, which also wields power over individuals. Teach-
ers also have the power to insist that students engage in certain
activities that are acceptable to the teachers; left on their own,
students might choose other activities. Consciously or unconsciously,
those who design schools realize that a tendency toward least effort
exists, influencing both the goals and the means toward those goals.
Teachers generally set the goals for their students--or approve of
student-set goals, set certain minimum criteria--usually corresponding

to the least effort that teachers are willing to accept.
iii

An examination of schools reveals two significant character-
istics that we maintain exist in all schools: first, schooling seeks
to inculcate in students the socially necessary myths of reality;
and second, schools operate according to the innate tendencies and
developmental characteristics of people, as perceived by those in
charge. This latter point is important, for the degree to which the
perceived nature of the learner is accurate in the designing of school

programs probably represents the degree to which school can efficiently

and effectively help him differentiate his perceptual field and to

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improve upon decision-making skills. Unfortunately, the perceptions
of human nature of those who operate the schools is, we believe, often
inaccurate, giving rise to curricula and to teaching methods that are
self-defeating, precisely because they are designed for people who do
not exist. Two examples of very different classroom situations may
illustrate this point.

The first example is of a hypothetical fifth grade classroom,
whose teacher has acquired a traditional public school view of human
nature and of the purpose of formal education. In his view, children--
and perhaps people in general--need to be controlled, for "chaos" is
the primary threat to ordered society. They also need to learn social
skills like obedience, perseverance, goal-orientation, and frustration-
tolerance, because life is demanding and following the rules and coping
effectively with adversity are the paths to success. In addition,
personal skills, such as mathematics, reading, and spelling must be
learned, because these skills are needed for the future. In fact,
the children's present lives are not particularly significant to those
in charge of the school; what is important is preparing them for their
fgtppg_lives.

This view of school and of the role of the teacher leads to a
curriculum and to teaching methods in which the adults have made all
the major and most of the minor decisions about what is to be done
when, where, and by whom. They have determined that in the fifth
grade, students will learn or improve their skills in reading, writing,
spelling, math, science, and social studies. Music, physical education,

and art may be taught when time and resources permit such "frills."

123

The fifth grade teacher realizes that his students do not
especially want to do the lessons he has designed for them, and he must
induce them to do their lessons by rewarding those who do well and
not rewarding--or even punishing--those who do badly. The children's
behavior reinforces the teacher's belief that children are basically
lazy and need to be rewarded or punished for their behavior.

Yet, the teacher may be reasonably successful in achieving his
goals. Enough students learn what he wants them to learn to justify
the teaching approach he is using. Even though many students do not
like school, tests at year's end show that their skills have improved
as much as they should in a year. After all, that is what is supposed
to happen in a school.

In our view, the major fault with the traditional classroom is
the disregard for the individual's perceptions of reality. All fifth
graders are no more alike than are all teachers. Teaching perceptions
that have meaning for the adults may have resulted in the children's
parroting of those perceptions, but it is probable that, for only a
few, did those perceptions make a meaningful contribution to their
views of reality and hence, to their lives. For the rest, high test
scores may have meant only that the students were good at intellectual
gymnastics--tricks that they learned for the tests alone. Of course,
criticizing the teacher on this score is a little unfair, for he never
implied that the skills he was teaching would have immediate benefit
for his students. He can be criticized, however, for his wholly inac-
curate view that people can acquire views of reality that others have

decided are important.

124

Our second illustration is based on the reactiontxitraditional
teaching which has taken place in recent years. In response to the
insensitivity of the adults to the uniqueness of each individual in
teacher-dominated classrooms, parents, teachers, and at times, students
have developed alternative learning environments. "Open classroom"
or "free school" advocates perceive people as generally cooperative,
striving toward a mature perspective of themselves and of life, and
able to make effective decisions. The purpose of school, according
to this view, is to allow growth to take place by providing the envi-
ronment, the resources, and opportunity for students to do that which
they determine--individually or collectively--is important to them.

The teacher is rarely a purveyor of knowledge, for he realizes that

his perceptions of reality are no better than those of his students--
only different. He knows that each person must discover for himself

his own version of truth, and he believes that this will occur naturally,
by allowing children as much freedom as possible. He sees his role,
therefore, as a counselor, a friend, a helper, or a "process person"--
one whose job it is to help individuals clarify their thoughts and feel-
ings. His task is to do what the children want or need him to do.

The curriculum in an open classroom is usually nonspecific. It
is not a product-curriculum, describing the results to be achieved,
but a process-curriculum, emphasizing decision making, problem solving,
and planning. Inherent in an open classroom philosophy, however, is
the implication that students will benefit--both immediately and in the
future--from their learning activities. They may be happier, more

independent, more creative, or simply freer. Students are encouraged

125

to do generally what they wish, as long as it does not interfere with
another child's activity, for, as advocates of open classrooms believe,
only the child knows what his "needs" are and how best to meet them.
Thus, "socializing" is regarded as just as valid an activity as is
reading or arithmetic, and no one is surprised when behavior takes
place that appears shocking to those used to more traditional schools.
Little time, compared to traditional schools, is spent in reading,
writing, or doing math, because such activities may have little bearing
on a child's present life as he perceives it. And, since he does not
have to engage in these activities, he spends time on other activities
that are more meaningful to him.

Like his traditional classroom counterpart, we feel that the
open classroom teacher misjudges the nature of people. It is an over-
simplification of the complex motivational forces within the human
organism and directional forces within the environment to assert
unconditionally that growth toward some ideal psychological and intel-
lectual state is an innate tendency, one which will take place auto-
matically--if only children do what they wish. Some people, to be
sure, thrive in an open classroom. They learn to plan and to carry out
activities of interest to them, which present sufficient challenge to
further develop their views of reality and their social and intel-
lectual skills. Other children, however, may find an open classroom
overwhelming precisely because of the choices that are available.
Unable or unwilling to make adequate decisions about their behavior that
will contribute to growth, such students may choose familiar activities

that provide the structure the open classroom appears to lack.

126

The second misjudgment that the supporters of open classrooms
make is their belief that children are able to make effective deci-
sions regarding their behavior and that they ought to be allowed to do
so. The trouble with this belief is that it is generalized to include
nearly all children. While some children do make decisions that lead
to more accurate perceptions, for example, the percentage is small.
Effective decision making is a function of complex mental faculties
that are developed over a period of time and through experience.
Children have had neither the time nor the experience to have developed
faculties for effective decision making. And simply letting children
choose their activities in school is no guarantee that they will
develop these faculties. It is likely instead, that, because of the
various internal and external forces, children may behave in ways that
are unsatisfactory to them and they may lack the awareness of how to
change their behavior.

Each of these systems of schooling achieves the immediate results
it sets out to achieve. The traditional classroom emphasizes and
achieves conformity to external demands and standards and the acquisi-
tion of traditional intellectual skills. In an open classroom, on the
other hand, students do what they deem to be in their interest, with a
minimum of adult interference. The important question that educators
must ask is, "To what degree are the philosophy, curriculum, and teach-
ing methods in schools compatible with the nature of the learner, with
his necessity to respond effectively to environmental conditions, and
with his personal goals?" The following section suggests a first step

in answering this crucial question.

l27
iv

The purpose and procedures of a self-fulfilling school curric-
ulum are all directed toward helping students become self-fulfilled
people. There is no "goal" in the sense of an end-point in a self-
fulfilling curriculum; rather the goal is to establish an ongoing
decision-making process that enables students to choose highly satis-
fying experiences. The curriculum, then, must first provide for
students the opportunity to develop those skills and attitudes neces-
sary for self-fulfillment. This requires time, but the forces dis-
couraging self-fulfillment are strong and more than time is required.
In addition to time, then, there must also be carefully planned and
executed procedures to help people develop their perceptions, mental
powers, and the ability and willingness to take control of their
lives. The development of this decision-making ability requires both
the intellectual understanding of the process and of the forces that
affect it, along with sufficient practice making effective decisions,
so that the process may become internalized and habitual. But the
problems to be solved must be ones that encourage sufficient intellec-
tual stimulation for growth to occur. John Dewey said that, "Unless
a given experience leads out into a field previously unfamiliar no
problems arise, while problems are the stimulus to thinking. . . .
Growth depends upon the presence of difficulty to be overcome by the
exercise of intelligence" [l3].

A self-fulfilling curriculum must begin with the perceptions of

reality of those involved, for that is the cornerstone on which rests

128

this entire view of human development. A cardinal rule that applies

to all effective teaching situations is that learning always begins
with the learner's perceptions of reality and proceeds to unknown,
though related, areas. Learning usually occurs through the gradual
development of increasingly specific perceptions. As basic as this
rule is and as often as it is mentioned, much of the instruction in
schools disregards it entirely. It is difficult, of course, to under-
stand the world views of 30 or more students. But the major reason why
this rule is ignored in teaching is that an easier alternative "works";
pe0ple can be trained to do both physical as well as intellectual feats.
The fact that one "knows the material," as "proved" by a test, is abso-
lutely no indication that it has any meaning at all for him or that it
will affect his life in any way.

It is occasionally true that breaking the rule that learning
always proceeds from the learner's perceptions of reality results in
the creation of significant and meaningful perceptions. It is remotely
possible that sometime during or after instilling in one's memory a
series of related ideas that have no meaning to the individual, a sit-
uation will arise that will suddenly put these perceptions into mean-
ingful context.

Students must be aided in differentiating their perceptual fields
in ways that have meaning for them. However, to be efficient and effec-
tive, a teacher must monitor, as well as he can, the process by which the
differentiation is taking place. There are many obstacles in the way
of expanding perceptions of reality and the search for "truth" often

requires assistance. A teacher can suggest short cuts, recommend better

129

procedures, or discourage probable dead-end investigations, all

because of his highly differentiated perceptual field and teaching
skills. Let us take, for example, a group of students who have chosen
as a project an investigation of why people act the way they do.
Unaided by someone who has a more complex view of behavior and of
investigating procedures than they, the students might proceed in inef-
ficient ways, if not in ways that may produce inaccurate results.
Inefficiency alone is not necessarily undesirable, because students may
learn a better process from their experience. However, they might not
discover the inaccuracy because they had not yet developed effective
tests for the accuracy of perceptions.

For instance, a group of students might conclude that behavior
is largely a manifestation of race. Black people are "loud and aggres-
sive" and white people are "soft—spoken and refined." A teacher who is
aware of this impending conclusion may intervene and, through a series
of questions, or by directing the investigators to other evidence that
does not support their tentative conclusion, help his students to per-
ceive their world in more realistic terms.

The above example touches on an important point with which a
self-fulfilling curriculum must deal. Not only must perceptual fields
become more specific, but also perceptions must become more accurate.
The one without the other is useless, and developing accurate percep-
tions largely depends on learning what kinds of tests are appropriate
for what kinds of perceptions. Acquiring the ability to identify and
use appr0priate tests runs counter to the principle of least effort,

because effective testing takes more energy than minimal testing.

130

Moreover, effective testing of perceptions is so crucial for effective
decision making that an effort must be made to develop appropriate
teaching techniques.

To help students discover tests for perceptions of external
origin is equivalent to helping them develop the perspective with which
to view such perceptions in context, so that perceptions are seen in
their appropriate relationship with other perceptions. The ability to
minimize one's highly subjective view of certain forces or events is
critical in developing objective criteria that may be applied uniformly
to similar situations. For instance, let us suppose that one is study-
ing the history or culture of an ethnic, religious, or cultural group
with which he identifies strongly. It is easy for him to see the
achievements and struggles of that group in very positive and personal
terms. For him, their struggles have always been just and their
achievements great and many. However, to view this group within the
context of the world, to see the group in perspective, one must iden-
tify criteria--as unemotionally as possible--by which he will evaluate
the group. These criteria do not remove the subjective element, of
course, but only reduce it.

While tests for the accuracy of perceptions of external reality
require seeing the perceptions dispassionately and in perspective, they
also require the development of certain tools and the willingness to
use them. Students should be able to judge the biases of various
arguments or positions, to identify and to use appropriate resources
when examining perceptions, and to determine the quality of the infor-

mation dispensed by a given resource. To illustrate this latter point,

131

it is probably safe to assume that most children first learn about sex
from their peers. While their information may be accurate, it is
highly probable that it will not be. The child needs to learn to
judge that his peers are not necessarily a reliable source for this
information and that an adult or an appropriate book might give him
better information.

Emphasis in a self-fulfilling curriculum must be placed on the
individual's significant self-perceptions, because they constitute an
important element in the decision-making process. A serious problem
often arises when people are not aware of their self-perceptions and
are called upon to make a decision that deeply affects them. Such
decisions may be made without taking one's values or self-perceptions
into account, and the result may be disastrous. The tragic result of
such decisions can be seen in those who feel "trapped" by a job, a
marriage, a school, a lifestyle, or similar situations.

A self-fulfilling curriculum will try to help students develop
the ability to identify, test, and strengthen their self-perceptions
through discussions, role playing, nonclassroom experiences, and other
means. Helping students to develop a procedure for examining their self-
perceptions early in life will prepare them for value-oriented deci-
sions in the future by enabling them to incorporate consciously values
into the decision-making process.

In addition, a self-fulfilling curriculum will try to help
people develop positive self-perceptions and view themselves as healthy,
productive, and worthy pe0ple. Helping one to change negative self-

perceptions to positive ones is immensely difficult, for they are

132

fundamental to the individual's views of himself and of his world, and
attempts to change them may be strongly resisted. However, negative
self-perceptionslaredestructive both to the individual and to others.
The behavior of a person with negative self-perceptions will reinforce
his feelings of unworthiness, which cannot possibly be satisfying. He
may strike out against others in an attempt to assert himself, gain
attention, or react against those he may blame for his unhappiness.
Those with negative self-perceptions as well as those with positive
ones must have experiences in school that reinforce their feelings of
self-worth or that help them create positive self-perceptions.

The final emphasis of a self-fulfilling curriculum as it affects
internal perceptions is the inculcation of what we tern "the necessary
myth"--a view of the condition of mankind that is necessary for self-
fulfillment. This myth holds, simply, that man has the ability to
create a meaning for his life and to direct his life in ways that can
be truly satisfying to him. This myth flies in the face of much evi-
dence regarding the human condition, one which leads most people to
live their lives with fatalistic acceptance. This myth must be taught
not because it mgy_be "true," but because the peli§f_that it is true
may encourage one to pghayg_as if it were true. The consequent behavior
may, in turn, lead people to discover meaning to their ‘1ives,. to seek
truly satisfying experiences, and to rise above the condition in which

most of humanity finds itself.

Developing appropriate internal perceptions is only part of

the purpose of a self-fulfilling curriculum. Another aspect of the

133

is the development of perceptions about the environment. Although we
maintain that the creation of a logical world view is an innate ten-
dency, teachers can help students improve upon the logical relationships
that they have created by helping them to see such relationships in
more sophisticated terms. 'This will enable students to see more clearly
the social forces and obstacles that influence their lives and provide
greater choice within the social structure. Such differentiation of
the perceptual field of reality must, of course, begin with the indi-
vidual's world view and proceed to finer and finer details. The problems
inherent in this teaching goal are considerable, for discovering an
effective way to individualize instruction for*a.groupof’people is an
extremely difficult task. Such instruction can and does occur in schools,
on a limited basis and with limited goals, but to individualize instruc-
tion for an entire class with a goal as broad as increased differentia-
tion of the perceptual fields is a constant challenge.

Teaching students to modify the prevailing social forces in
ways that enhance satisfaction is fraught with problems, chief among
which is the fact that public schools have been created and are main-
tained primarily to inculcate in young people the dominant view of
reality. Conflicts may arise when some citizens realize that students
are learning that the dominant social view is arbitrary, changes, and
may not coincide with comfortable social beliefs about democracy,
equality, and similar concepts. The teacher must help students to
realize that along with the arbitrariness of rules and the hostility of
the social forces to personal satisfaction, every group must have agree-

ment among its members as to what constitutes reality and that fairly

134

unified perceptions of reality are essential for mutual co-existence.
Students must also realize the responsibility each person has in main-
taining the social order, while, at the same time, modifying its con-
trolling effect on them. The teaching of such a sensitive and diffi-
cult subject cannot occur in a short time. It must be a carefully
planned component of the entire public school curriculum, so that stu-
dents have ample time to understand and apply such sophisticated social
concepts.

Teachers of a self-fulfilling curriculum must also design tech-
niques by which they can teach students to develop their mental powers.
A highly differentiated perceptual field is useless without the ability
to use one's intellect to see the complex relationships between percep-
tions or between perceptions and sensory data about the environment.
Such intellectual powers will probably develop as perceptions increase
in specificity, but the teacher should be aware that the increased dif-
ferentiation of perceptions and the ability to use the specific infor-
mation are two different elements of the growth process.

An important tool for coping effectively with otherwise over-
whelming events is the ability to remove oneself from the emotional
closeness of certain events and to view them from a distance that
allows as many of the elements of which they are composed to be seen
with perspective. Such perspective will, in turn, enable one to see
alternative ways of handling the situations that may have escaped him
initially because of their overpowering nature. One's actions then can

be more deliberate, and probably more effective, since he has used his

135

intellect to analyze the situation, to arrive at appropriate responses
based on his analysis, and to guide his actions.

A dramatic example of the way that this process can be taught
and then used can be seen in the training and work of emergency medical
service personnel. Their training involves a practical intellectual
understanding of human physiology, the techniques to be used in emer-
gency medical situations, and simulated emergency situations. The
result of this training is that in a medical emergency, these people
respond effectively. In the midst of noise, flashing lights, confusion,
and perhaps darkness or inclement weather, they are able to analyze
the situation quickly and administer the appropriate aid.

The ability to cope effectively with possible overwhelming sit-
uations depends, too, on one's belief that he is able to do so. This
intangible component of the decision-making process may be seen as the
catalyst that allows the other components to reSpond in a coordinated
fashion. What probably makes emergency medical personnel effective in
c0ping with medical emergencies that may be new to them is, in large
part, the belief that they can do so. Doubts about one's ability have
no place in a crisis.

Of course, most of the crises faced by people throughout their
lives are far less dramatic--though no less critical--than medical
emergencies. They may include life situations, occurring more-or-less
regularly, which cause one emotional stress, thus making it difficult
for him to gain sufficient perspective from which to make appropriate
decisions. Such situations must be defined individually, for, what is

a crisis to one person may be commonplace to another. Some crises may

136

occur suddenly and last a relatively short time--disasters, accidents,
loss of a job, and so forth. Others may develop slowly and last a
long time--a serious illness, physical changes, or social upheavals.
All of these experiences can be incapacitating, and a self-fulfilling
curriculum should help people fortify themselves against the impact

of these occurrences.

vi

The structural design of any curriculum does much to determine
whether its goals will be realized, for the structure of a complex pro-
cess like education is a dynamic, multi-dimensional framework. It
relates the purpose to the people involved and defines procedures for
attaining that purpose. Every organization has such a structure, whether
it is consciously designed or not. To fail to design carefully the
structure may result in a school which develops a wholly different pur-
pose, one whose structure is not as conducive to self-fulfillment as
another might be.

Like the structure of most schools, that of a self-fulfilling
school serves three purposes. First, it sets up a method for handling
routine matters that otherwise might occupy an inordinate amount of
time. Second, it clearly states the acceptable behavioral limits.

These limits insure that a particular view of reality, procedures, and
purpose will be maintained, for without these limits, alternative views,
procedures, and purposes may evolve that may not contribute to growth.
Certain limits may apply to students, others to faculty, and still

others to both students and faculty. These limits must be seen not so

137

much as restricting desirable behavior, lmft as restricting undesirable
behavior that may interfere with the goals of the school.

The third purpose of the structure of a self-fulfilling school
is to establish procedures for orderly change. These will clearly
define the participation of the various segments of the population that
might be affected by the proposed change. Depending on the percep-
tions of those who control the school, and on the proposed change,
this might include students, teachers, administrators, parents, and
others.

The brief outline of a school structure described here is
meant only to suggest a possible format for educational organization.
Obviously it is not the only possible way a self-fulfilling curriculum
might be implemented. The basic principle is that reality is primarily
an individual creation, and the precise way that a school with a self-
fulfilling curriculum operates depends upon the individuals affected by
it. A self-fulfilling school in a middle-class university community
would operate very differently from a school in an inner-city ghetto,
though both strive to help children become self-fulfilled. The adults
and children involved would design their respective schools consistent
with their perceptions of reality, which would likely result in marked
differences between these two schools.

We view a self-fulfilling school as a laboratory in which people
learn to make effective decisions regarding their lives. It is a place
for individuals to learn to respond effectively to situations they are
likely to encounter by participating in activities designed to increase

the breadth and depth of their understanding of themselves and of their

138

environment. In order to learn what actions result in what degrees of
satisfaction, students must be free to experiment with various responses
to real or hypothetical events and to observe the results of their
actions.

In keeping with the laboratory concept of a self-fulfilling
school, such experimentation will be carefully supervised by teachers
who will make decisions that they feel are likely to promote personal
growth in students. For instance, a group of students may decide to
discover the effects of doing whatever they want to do for a period of
time--say, for several weeks. For such an experiment in freedom to
contribute significantly to the perceptions that the students have of
themselves and of the responses in such a situation, certain guidelines
or controls are probably necessary. The teacher may insist on some
evaluative procedures to enable his students to maximize the educative
value of the experience. Students might be required to keep journals
during the experiment and to record their thoughts and feelings about
their experience. There may also be intensive, well-planned discussions
following the experiment to stimulate still greater perceptual differ-
entiation.

The comparison of a self—fulfilling school with a laboratory is
not meant to imply that its atmosphere is sterile or dull. A self-
fulfilling school is an active, enjoyable place for children, because
they are engaged in activities that have considerable meaning for them.
While fun, joy, and happiness are not the immediate goals of a self-
fulfilling school, they may well be the immediate results. Students

from elementary years on know that their school has a purpose, which is

139

related to immediate and future satisfying feelings. The consistency
of this purpose from class to class and from year to year provides a
sense of security, a sense of meaning, and a perceptible goal loosely
unifying all the school experiences children will have. This unifying
purpose contrasts markedly with many elementary and secondary schools
where the purposes are so diffuse as to be imperceptible to students
and teachers alike.

Though we will suggest classroom activities in the next chapter,
we take the pragmatic position that if a classroom activity or a struc-
tural component helps students become self-fulfilled, that is generally
sufficient evidence and justification for its continuation. Thus, the
goal of self-fulfillment is far more important than the process toward
that goal, but it must be remembered that the goal of self-fulfillment
is itself a process. If those in charge of schools are serious about
maintaining a self-fulfilling curriculum, the nature of self-fulfillment
may well curb some of the possible abuses inherent in educational
pragmatism.

The operating structure of a self-fulfilling school has devel-
oped consciously through careful thought about the purpose of the school.
It represents a structure not unlike that of the larger social order
of which it is a part. The existence of a clearly defined, consciously
created structure itself contributes to students' understanding of
organizations by enabling them to see the school's interrelated organi-
zational components. Students may come to understand that, like the
larger society, their school has rules that are essentially arbitrary
rather than "natural laws" and that rules are usually necessary for an

organization which has a purpose.

CHAPTER VI

BACK TO BASICS

A self-fulfilling curriculum strives to teach basic skills and
attitudes which have been all but ignored in most public schools. These
basic skills have traditionally been only superficially and tangen-
tially a part of the total curriculum, giving way to such nonbasics as
reading, writing, arithmetic, and other "frills," that, for a great
many students, have little or nothing to do with their lives. The
curricula of most schools fail to distinguish between what is impor-
tant and what is not. Traditionally, public schools have tried to get
students to internalize the world views of adults. To accomplish this
job, teachers have designed courses of study—-often in elaborate detail--
which, to them, had meaning. But how often do the "wrong" children seem
to enroll in that grade or class, who show little interest in what
their teachers have designed? To criticize the adults in this case is
a little unfair, for they are only doing what adults have historically
done: to instill their perceptions of reality in the children. The
adults can be criticized, however, on the basis of their belief that
academic skills and social acculturation alone are adequate curriculum
goals.

The real criticism of a traditional curriculum and the reason

we are proposing an alternative is that the traditional curriculum

140

141

denies the individuality of each child's unique world view, which is
and always will be different from those of his classmates. To account
for this difference, while remaining cognizant both of the require-
ments of social living and of the nature of people, we are suggesting
a self-fulfilling curriculum whose chief difference from the tradi-
tional subject-oriented curriculum is that itis perception oriented.
The goals of a self-fulfilling curriculum are to facilitate growth
toward self-fulfillment by helping students to develop more highly
differentiated perceptions of themselves and their environment, to
develop more fully their mental powers, and to acquire certain per-
ceptions of mankind, all of which will, in turn, facilitate effective
decision making.

It is by no means an easy task to regard 30 students as 30
individuals with 30 different world views, and teaching 30 students in
a self-fulfilling school is indeed a challenge. The traditional
approach to teaching must be modified, at times drastically, both to
account for the realization that one is teaching 30 individuals and to
accept that one's job is to teach perceptions and processes rather than
just subjects and academic skills. Helping students develop the skills
and attitudes necessary for self-fulfillment requires a combination of
teacher direction to assure that students are approaching a self-
fulfilling decision-making process within the reality of the social
structure, as well as student choice so that the experiences they are
having are meaningful to them. It is always a difficult task to deter-
mine just what this combination should be to maximize learning, and it

changes from student to student and from situation to situation.

142

Each teacher must arrive at a workable balance that makes sense
from his point of view to allow as much choice as possible for students
while realizing the goals that he has set. We believe that the teacher
must assume ultimate control in his classroom for four reasons. First,
it is he in whom society has vested the power and responsibility for
teaching children socially accepted perceptions and skills. Even if
one cannot accept his society's controlling structure, he cannot ignore
the role society has prescribed_to teachers. Second, a teacher has
had more experiences than his students, giving him more specific per-
ceptions within a more fully developed world view. Thus he has greater
perspective with which to view the lives of his students, enabling him
to help his students develop greater perspective in turn and more com-
plete and complex world views. Third, he has the training to help
students further differentiate their own world views, to develop their
mental powers, and to improve upon their decision-making processes.
Fourth, the teacher needs the decision-making power to insist that
students engage in certain activities when he determines they should
do so, because the process of growth toward self-fulfillment is diffi-
cult and may be avoided by some people because of its difficulty. Of
course, this power must be used judiciously, for it can easily be mis-
used. The decisions teachers make that affect their students are based
not on the inevitability that a certain classroom activity will result
in certain growth, but on the probability that it will.

Teachers in a self-fulfilling school realize that content goals
are not as important as they are in traditional schools and that the

types of perceptions that he wants his students to create must be

143

created by each of them according to their unique world views. There-
fore, he tries to give his students as many decision-making opportu-
nities as he feels is possible.

There is no "ideal" teacher for a self-fulfilling school. A
wide variety of personalities can successfully teach in a self-fulfilling
school, and schools should try to employ people who represent differ-
ent points of view, both because they represent different types of
people that students will encounter outside of school and because a
variety of pe0ple on the staff will provide a variety of adult models
for students and people with whom they can interact. The only neces-
sary characteristics they should share are beliefs in the existence of
an ultimate existential state such as self-fulfillment and a belief that
the school can and should help students grow toward that state. This
common ground may facilitate communication among the staff which, in
turn, may facilitate more efficient decision making in the school.
Conflicts will always occur, but to the degree that they are not basic
philosophical positions representing different ways of viewing the world,
they can be resolved with relative ease.

The teaching style appropriate for a self-fulfilling curriculum
is the teaching style with which each teacher feels most comfortable.

The teacher who has developed a big-brother or -sister relationship with
the students may provide certain support and encouragement for some
students that a teacher who represents a father- or mother-figure may
provide for others.

A self-fulfilling school can conceivably accommodate both open

as well as traditional styles of teaching and remain consistent with

144

self-fulfillment as the ultimate goal. Some students and teachers find
that the informal, discussion-oriented, moderately democratic approach

to learning is successful in terms of students acquiring or further
differentiating perceptions of reality, while other students and teachers

may prefer a teacher-directed classroom to achieve the same goal.
ii

Every school activity has three distinct parts, a description
of which tells a great deal about the purpose of the school. These
three components are (a) the topic or subject, (b) the process for
reaching the goal, and (c) the goal. In traditional schools, all three
are carefully prescribed, with primary emphasis placed on the goal.

The topic may be history, the process reading a text book and listening
to a lecture, and the goal describing the causes of the Civil War. In
an open school or classroom, the emphasis is on the process, and the
topic or goal may be generally defined or not defined at all.

We are suggesting that learning activities in a self-fulfilling
school be designed with specific purposes in mind that relate to the
curriculum goals described in the last chapter. Seeing school activities
as incorporating three distinct--though related--components provides a
method for conceptualizing and developing specific classroom activities.
The purpose of the activity would determine which of the components was
emphasized and how it was designed. Thus, there are three general types
of instructional organization for a self-fulfilling school with the

following advantages over traditional instructional organization:

first, they allow considerable student choice; second, various

145

instructional activities can be designed to help students acquire spe-
cific skills or perceptions; third, the teacher can individualize
instruction by designing different learning activities for different
students; and fourth, students may have difficulty comparing their
progress with others in the class, thereby reducing competition.

The first type of instructional organization that a teacher
might use is the assignment of a general topic of study. This, as
well as the other types of instructional organization, might occur in
a self-contained primary classroom for part of the school day, or it
might be a regularly scheduled subject in a secondary school. This
instructional design neither prescribes the process nor the goal for
the topic of study. Those choices are left to the students who, either
individually or collectively, with or without approval of the teacher,
determine how to proceed.

The goal for this teaching procedure is for students to examine
the ways that they approach the topic of study and to examine their
conclusions. Different problems require a different use of one's
mental powers to create the investigatory procedure and to reach con-
clusions based on the evidence, and the use to which the mental powers
are put is the focus of this method of inquiry. For example, the t0pic
of the class may be to investigate the social structure of their school
or community and to formulate a conclusion based on their evidence. The
teacher might suggest various investigative procedures and approaches
students might take, trying carefully not to influence their decisions.
He might suggest that students interview important members of the

structure, use questionnaires, or review others' research. Or the

146

teacher might point out other aspects of such an investigation--
- philOSOphical or political theories or personal or cultural biases
that may enter into the conclusion.

To maximize the potential for developing the mental powers
through this method of teaching, the teacher needs to include regular
procedures for enabling students to reflect upon the process of inves-
tigation that they are using, including the shortcomings of each approach,
such as biases, that may be incorporated in their study. These evalu-
ative techniques may include administering a questionnaire, requiring
students to keep "process" journals, or holding periodic discussions,
or a combination of these and other techniques.

A second method of instructional organiation is to provide
guidelines for the experience, but to select neither the topic nor the
proposed goals. Such a method would apply to the teaching of specific
processes, such as the scientific method, problem-solving, and other
types of decision-making skills. The emphasis of such a method is
twofold: to teach processes that have been found by others to result
in meaningful solutions and to help each student adapt these processes
to his own life.

For example, a teacher might assign his class the task of
analyzing, according to specific guidelines provided by him, an object,
concept, event, or other applicable topic. The intent of this assign-
ment is to allow students to investigate that which interests each of
them and to reach a goal that each student has identified as valuable.

This instructional method may help students develop a specific mental

147

power, test perceptions, and form more differentiated perceptions of a
portion of their world views.

The guidelines that the teacher might assign could take a
variety of forms. It appears reasonable that the teacher might approve
of each student's project to see that it is one which offers both suf-
ficient intellectual challenge to qualify as an appropriate instruc-
tional aid and to see that its scope is not so broad or its structure
so difficult that the student is likely to experience failure. The
teacher might also ask the students to speculate as to the possible
conclusions of the topic, which would encourage them to view their
projects less subjectively. The ability to see a situation or experi—
ence with perspective, even when all the elements are not yet known,
is a useful tool that can often be applied to decision making.

Since the purpose of this type of instructional organization is
to teach a decision-making and investigative process, the teacher will
watch closely the progress his students are making to help them adapt
the process to their lives. Step-by-step outlines of the procedure
might be given students, which they would be encouraged to modify
according to the projects they had chosen and to their individual cog-
nitive styles. Discussions or written descriptions of the method of
inquiry might also be used to help people focus attention on their
investigatory processes.

The third type of instructional organization emphasizes the
goals to be reached and leaves both the topic and procedures to students.
Such goals might include learning a basic academic skill, understanding

the electoral process, music appreciation, and many others. Whatever

148

choice of goals the teacher selected would be those that, after care-
ful thought, he felt would be likely to help students acquire fuller
understanding of themselves and/or their environment. The teacher
would help students examine the individual or group choices of the
topics and procedures for meeting the teacher's goals, so that they
became more aware of the reasons for their choices and develop better
decision-making skills.

Suppose that the teacher had decided that it was important for
his students to acquire an historical perspective so that they see
themselves living at a certain moment in history and that other moments
have occurred in which people lived quite differently. Moreover, the
teacher may want the students to realize that the present 'h; related
to the past, and the future is related to both the past and the present.
The teacher might ask his students to determine what they can find
out about people who lived long ago or about pe0ple who might live in
the future. They might suggest field trips, speakers, films, or other
sources of information, and plan, as best they could, their "history
lesson."

Thus, we see that the purpose and methods of instruction in
classrooms taught according to a self-fulfilling curriculum are differ-
ent from those in traditional classrooms, although the essential struc-
ture may be similar. The emphasis in a self-fulfilling classroom is
always on basic skills such as mental powers and decision making, and

on perceptions of the ways individuals view their world.

l49
iii

Based on our study of human development, we can postulate five
principles of instruction which affect teaching and learning. Most
teachers are aware of these principles, though the degree to which the
principles are considered in the design of school activities varies.
Throughout our discussion, the term "instruction" refers to the purpose
of a self-fulfilling curriculum.

l. Instruction is easier to the deggee that the students and
the teacher have similar perceptual fields of reality. Every teacher,
by dint of his role and his greater maturity, uses the power he has to
create a teaching and learning environment that is compatible with his
perceptions of himself and of his environment. No alternative is pos-
sible, for nobody behaves in ways that are meaningless to him. By the
same token, each student adapts to or changes the learning environment
in ways that have meaning for him, and nothing else is possible. The
greater the similarity between what the teacher and each student per-
ceives as the purpose of school, the subject taught, and their respec-
tive roles, the more likely is each student to accept the design the
teacher has chosen for the class or to modify it along lines acceptable
to the teacher. The teacher's design is also more likely to affect
each student in ways that the student perceives as meaningful.

2. Instruction is easier to the degree that students pgssess

 

undifferentiated_perceptual fields. As one's perceptual field becomes

 

more highly developed and his undifferentiated perceptions become more

specific, his world view takes shape. These specific perceptions provide

 

150

information which results in correspondingly specific behaviors that
are consistent with his world view. Thus, patterns of perceiving and
of behaving are acquired that are difficult to change, both because
they may have become habitual responses to one's environment and because
such behavior may take less effort than nonhabitual behavior.

Students possessing highly differentiated perceptual fields
are likely to bring to a class as many views of the subject as there
are students. While this may offer a rich opportunity for the teacher
and students to explore the variety of perceptions, it may also present
a challenge to the teacher. He must design his lessons to account for
the variety of meanings his students have created for the subject--a
far more difficult task than if his students possessed undifferentiated
perceptions of the subject. If this were the case, every student would
have the same lack of sophistication about the subject. By necessity,
they must look to the teacher for help in creating their perceptions of
the subject.

3. Instruction is easier to the degree that the reality of the

 

classroom experience corresponds to the students' perceptual fields of

 

reality. Every classroom manifests a certain reality determined
largely, though not exclusively, by the adults in charge. They have
determined the purpose of the class, the roles of the participants, the
acceptable behavior, and the enforcement procedures to maintain the
structure. Incorporated into the classroom procedures are assumptions
about the nature of the learner, the purpose of school, the structure of
knowledge, and many other views. However, the students, too, partially

create the reality of the class, only more subtly and indirectly than

 

151

teachers. Students bring to the school their own views of learning,
teachers, subject matter, and so on. If students perceive as valid or
true the assumptions on which the instruction is based, no conflict
exists because the classroom procedure will be seen as appropriate by
the students. For instance, if a student comes from a home where his
parents maintain strict discipline and insist that he conform quickly
and thoroughly to their demands,lu3may feel more comfortable in a
teacher-directed classroom than in one where students have consider-
able choice of activities. A strict classroom, like his home, will
allow him to know precisely what the adults expect of him. Thus, the
reality of the classroom experience corresponds to his own view of
reality.

4. Instruction is easier to the degree that it accounts for the

internal forces. The internal forces consist of the forces and tenden-

 

cies that we discussed in Chapter III, which, along with the perceptual
field of reality, provide the motivation for behavior. We are specific—
ally interested here in the life-force, the tendency toward consis-
tency, and the tendency toward least effort. We have accounted for the
mental powers in the discussion of other principles of instruction.

The life-force is that internal drive that urges the organism
to seek satisfying experiences that are primarily, though not exclu-
sively, necessary for survival. This force manifests itself in a
tendency to explore, to discover, and to become increasingly competent
in coping with the environment. In children, this force generates a
high level of exploratory behavior, which gradually decreases as the

child matures.

152

Teachers need to recognize that children are naturally active
and curious, and often their high energy will provide motivation for
experiences contributing to growth. Whenever possible, teachers
must account for this energy level by allowing students to explore their
environment and to discover meanings to their worlds, or by designing
learning activities that are action-oriented. It must be borne in
mind, however, that not all such behavior leads to increasingly effec-
tive decision-making skills or even to the most satisfaction for the
child. The teacher must use careful judgment to determine the possible
effect of any behavior on the child's growth toward self-fulfillment.

All people engage in behavior that has meaning for them, for
behavior is a function of perceptions of one's world, which the indi-
vidual sees as logical. His behavior, then, all has a purpose, because
it is related to his consistent world view. The reason we recommend
that students have considerable choice in a self-fulfilling school is
that only with such choice is the child likely to engage in activities
that have importance to him. Even if he engages unwillingly in activi-
ties the teacher has selected, his behavior will still have meaning to
him. However, in this case, the meaning he attaches to an experience
may be entirely different from the meaning that the teacher hoped the
child would acquire. For instance, if two children are each assigned
a book to read, one may find the assignment thoroughly satisfying,
while the other may hate the experience. Teachers should take into
account individual interests of children as best they can and incor-

porate these interests into activities likely to promote growth.

153

A self-fulfilling curriculum, while designed with students'
growth as the dominant purpose, does not pretend to hold such appeal
throughout the school day to be irresistible to students. They may
well have other immediate plans than to participate in various activi-
ties which they may have chosen earlier or to which they may have been
assigned. Part of the difference between a teacher's goal for his
students and a student's goals for himself may be due to the differ-
ence between what constitutes a meaningful activity to the teacher and
to the student. But part of the difference may also be due to the
tendency toward least effort. Many learning activities in a self-
fulfilling school may be initially difficult for students and hence
avoided. However, the very process of growth often requires one to
overcome challenges which may help him develop certain skills and atti-
tudes. A teacher must use great care when deciding that an activity
will facilitate growth toward self-fulfillment, for such power can be
abused. However, such decisions are usually necessary. Not only do
some experiences contribute to growth that students might not choose,
but also students should learn that they can overcome the tendency
toward least effort if they desire to do so. Activities may be designed
that encourage students to make increasingly effortful choices. They
may be encouraged to identify and to work toward goals which they per-
ceive both desirable for them and ones that they would not have chosen
otherwise. Later, the students discuss whether or not they were able
to achieve their goals, how they felt about their achievement or lack

of it, and what goal they would like to select for the next time.

5.

154

Instruction is easier to the degree that it recognizes the

developmental process of the perceptual field. In Chapter II, we des-

cribed seven factors that affect the formation of the perceptual field:

1.

The meanings associated with habits can become part of the
perceptual field.

The meanings associated with personal experiences can become
part of the perceptual field.

Meaning that is developed through the intellectual process
alone can be incorporated into the perceptual field.

The direction of perceptual field devel0pment is toward con-
sistency and order.

All perceptions in the perceptual field are related in an
internally logical way, and a change in one can change
others.

The more directly a perception affects one's views of him—
self, the stronger will it be and the more vigorously will
it be defended.

The perceptual field tends to become increasingly differ-

entiated over time.

An important component of a self-fulfilling curriculum is help-

ing students develop more complex perceptual fields. While such growth

occurs naturally, because of factors we discussed in Chapter 11, an

optimum learning environment will facilitate more rapid and more com-

plex perceptual development in the same way that an intellectually

stimulating environment promotes cognitive development.

155

Teachers need to be aware of the process by which perceptual
fields develop, so that they can design learning activities consistent
with that development. Such activities will then have greater likeli-
hood of accomplishing their goals of helping students create new per-

ceptions or of differentiating their perceptual fields.
iv

Each of the five principles of instruction is consistent with
the view of human development we have presented in this work. While
neither teaching method nor objective, each principle describes a rela-
tionship between the student and the classroom that suggests an optimum
condition for instruction. They are general organizational conditions
that will maximize learning.

The three learning activities discussed below only suggest types
of activities that are likely to contribute to the goals of a self-
fulfilling curriculum. They combine student choice and involvement--
essential ingredients for meaningful learning within the context of the

purpose we have described.

l. Language development and use. Throughout our study, we have

 

stressed the importance of perceptual development and especially of
conscious awareness of one's perceptions. The primary tool for bring-
ing specific perceptions to the conscious mind is language. One simply
must have accurate language for a perception, if he is going to consider
it on a rational level. The more complex one's language ability is, the

greater will this ability be.

156

While schools traditionally have emphasized language usage to
a large extent, students have often been passive participants in the
process--listening to others, or reading books and writing assignments
that may have little interest for them. Students need to develop a
richness of language so that they can understand complexities of thoughts
and feelings, express these to others, and understand others' thoughts
and feelings in turn.

To encourage language use in areas that relate to each student's
perceptual field, assignments may be given that have sufficient flexi-
bility or open-endedness to relate to many different world views.
Students may be asked to write stories, to discuss topics of teacher or
student selection, to present plays, to give debates, to keep journals
or diaries. Such exercises may not achieve the desired result, however,
unless students choose more complex uses of language than those with
which they may be familiar. Habits of language use develop, and, unless
old habits are improved or new ones acquired, perceptual growth may not
take place as quickly as it might otherwise. This, of course, presents
a dilemma for the teacher who realizes the importance of student interest
in what is being studied but who is also aware that interest is not
always synonymous with optimum learning.

Language use also fosters the development of one's ability to
view situations from a position which minimizes his subjectivity.
Activities designed to encourage such perspective might include defend-
ing positions with which one does not agree--requiring him to see a
situation, problem, or belief from another point of view--studying a
foreign language, reading foreign literature in translation, or

discovering other cultures' views of reality.

157

2. Simulationggamesg,rolegplgyigg, individual and groupgproj-
ects, field trips and field stugy. Implicit in the purpose of a self-
fulfilling curriculum is personal growth toward a more realistic and
more accurate understanding of oneself and of one's environment. While
most schools try to teach students about their world so that they will
be able to make effective decisions, often this teaching is done
entirely within a classroom, requiring, by necessity, highly artificial
situations. This degree of artificiality may make the classroom learn-
ing experience largely unrelated both to the students' lives and to
the reality of the environment.

However, there is much that schools can do to facilitate more
highly differentiated and accurate perceptions about the environment.
The chief features of such a program are that there be sufficient
variation to appeal to as many students as possible, that the classroom
learning experience approximate the real world as best it can, and that
opportunities be taken to apply what has been learned in actual situa-
tions outside of the school.

It is not enough for a classroom learning experience to imitate
the real world, for, if the intent is to help students create percep-
tions of the real world that have meaning to them, learning experiences
must be designed with the student in mind. This may require a simpli-
fication of the actual forces at work, so that students can grasp the
principal elements. As they become increasingly sophisticated about
these external events, more and more details may be incorporated into

the classroom experience.

158

Simulation games, role playing, and individual and group
projects offer Opportunities for students to engage in activities likely
to be of interest to them and that may approximate the real world.

While the situations are never identical, of course, the decisions

that such activities require, the feelings experienced and expressed by
the participants, and the roles developed in the course of the activity
often approximate similar situations that may be encountered outside

of the school. Not only will students perceive the elements inherent

in the problem or situation, which may aid them later when they encounter
a similar situation, but also such experiences may help them develop the
ability to detach themselves and to view a situation in which they are
involved with less subjectivity. The more one rehearses a possible
scenario that he may encounter later intellectually and/or physically
and incorporates in that rehearsal an accurate description of the events
and their sequence, the better able he may be to cope with the situa-
tion if it arises. Previous rehearsing may have created weak habits
that will require less conscious thought.

But laboratory learning, no matter how carefully designed, is
still artificial. To help students acquire perceptions of and to under-
stand their relationship to the environment, schools must engage stu-
dents in authentic experiences outside of the classroom. Field trips,
while a poor substitute for daily contact with the nonschool environ-
ment,an12at least better than strictly classroom learning. A better
experience, however, would be field study or work/study arrangements,
enabling students to experience first-hand, aspects of their environment

that classroom learning cannot provide.

 

159

3. Value clarification and interpersonal communication skills.
The abilities to understand one's significant self-perceptions or values
and to interact effectively with others are described together because
they both involve deeply personal views of oneself. Furthermore, their
expression often coincides, lending itself to the teaching of them
simultaneously. School must help people understand their internal
forces and their self-perceptions, because, together with the environ-
ment, they determine behavior. A person making decisions with only a
shallow awareness of his values and goals is like a ship with a faulty
compass: his direction is unclear. He cannot be sure that the
achievement of goals he has established will satisfy him, because he is
not aware of those deep perceptions within him that he is seeking to
satisfy.

People experience much of their satisfaction through interac-
tion with others and have developed elaborate cultures for just this
reason. Helping students improve upon interpersonal communication
skills does not necessarily have to be programmed into activities spe-
cifically designed to meet these objectives. Such learning may occur,
and it is probably preferable that it does, while people are engaged in
other activities. Thus, the teacher can encourage students to focus
attention on values and the communication process while they are engaged
in projects or activities. Asking students why certain choices they
made are more satisfying than others, showing concern about and dis-
cussing feelings and emotions, or incorporating into an activity an
interpersonal communication component may help create greater awareness

of values and communication processes. Many activities have been

t.‘r '.. ' .h'
1de

160

designed to increase interpersonal communication, from role playing to
videotaping discussions to empathy training exercises. All of these,
and others, help focus attention on improving the process of interac-

I

tion so that increasing satisfaction may occur.

iv “h

A self-fulfilling curriculum has been designed with attention

paid to the nature of the human organism, the nature of the environ-

 

ment, and to an ultimate decision-making process that leads to a truly_

satisfying life. Li
Schools must recognize that the basic character of man is that

of a creator of myths about his life and his world. These myths have

been responsible for his survival and continue to make possible deci—

sion making necessary for his existence. The world views he has created

are his only contacts with the natural and social environments which

are so complex that they can be understood only through abstraction and

simplification. The degree to which this abstraction and simplifica—

tion is accurate facilitates the accurate prediction of events and the

results of one's actions on himself.
While world views develop naturally, probably according to a

lawful process, they do not necessarily develop to their fullest with-

out Specific assistance, any more than a child will necessarily grow

to be a healthy adult without thought paid to his diet. Teachers must

design activities consistent with the process of perceptual field

development--activities that lead students to more specific and accurate

perceptions of themselves and of their environment. However, special

161

difficulty arises in teaching a group of students because meaning can
only be an individual discovery, based on previous meanings each has
created. Thus, a self-fulfilling curriculum recognizes the need to
allow maximum student choice within a structure that has as its purpose
the goals we described thhapter V. Maximum student choice in such an
environment is most likely to enable students to adapt classroom experi-
ences to their unique views of their world.

The development of the perceptual field alone, however, does not
automatically create effective decision making, for both the mental
powers and the desire to make such decisions are necessary components.
These components are strengthened through experience, and through
activities specifically designed to accomplish this goal.

Another factor affecting perceptual field development and
behavior is the internal forces that generate the conflicting tenden-
cies toward growth, on the one hand, and safety, on the other. The
tendency toward least effort, while necessary for survival in many
situations, also may prevent growth. Teachers traditionally have indi-
cated their awareness of this tendency by designing classroom activities
in which the students must accomplish at least the minimum goal that
the teacher has set in order for rewards or other benefits to accrue
to them. As long as the purpose of the class is external to the imme-
diate wishes of the students, as the purpose of a self-fulfilling cur-
riculum may be, the setting of such a minimum goal is probably necessary.

A self-fulfilling curriculum recognizes that the environment--
both natural and social--is fixed from the point of view of each person

at the moment he acts. There is nothing an individual can do to change

 

162

the immediate effect of the environment on him, though, in the long
run, the environment can and does change in response to his efforts.
Both the natural and the social environments are also hostile to one's
desire to live a fulfilling life. Nature acts impartially on all forms
of life, presenting forces and obstacles that man must overcome. The
social environment has evolved to facilitate group living, which has
become essential for satisfying life. Yet, the purpose of the social
environment is always to protect the social order from threats. Society
achieves this protective purpose by enforcing certain views of reality
which, in turn, minimize the likelihood of socially disruptive behaviors.

Since the environment is both immovable and hostile from the
individual's point of view at the moment he acts, each person must
discover ways that he can minimize the effect of the environment on
himself. This exceedingly difficult task for the individual presents a
corresponding challenge to teachers, who must help students come to
terms with their environment. They must help them acquire specific
and accurate perceptions concerning the structural aspects of their
social order so that they become aware of the variety of choices avail-
able. Freedom, then, is one's ability to reduce the effects of restric-
tive structures on himself through a deep understanding of the ways
that they affect him. This, in turn, leads to greater options among
which he can choose to maximize his satisfaction.

While the development of the perceptual field and of the mental
powers alone would improve decision making, a final emphasis of a self-
fulfilling curriculum must be the inculcation of a belief that holds

that each person can reduce the restraints over his life--both internal

163

and external--and assume control. Such responsibility for one's own
existence is not easy to take, for the forces against him are per-
vasive. Choosing self-fulfillment does not only mean wanting to direct
one's own life; it also means continually striving to acquire and improve
upon those skills necessary for truly effective decision making. The
cost in terms of effort, sacrifice, and even agony is high, but the
result, if successful, is worth the pain. It is the ecstasy of knowing
that one is in command of his life, choosing his own direction, and

accountable to himself alone.

 

APPENDIX

THE COMMON DENOMINATORS OF CULTURE

APPENDIX

THE COMMON DENOMINATORS OF CULTURE [51, p. 380]

age-grading
calendar
cooking
courtship
divination
education
ethnobotany(plantlore)
family
folklore
games
government
hospitality
incest taboos
kin-groups
law

marriage

modesty concerning
natural functions

mythology
penal sanctions
postnatal care

propitiation of
supernatural being

residency rules

athletic sports
cleanliness training
cooperative labor
dancing

division of labor
eschatology
etiquette

feasting

food taboos
gestures

greetings

housing

inheritance rules
kinship nomenclature
luck superstitions
mealtimes

mourning

numerals

personal names
pregnancy usages
puberty customs
sexual restrictions

surgery

164

bodily adornment
community organization
cosmology
decorative art
dream interpretation
ethics

faith healing
fire making
funeral rites
gift-giving

hair styles
hygiene

joking

language

magic

medicine

music

obstetrics
population policy
property rights
religious ritual
soul concepts

tool making

:29

ml. n

P-.. “g mum;...~.n_ “M
q

~- ...1

165

status differentiation visiting weaning
trade

weather control

 

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