Das Kommunikationsmodell nach Paul Watzlawick. Watzlawicks pragmatische Axiome (German Edition)

Application of Watzlawick’s axioms to conversation

---

Most widely held works by Paul Watzlawick. Pragmatics of human communication: The authors present the simple but radical idea that problems in life often arise from issues of communication, rather than from deep psychological disorders, reinforcing their conceptual explorations with case studies and well-known literary examples.

Written with humor and for a variety of readers, this book identifies simple properties and axioms of human communication and demonstrates how all communications are actually a function of their contexts.

Paul Watzlawick

Dieses Standardwerk der Kommunikationswissenschaft formuliert Denkmodelle und veranschaulicht Sachverhalte. The language of change: Signalons deux chapitres importants: How real is real? Confusion, disinformation, communication by Paul Watzlawick Book 20 editions published between and in English and Undetermined and held by WorldCat member libraries worldwide. Ultra-solutions, or, How to fail most successfully by Paul Watzlawick Book 63 editions published between and in 5 languages and held by WorldCat member libraries worldwide In this book the author examines our strivings for ultra-solutions which are those final solutions that do away with the problem and just about everything else!

Forgot Password?

The situation is hopeless, but not serious: Using metaphors, vignettes, jokes, innuendoes and other "right-hemispheric" language games, Dr. Watzlawick did extensive research on how communication is effected within families. Watzlawick defines five basic axioms in his theory on communication, popularly known as the "Interactional View". The Interactional View is an interpretive theory drawing from the cybernetic tradition. The five axioms are necessary in order to have a functioning communication process and competence between two individuals or an entire family.

When it comes to this theory, miscommunication happens because all of the communicators are not "speaking the same language". This happens because people have different viewpoints of speaking. Its principles are cybernetic, its causality is of a circular, feedback nature, and, with information being its core element, it is concerned with the processes of communication within systems of the widest sense—and therefore also with human systems, e.

The communication within the "Interactional View" is based on what is happening, and not necessarily associated with who, when, where, or why it takes place. It is believed that individual personality, character, and deviance are shaped by the individual's relations with his fellows. Thus, symptoms, defenses, character structure and personality can be seen as terms describing the individual's typical interactions which occur in response to a particular interpersonal context. The whole is more than the sum of its parts, and it is that whole in which we are interested.

The Interactional View requires a network of communication rules that govern a family homeostasis , which is the tacit collusion of family members to maintain the status quo. Even if the status quo is negative it can still be hard to change. Interactional theorists believe that we will fail to recognize this destructive resistance to change unless we understand Watzlawick's axioms. The following axioms can explain how miscommunication can occur if all the communicators are not on the same page. If one of these axioms is somehow disturbed, communication might fail.

All of these axioms are derived from the work of Gregory Bateson, much of which is collected in Steps to an Ecology of Mind Some interrelated notions that make up the Interactional View promoted by Watzlawick and colleagues at the MRI include:. A term that is used often in the theory of the Interactional View is enabler.

An enabler is within addiction culture; a person whose non-assertive behavior allows others to continue in their substance abuse. An example of this would be a person letting their sibling continue to act in an immature manner because that is what the family is used to him doing.

Another word frequently used in the Interactional View is double-bind. Someone in a double-bind, is a person trapped by expectations; the powerful party requests that the low-power party act symmetrically. An example of this would be a person asking another person, "Why didn't you like the movie? The critique of this theory can be centered on one main thing: Being able to take these axioms and apply them to relationships between families can be very difficult to master. It can be said that this theory is trapped because it is so hard to apply. Also, the theory itself does not claim and exact applications other than "reframing".

Reframing asks the communicators to step outside of the situation and reinterpret what it means. This can be hard because the theory states that only an outside source can see a problem because people are "speaking their own language". This theory also shows how a relationship has already changed, but it does not give practical ways to go about changing it.

Other books

This system resists change and it can be hard to actively use the five axioms. Related to the first axiom, non-verbal communication can be viewed as informative rather than communicative. With the behavioral characteristic of equifinality involved, it is hard to know when the system of the Interactional View is happening or not. Equifinality is the systems theory assumption that a given outcome could have occurred due to any or many interconnected factors rather than being a result in a cause—effect relationship.

This theory rests on the word communication, but this word can be interpreted very differently between people. The definitions of communication can be very controversial. Overall, the axioms do a great job of explaining problems, but do not provide solutions to the problems they bring up.

This critique does fail however to acknowledge Watzlawick's influence on the development of Brief Therapy, a hugely important and influential school of psychotherapy which is only too practical and usable in helping people make changes. Watzlawick wrote 22 books that were translated into 80 languages for academic and general audiences with more than scientific articles and book chapters. Books he has written or on which he has collaborated include:. Nodding to the works of Don Jackson, the central figure at MRI, Watzlawick and Weakland mention his works on schizophrenia and the "double-bind" hypothesis, as well as several articles describing new approaches to therapy.

Navigation menu

Charney also stated, "The Interactional View belongs in any collection of family therapy literature.

• Program Evaluation Theory and Practice
• Sidewalks in the Kingdom (The Christian Practice of Everyday Life): New Urbanism and the Christian Faith
• Transformers: Best of UK - Prey
• The Money Wave
• Chapter 007, Prices and Exchange Rates: Purchasing Power Parity
• The Compatibility Matrix: The Qualities of YOUR Ideal Mate