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PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE THEORY:
Jung’s psychological type theory has been researched and written about for almost a century. I just happened to land in Gainesville Florida at the right time and fate had it that I was able to study with Mary McCauley, and Gordon Lawrence, folks who began the Centre for the Application of Psychological Type Isabel Myers, who developed the Myers Briggs Type Indicator with her mother Katherine Briggs. Meeting Isabel had such a profound effect on me, I changed my doctoral program from English to Psychology and dedicated half of my professional life to the study and teaching of Jung’s work.
Courses will use knowledge gleaned from your discovering your preferences in the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). Participants can learn to use their greatest strengths (Dominant Function) and to be aware of their Shadow (Inferior Function). Writers can use this knowledge to define conflicts, attach characteristics that best serve protagonist and antagonist, determine that point at which characters will respond in self-damaging ways.
It is crucial to remember that type theory is a developmental model; it is not a trait theory.
As a developmental model it is one of the most widely used and effective tools in self-understanding and self-development.
TEMPERAMENT THEORY
The next ten years were spent researching the MBTI, using the MBTI in my teaching and developing professional development programs at Simon Fraser University, in travelling throughout Canada, USA and Europe sharing my knowledge of type theory.
During my presentations at MBTI conferences, I shared ideas with David Kiersey and began to use his work in Temperament Theory, especially as part of my consulting company which focused on providing leadership training to health and industry and education.
SJ
Sensing Judging- Duty bound. Named after the god, Epimetheus, god of duty and responsibility. Driven by a deep desire to belong and serve.
SP
Sensing Perceiving – Freedom bound. Named after Dionysus, god of wine and fertility. Free spirited, wants to do whatever they want to. Determined to waste as little time and energy as possible.
NT
Intuitive Thinking – Winning bound. Named after Prometheus, god who brought fire to mankind. Strong in intellect with a high need to be challenged and inspire others.
NF
Intuitive Feeling – Change bound. Named after Apollo, God of truth and light. A noble search for identity gives the NF an untamed lust for life.
ARCHETYPE:
Upon my return from post-doctoral studies at the Jung Institute in Switzerland, I dedicated a year to the study of Archetype, this time, under the tutelage of Carol Pearson, Provost and President at Pacific Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, Ca.
This work let to my creating two specific programs; one dedicated to film makers (directors, producers, writers) using archetype to create authentic characters and one dedicated to teaching reading to students struggling with that particular skill.
Because archetypes are the blueprint to the story we are living, it is a crucial element in many of the courses I will be teaching in Imagination.
I follow the Pearson model and Campbell’s ideas of the journey one takes throughout life.
Three levels of the journey:
⦁ Ego: Developing Our Relationship to the World, Developing Ourselves
⦁ Soul: Discovering Intimacy, Personal Identity
⦁ Self: Knowing how We Can Bring Our Best Selves Into the World
PERCEPTUAL PSYCHOLOGY:
The University of Florida in Gainesville introduced me to many theories and research giants who gave depth to my understanding of how people operate and influenced my teaching.
Arthur Combs, father of perceptual psychology was one of those giants. He taught me that PERCEPTION is the most important aspect of defining a good teacher. His perceptual research indicates that effective and ineffective teachers and professional helpers such as nurses, pastors, councilors have quite different beliefs and attitudes which he called perceptual orientations. Effective professional helpers’ perceptions fall into four main categories:
What perceptions do good teachers, and good professional helpers have?
⦁ They have a positive self-concept and see others as able to solve their own problems in a dependable and responsible manner. That others are able, trustworthy and friendly.
⦁ They look at the big picture, the broader importance of teaching goals, for example. The teacher has a focus that is open, facilitating purpose which is process oriented.
⦁ Their frame of reference is people oriented rather than such things as rules, curriculum, punctuality. Such a teacher is authentic and genuine human being concerned with the beliefs and feelings of others, rather than with the management of affairs and the rules and regulations in a situation.
⦁ They see themselves as adequate and can feel identified with others. Such teachers have empathic qualities with the ability to look at a situation from another person’s point of view.
It is not difficult to recognize a bad teacher, not so easy to describe a good teacher. It is not specific behaviors one looks at, but at the unique beliefs and attitudes held by the individual teacher that has a long-term effect on students’ learning. The teacher listens to an inner voice that guides the teacher’s decisions in a variety of classroom variables. What the teacher/mentor/ nurse/pastor brings to the situation is, essentially, the SELF.
The courses offered by Carolyn Mamchur follow the concepts of perceptual psychology as taught to her by Arthur Combs. Courses will be offered to teachers and other professional helpers to provide the knowledge and practice that will result in seeing the self and the other through a positive perceptual lens.
NEEDS (CHOICE) THEORY
During 6 years of research as a professor at Simon Fraser University, I discovered that the fourth perception.. feeling identified with… was the most challenging for professional helpers, especially classroom teachers.
Feeling Identified with Others
How could I help my student teachers and other professionals working with others feel identified with them? I needed a ‘common factor’ that was easily taught and readily learned and William Glasser’s work provided it.
All living creatures, and we are no exception, only do what they believe is most satisfying to them And what is most satisfying is having our needs met
Needs to be addressed:
⦁ Security, Feeling Safe
⦁ Acceptance, Receiving Affirmation
⦁ Power, Control over Oneself
⦁ Pleasure, Opportunity to do What One Enjoys.
If we cannot meet that need in a healthy way, we will act out of a “needs” place and destructive behavior will result.
Writing Process:
In his breakthrough book, A Writer Teaches Writing, Donald Murray, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and educator presented teachers’ of writing a remarkable gift; he described his writing program in New Hampshire, where he and a group of researchers were changing the way writing was being taught in schools across the United States. They began to teach writing as a process, not a product. That was back in 1972 and it gave me the courage to continue to teach in a manner which had been upsetting the Superintendents who visited my classroom in the small prairie school where I had been teaching high school English.
The principles behind writing process gave me more than the permission to teach in this particular manner, it also taught me to read as a writer and to teach my students to learn from writers. Murray who became a supportive friend and a life- long mentor, divided the process into learnable, teachable components.
I deconstructed and reconstructed what he taught me and created writing classes, programs, and writing centres at Simon Fraser University.
Courses that I teach in this program stay consistent with the principles of writing process and present my students with the four components of writing that are designed for and proven to result in student success.
