Paul Watzlawick

Paul Watzlawick PhD (* July 25, 1921 in Villach, Austria) is one of the world's leading theoreticians in Communication Theory and Radical Constructivism and very important inspiration in the field of family therapy and general psychotherapy. He is living and working in California. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Villach (Slovenian Beljak) is the second largest city in Carinthia in the south of Austria, on the river Drau (Slovenian Drave) . It currently has 57,646 inhabitants. ... We might say that communication consists of transmitting information from one person to another. ... Constructivism is a recent development in philosophy which criticizes essentialism, whether it is in the form of medieval realism, classical rationalism, or empiricism. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Psychotherapy is a set of techniques intended to improve mental health, emotional or behavioral issues of individuals, family members or a whole familys interactional climate. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

Life

After he graduated from high school in 1939 in Villach, Paul Watzlawick studied psychology and philology at the University of Venice and graduated in 1949. He then worked at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, where he received an additional diploma in 1954. In 1957 he continued his researching career at the University of El Salvador. Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the human mind, brain and behaviour. ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...

In 1960, Don. D. Jackson arranged for him to come to Palo Alto to do research at the Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto. Beginning in 1967 he has taught psychiatry at Stanford University. As of 2005 Watzlawick is still living and working in California. The Mental Research Institute of Palo Alto, California, US, has been one of the leading sources of ideas in the area of systems theory and psychotherapy, especially family therapy. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Psychiatry is a medical speciality whose primary goal is to improve peoples mental well-being. ... Stanford redirects here. ...

Work

In Palo Alto, Watzlawick and his colleagues (most notably Gregory Bateson) developed the Double Bind theory. Other scientific contributions include works on radical constructivism and most importantly his theory on communication. Both he and Gregory Bateson have been a very important inspiration in the field of family therapy. Downtown Palo Alto Palo Alto is a city in Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. Palo Alto is located at the northern end of the Silicon Valley, and is home to Stanford University (which is technically located in an adjacent area — Stanford, California), and... Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904–4 July 1980) was a British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Constructivism is a recent development in philosophy which criticizes essentialism, whether it is in the form of medieval realism, classical rationalism, or empiricism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904–4 July 1980) was a British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

He defines 5 basic axioms in his theory on communication that are necessary to have a functioning communication between two individuals. If one of these axioms is somehow disturbed, communication might fail.

• One Cannot Not Communicate (Man kann nicht nicht kommunizieren): Every behaviour is a kind of communication. Because behaviour does not have a counterpart (there is no anti-behaviour), it is not possible not to communicate.

• Every communication has a content and relationship aspect such that the latter classifies the former and is therefore a metacommunication.: This means that all communication includes, apart from the plain meaning of words, more information - information on how the talker wants to be understood and how he himself sees his relation to the receiver of information.

• The nature of a relationship is dependent on the punctuation of the partners communication procedures: Both the talker and the receiver of information structure the communication flow differently and therefore interpret their own behaviour during communicating as merely a reaction on the other's behaviour (i.e. every partner thinks the other one is the cause of a specific behaviour). Human communication cannot be desolved into plain causation and reaction strings, communication rather appears to be cyclic.

• Human communication involves both digital and analog modalities: Communication does not involve the merely spoken words (digital communication), but non-verbal and analog-verbal communication as well.

• Inter-human communication procedures are either symmetric or complementary, depending on whether the relationship of the partners is based on differences or parity.

Watzlawick is author of 18 books (in 85 foreign language editions) and more than 150 book articles and book chapters. Books he has written or on which he has collaborated include

• Pragmatics of Human Communication,
• The Situation is Hopeless, but not Serious,
• Ultra-Solutions: How to Fail Most Successfully,
• How Real is Real?
• "Change"
• "The Language of Change"

See also

• Constructivist epistemology

• List of Austrian scientists
• List of Austrians

Constructivism is a recent development in philosophy which criticizes essentialism, whether it is in the form of medieval realism, classical rationalism, or empiricism. ... This is a list of Austrian scientists. ... The following list is an election of famous Austrians. ...

External links

• http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Theory/watzlawick/