Founders of Theory: William Glasser
Nature of the Person
• Our brain functions as a control system. It continually monitors our feelings to determine how well we are doing in our lifelong effort to satisfy these needs. Whenever we feel bad, one or more of these five needs is unsatisfied. • We are not born as blank slates waiting to be externally motivated by forces in the world around us. We are born with five genetically encoded needs: survival, love and belonging, power or achievement, freedom or independence, and fun-that drive us all of our lives. Each of us has all five needs, but they vary in strength. • The more we are able to connect with people, the greater chance we have to experience happiness. We are by nature social creatures; we need to both give and receive love. • In our quality world, people are the most important component. These are the people we want most to connect with, are closet to, and most enjoy being with. • From birth to death all that we do is behave. With rare exceptions, everything we do is chosen. Every total behavior is purposeful. It is our best attempt to get what we want to satisfy our needs, to close the gap between what we want and what we perceive we are getting, and to gain the most effective control of our lives. • The need to love and belong is the primary need because we need people to satisfy our other needs. It is also the most difficult need to satisfy because we must have a cooperative person to help us meet it. • We develop our own inner picture albums with specific images of people, activities, events, beliefs, possessions, and situations that fulfill our needs and satisfy our wants. Many times our pictures exist in priority order, but sometimes we may have difficulty identifying our priorities. • A success identify can be seen as being able to give and receive love, feel that you are significant to others, feel powerful, possess a