An Overview of Dr. William Glasser's Choice Theory

Dr. William Glasser is a renowned psychologist who developed Reality Therapy in the 1960s and Choice Theory in the 1980'. Reality Therapy basically states that we are all responsible for our own behaviors. Choice Theory goes further and states that all that human beings do is behave and this behavior is attempting to satisfy five basic needs. These needs are 1) survival 2) power 3) belonging 4) freedom and 5) fun.

As Dr. Glasser states in his many books, Choice Theory is the exact opposite of stimulus-response theory that so dominates our society. Because of the prevalence of stimulus-response theory, we believe that we can control others through criticism, punishing, and the carrot and stick approach. Dr. Glasser disagrees completely with this approach. He feels that it is impossible to control another person using these methods because people can only control themselves. By understanding the five basic needs, a person is better able to make choices to improve quality of life.

In order for human beings to gain satisfaction with their lives, they must find acceptable ways to satisfy their basic needs at least to a minimum level. It is important to note that even though the basic needs are the same for all human beings, the wants that satisfy these needs vary from individual to individual.

The basic needs are:

1. Survival - food, shelter, clothing
2. Power - feeling important
3. Love/Belonging - feeling accepted and loved by others
4. Freedom - free to choose what we want to do with our lives
5. Fun - the ability to find enjoyment in life by learning and playing

How well we are able to satisfy the basic needs determines how satisfied we are with our lives.

Survival - Human beings are born with an innate sense of survival. We are programmed to struggle to survive and to satisfy our physical needs.

Power - We all want to feel important, and this need can be satisfied in any number of ways, depending on the individual. Some seek power through academic success, athletics, friends, acquisition of fame or money, work position, etc.

Love/Belonging - Human beings want to feel that they are loved by someone and want to get a feeling of belonging. Most of us have also felt the pains of rejection when someone we desire to be close to does not reciprocate. We invariably bounce back and are able to find others who satisfactorily fulfill this basic need. Dr. Glasser believes that the need for love and belonging is the most important need because we are social beings who need positive relationships to feel completely fulfilled. However, this need often comes into conflict with the need for power because we really enjoy feeling important and will often sacrifice our need for others to satisfy the need for power.

Freedom - Wars have been fought to satisfy this need. We want to feel that we have freedom of choice in all areas of our lives. It is important to us that we are free to choose where to live, what to eat, what to believe, and to express this freedom when we deem it necessary to do so. No one enjoys being dictated to concerning how he/she lives his/her own life.

Fun - We learn best when we enjoy what we are being taught (and by someone we enjoy learning from). We work best when we enjoy the work or the challenge and find that what we are doing is not drudgery. Life is to be enjoyed.

This is a short synopsis of Choice Theory and basic needs as described by Dr. William Glasser. We are constantly behaving to try to satisfy these needs in order to feel happy and successful. Each time that the satisfaction of one or more of these needs are not being satisfied, we know it by how we feel. We feel good when our needs are being met and bad when they are not.

For a complete discussion of Dr. William Glasser's Choice Theory, read Choice Theory - A New Psychology of Personal Freedom, Harper Collins Publisher (1998).