Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Theory of positive disintegration and personal growth

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Overview

The Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) is a theory of personality initially developed by Polish Psychologist Kazimierz Dąbrowski, in which psychological stress, such as anxiety, Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (see Figure 1.), and tense events act to build a more complete personality. Dąbrowski theorized that for personality to develop in full, integrated aspects of personality based on instinct and social learning must be broken down, or disintegrated.

Figure 1. War Veteran (Traumatised)

He believed that an individual must develop their own hierarchy of values and emotional reactions to develop their personality, as well as recognition, appreciation and utilisation of their own autonomy. The majority of psychological theories surrounding personality and individual differences do not consider emotional reaction and response to play a key role in its production, where TPD does. TPD proposes that the way one reacts to emotional stimuli contributes greatly to the creation of their individual personality ideal, which acts as the end-goal of self-development. The individual is required to analyse themselves in order to do so. TPD draws upon existential philosophy, stating that only the individual can make decisions, and examine the decision as less me or more me, emphasizing decisions which elicit the latter, and inhibiting decisions which elicit the former. This means that the goal-posts are constantly being moved in order to shape their authentic and ideal personality.

Dąbrowski ideated Development Potential (DP), a way of measuring a response to stimuli. Whether positive or negative, a strong DP will mean that the environment will play little role in the personality development. A weak DP will mean that the environment plays a more significant role. Dąbrowski highlights three major aspects of development potential as Overexcitability, Abilities and Talents, and the 'Third Factor' - an increased drive for autonomous growth.

Suggestions for this section: Engage the reader with a scenario, example, or case study, and an accompanying image Explain the problem and why it is important Outline how psychological science can help Present focus questions

Focus questions: Break the problem (i.e., the sub-title) down into three to five focus questions. Focus questions can also be used as top-level headings. What is the first focus question? What is the second focus question? What is the third focus question? Ask open-ended focus questions. For example: Is there a relationship between motivation and success? (closed-ended) What is the relationship between motivation and success? (open-ended)

Headings

• Aim for three to six main headings inbetween the Overview and Conclusion
• Sub-headings can also be used, but
  • avoid having sections with only one sub-heading
  • provide an introductory paragraph before breaking into sub-section

Key points

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• Include key citations

Figures

Figure 2. Example of an image with a descriptive caption.

• Use figures to illustrate concepts, add interest, and to serve as examples
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• Refer to each figure at least once in the main text (e.g., see Figure 2)

Learning features

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Feature boxes

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  • Scenarios, case studies, or examples
  • Focus questions
  • Tips
  • Quiz questions
  • Take-home messages

Links

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  • Related book chapters (e.g., writer's block)

Tables

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• As with figures, tables should be captioned
• Refer to each table at least once in the main text (e.g., see Table 1)
• Example 3 x 3 tables which could be adapted

Table 1. Descriptive Caption Which Explains The Table and its Relevant to the Text - Johari Window Model

	Known to self	Not known to self
Known to others	Open area	Blind spot
Not known to others	Hidden area	Unknown

Quizzes

• Using one or two review questions per major section is usually better than a long quiz at the end
• Quiz conceptual understanding, rather than trivia
• Don't make quizzes too hard
• Different types of quiz questions are possible; see Quiz

Example simple quiz questions. Choose your answers and click "Submit":

1 Quizzes are an interactive learning feature:

	True
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2 Long quizzes are a good idea:

	True
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Conclusion

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

• Psychological Trauma (Book chapter, 2022)

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

Dabrowski, K. , Kawczak, A. & Piechowski, M. (1970). Mental growth through positive Disintegration. London: Gryf Publication Ltd.

Nelson, K. C. (1989). Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration. Advanced Development, 1, 1-14.

Schläppy M. L. (2019). Understanding Mental Health Through the Theory of Positive Disintegration: A Visual Aid. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1291. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01291

Weckowicz, T. E. (1988). Kazimierz Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration and the American Humanistic Psychology. Counseling and Values, 32, 2. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007X.1988.tb00706.x

Suggestions for this section: Important aspects of APA style for references include: Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}} Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces Year of publication in parentheses Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink The most common mistakes include: Incorrect capitalisation Incorrect italicisation Citing sources that weren't read or consulted

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
• The importance of structure (skillsyouneed.com)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link