Prescott Lecky
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Prescott Lecky (1892-1941) was a lecturer of Psychology at Columbia University from 1924 to 1934. At a time when American psychology was dominated by behaviorism, he developed the concept of self-help as a method in psychotherapy of the self in the 1920s. His concepts influenced Maxwell Maltz in his writing of the classic self help book, Psycho-Cybernetics. Lecky stressed the defense mechanism of resistance as an individual's method of regulating his self-concept.[1]
Lecky's self-consistency theory, that self-consistency is a primary motivating force in human behavior. Lecky's theory concerned the organization of ideas of the self and the self's overall need for a "master" motive that serves to maintain for the self a consistency in ideas. Self-consistency theory remains relevant to contemporary personality and clinical psychologists.[2] He was well known as a psychologist and counseled John F. Kennedy when he was having trouble at Choate preparatory school. [3]
His students gathered together his ideas and posthumously published them as Self Consistency: a theory of personality in 1945.[4]
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[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Ansbacher, Heinz L.. Wiley InterScience: Journal: Abstract - Prescott lecky's concept of resistance and his personality. www3.interscience.wiley.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Stevens, M.J.. Prescott Lecky: pioneer in consistency theory and ...[J Clin Psychol. 1992 - PubMed Result]. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ O'Brian, Michael. John F. Kennedy: A Biography - Google Book Search. books.google.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Prescott, Anne P.. The Concept of Self in Medicine and ... - Google Book Search. books.google.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
