The Person-Centered Journal, Volume 9, Issue 2, 2002
Printed in the U.S.A. All rights reserved
Keith Tudor and Tony Merry
London, England; and Philadelphia, PA: Whurr Publishers
£20.00 19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN
$31.95 325 Chestnut Street, 19106
ISBN: 1 86156 267 5
185 pages. Soft cover
I’ve been wanting to review the Dictionary of Person-Centered Psychology for The Person-Centered Journal for some time now. What a fabulous idea for a book! The “dictionary” has been both terrific bathroom and bedtime reading in addition to what I suppose was its intended use as a resource for defining person-centered concepts. This it does quite well. As a writer, researcher, and teacher, I’ve found Tudor and Merry’s dictionary to be a welcomed work-side companion. Tonight, for instance, I will continue to address the quality of empathy in my fundamentals of counseling class. In addition to material already prepared, I’ll plan to take along the dictionary to share some of its empathy definitions (there are three and one-half pages of empathy-related definitions). In addition, I’ll be able to provide specific resources, as many of the person-centered definitions come with quoted references. Twenty-three pages of references can ease a researcher’s task referencing a paper. I’ve consulted the dictionary on several occasions when I was pleased to find my reference listed.
The Dictionary of Person-Centered Psychology presents both historical and current person-centered developments. For concepts having discrepant definitions, Tutor and Merry present the different arguments, sometimes in some depth; sometimes with enough essence for the reader’s further pursuit if desired. Of course not all differing positions on a concept are given. In looking up “confrontation,” I am provided with a general definition that includes two related concepts for reference in the dictionary (frame of reference and incongruence), as well as the work of Tscheulin. Lietaer’s (controversial) position on confrontation was not presented; however, four other Lietaer works are referenced. In checking out Tutor and Merry’s leads from confrontation to “frame of reference” and “incongruence,” I felt more grounded in the foundations for my own person-centered stance on confrontation. I was further led to concepts of “perceptual field,” “self-concept,” and “conditions of worth,” among others.
I am not so smart that I have never found the dictionary of use for defining something that I couldn’t quite explain, or that I simply didn’t know. After returning from ADPCA Manchester in June, 2001, I’d like to have had the dictionary. Janet Tolan facilitated an extraordinarily thought-provoking presentation on subception, defensive, and awareness processes. Following Tolan’s lead, I consult the dictionary to see that Rogers adopted the term “subception” from McCleary and Lazarus (1949) to denote discrimination without awareness. I find references to “transactional analysis,” to Kurt Lewin’s field theory, to Maslow, to humanism, phenomenology and other and many other ideas and person-centered phenomenon. If readers want to use the dictionary to see how very recent theory developments are understandable in the framework of person-centered concepts, they can turn to definitions “constructivism,” postmodernism,” and the like.
Also, the dictionary lists Rogers’ books within the text body, so that readers can get a summary glimpse of his major works. Appendix 1 identifies 24 of Rogers’ published cases, and Appendix 2 provides addresses for 22 person-centered associations, and institutes.
Reviewed by:
Jo Cohen Hamilton, Ph.D.