Rudolph Dreikurs

“Children need encouragement

like a plant needs water.”
 Rudolph Dreikurs
1897 - 1972

• Positive Discipline

• Student of Adler
Basics of Dreikurs Social Theory
• Man is a social being and his main desire (the
basic motivation) is to belong.
• ii) All behavior is purposive. One cannot
understand behavior of another person unless one
knows to which goal it is directed, and it is always
directed towards finding one's place.
• iii) Man is a decision-making organism.
• iv) Man does not see reality as it is, but only as he
perceives it, and his perception may be mistaken or
biased.
**The key to understanding
students’ misbehavior is to

understand their motive.**

 Motives Behind Misbehavior
• Attention seeking
• Power seeking
• Revenge seeking
• Displaying inadequacy
 **In examining his/her
own feelings, a teacher can
determine the underlying
goal of the child’s
misbehavior.**
To Identify the Goal of the Child
• Teacher feels annoyed
• Teacher feels
threatened or
challenged
• Teacher feels hurt or
angry
• Teacher feels pity or
despair
 Linking Motives and Feelings
• Attention • Annoyance

• Power •Challenged

• Revenge • Hurt/Anger

• Inadequacy • Pity/Despair
To Overcome These Mistaken
Goals:

 First, identify the goal

 Second, confront the goal

 How Do I Identify The Goal?
• ASK
QUESTIONS!
• http://www.noog
enesis.com/mala
ma/discourageme
nt/Dreikurs/could
_it_be_that.html
Dreikurs’ approach is to train
teachers to step back from
reacting emotionally.

Instead, teachers should

determine what the child needs,
then provide this for them.
•
TECHNIQUES OF MODIFYING CHILD’S MOTIVATION

i) Observe the child’s behavior in detail.

ii) Be psychologically sensitive to your own reaction.
iii) Confront the child with the four goals.
The purpose of confrontation is to disclose and
confirm the mistaken goal to the child.
Use the four "could it be…" questions: 1.
Could it be that you want special attention?
2. Could it be that you want your own way and hope
to be boss?
3. Could it be that you want to hurt others as much
as you feel hurt by them?
4. Could it be that you want to be left alone?
iv) Note the recognition reflex.
v) Apply appropriate corrective procedures.
Instead of giving attention to the attention seeker, look to
these techniques:
Minimize the Attention (Ignore the behavior, stand close
by, give written notice)
Legitimize the Behavior (Make a lesson out of the
behavior, have the whole class join in the behavior)
Do the Unexpected (Turn out the lights, play a musical
sound, talk to the wall)
Distract the Student (Ask a direct question, ask a favor,
change the activity)
Notice Appropriate Behavior (Thank students, write well-
behaved students' names on the chalkboard)
Move the Student (Change the student's seat, send the
student to the thinking chair)
Basic Concept of Logical Consequences

Every act has a consequence, and if we are to avoid

unpleasant results of our acts we must then behave in
a way which will help to guarantee more favorable
results (Dreikurs, 1968, p. 62). Logical consequences
should offer the child a clear and logical choice of
behavior and results. The child must perceive that he
has a choice and accept the relationship of his choice
to what followed (Dreikurs, 1968, p. 82). It is
structured and arranged by the adult, must be
experienced by the child as logical in nature
(Dreikurs, 1972, p. 62).
i) Logical consequences express the reality of the social order,
not of the person; punishment, the power of a personal authority.
ii) Logical consequence is logically related to the misbehavior;
punishment rarely is. The child must see clearly the relationship
between his act and the result of his own behavior rather than
that of others.
iii) Logical consequence involves no element of moral
judgment; punishment inevitable does. A logical consequence
gives the child the choice of deciding for himself whether or not
he wants to repeat a given act.
iv) Logical consequences are concerned only with what will
happen now, punishments with the past.
v) The voice is friendly when consequences are invoked; there
is anger in punishment, either open or concealed.
 Other Links
• Why Are You Doing That?
eber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/EDSPC715_MCIN
TYRE/WhyKidsMisBehave.html

• In Search of Dr. Rudolph Dreikurs

http://web.csuchico.edu/~ah24/dreikurs.htm