Is group therapy democratic? Enduring consequences of Outward Bound’s alignment with the Human Potential Movement

Franklin Vernon provided an example of how programs viewing themselves as “cultural islands” are in fact embedded within historical capitalist relations, through the discourses of self that they promote. In this response, I expand on Vernon’s argument to situate the quasi-therapeutic practices he identified in the history of the human potential movement, which effectively merged with Outward Bound starting in the 1960s and continues to define outdoor experiential education. Where Vernon sought the structural referents to different models of self, this response seeks their historical origins. The response concludes by linking Vernon’s argument with existing critiques and parallel efforts in the literature on youth development and identity formation

Dartmouth Outward Bound Center and the rise of experiential education 1957-1976

Purpose: The article discusses Outward Bound’s participation in the human potential movement through its incorporation of T-group practices and the reform language of experiential education in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Design/methodology/approach: The article reports on original research conducted using materials from Dartmouth College and other Outward Bound collections from 1957-1976. It follows a case study approach to illustrate themes pertaining to Outward Bound’s creation and evolution in the United States, and the establishment of experiential education more broadly. Findings: Building on prior research (Freeman, 2011; Millikan, 2006), the present article elaborates on the conditions under which Outward Bound abandoned muscular Christianity in favor of humanistic psychology. Experiential education provided both a set of practices and a reform language that helped Outward Bound expand into the educational mainstream, which also helped to extend self-expressive pedagogies into formal and nonformal settings. Research implications: The Dartmouth Outward Bound Center’s tenure coincided with and reflected broader cultural changes, from the cold war motif of spiritual warfare, frontier masculinity, and national service to the rise of self-expression in education. Future scholars can situate specific curricular initiatives in the context of these paradigms, particularly in outdoor education. Originality/value: The article draws attention to one of the forms that the human potential movement took in education – experiential education – and the reasons for its adoption. It also reinforces emerging understandings of post-WWII American outdoor education as a product of the cold war and reflective of subsequent changes in the wider culture to a narrower focus on the self

Metamorphoses of humanism in humanistic psychology and human potential movement

Экспликация и анализ теоретического ядра гуманистической психологии А. Маслоу с помощью предложенной Ц. Тодоровым концептуально-аксиологической реконструкции просвещенческого гуманизма позволяет выявить слабые места сциентистского морализма, инспирировавшего культ аутентичной самореализации.The analysis of the theoretical core of A. Maslow’s humanistic psychology by means of the conceptual and axiological framework of the Enlightenment humanism, reconstructed by T. Todorov, demonstrates flaws of the scientistic moralism, which inspired the cult of authentic self-realization

Is Group Therapy Democratic? Enduring Consequences of Outward Bound’s alignment with the Human Potential Movement. A Response to “How to Be Nice and Get What You Want: Structural Referents of \u27Self’ and ‘Other’ in Experiential Education as (Un)Democratic Practice.

Franklin Vernon provided an example of how programs viewing themselves as “cultural islands” are in fact embedded within historical capitalist relations, through the discourses of self that they promote. In this response, I expand on Vernon’s argument to situate the quasi-therapeutic practices he identified in the history of the human potential movement, which effectively merged with Outward Bound starting in the 1960s and continues to define outdoor experiential education. Where Vernon sought the structural referents to different models of self, this response seeks their historical origins. The response concludes by linking Vernon’s argument with existing critiques and parallel efforts in the literature on youth development and identity formation

The evolution of experiential learning: Tracing lines of research in the JEE

This essay introduces a collection of past articles from the Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) focused on the concept of experiential learning. It outlines the historical trajectory of the concept beginning with human relations training practices beginning in 1946, as it came to be understood as a naturally occurring psychological process and a grounding for pedagogical reforms. The eight articles included in the issue reflect the way JEE authors have contended with problems arising from the concept’s departure from its origins in practice. We suggest that experiential learning’s evolution into a general theory was accomplished by decoupling it from its roots in a particular social practice and ideology, and then focusing on the concept’s technical problems. It is now important for researchers to revisit assumptions underpinning current theory and practice, situate research on experiential learning in wider practical and scholarly traditions, and develop new vocabularies concerning the relationship between experience and learning in educational programs

Le corps dans la modernité : De la méfiance et du surpassement

Cet article trace un itinéraire dans la pensée du corps depuis l'avènement de la Modernité avec Descartes jusqu'aux approches de l'expérience corporelle dans les sciences (génétique, neuro-sciences) et la culture (sports à risque ou mouvement du Potentiel humain). Il est suggéré que cette pensée en est une bien souvent de méfiance à l'égard de la condition corporelle, méfiance qu'une anthropologie phénoménologique critique fortement en invitant à une compréhension renouvelée de l'existence incarnée.This article traces a route in thinking the body, from the beginnings of Modernity with Descartes, until the recent approaches to corporeal experiences in science (genetics, neuroscience) and in culture (extreme sports, the human potential movement). It is suggested that this thinking is often in defiance with respect to the corporeal condition, a defiance that a phenomenological anthropology harshly criticizes in inviting a renewed understanding of incarnated existence

The Art and Science of Somatics: Theory, History and Scientific Foundations

What is somatics? Somatics is the name given to the field of western mind-body methods, encompassing ways of working with the body that are therapeutic, educational, artistic, and physically expressive. This study analyzes philosophies of somatic movement educational methods to observe what scientific principles and processes ground somatic work. An extensive literature review investigates five historical pioneers of somatics and explores influences on somatic theory from the fields of somatic psychology, neuroscience, the human potential movement, physiology and human anatomy, and psychoneuroimmunology. Qualitative analysis studies from mind-body medicine and the somatics field are compared. Using an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, I attempted to bridge and consolidate ideas to explore the philosophical and scientific foundation of somatics as a field, focusing on the principles behind somatic educational methods. In this qualitative study I am looking for information that supports the hypothesis that somatics is a human science. Through this research I found somatic work to have a distinct, traceable history of evidence proving its efficacy

The System Has a Hole In It: Why Leaders Don’t Follow Their Heroes’ Examples

Despite good intentions, leaders’ desires to follow and implement the teachings and actions of their heroes often become empty promises and meaningless platitudes. Without commitment to intentionally leading by example, workers remain uninspired and organizations decay. To create a more conscious company and functional enterprise, true leaders embrace risk and all of its consequences

Heightened Consciousness

Heightened consciousness has become a common expression in daily conversations, but it expresses a number of different concepts depending on the meaning of the speaker and is related to other phrases or terms that have slightly different connotations. This entry explores the different meanings of the term heightened consciousness and similar phrases in regard to personal development