John Weir’s 1975 Description of The Personal Growth Laboratory, Part I
This is Part I of John Weir’s Article The Personal Growth Laboratory. To download a PDF of this article, click here. To download Part II, click here.
This paper appeared in The Laboratory Method of Changing and Learning: Theory and Application. K. Benne, L.P. Bradford, J.R. Gibb, R.D. Lippitt, eds. Copyright 1975 by Science and Behavior Books, Palo Alto, CA 1975
John Weir, along with his wife Joyce Weir, created the original theory and the Percept Language that are the foundation on which we built Green Psychology.
John and Joyce were pioneers in the human potential movement during the nineteen sixties and seventies. When John completed his PhD in Psychology at UCLA he was hired by Caltec to “be” the Psych Department. In addition to his work as a professor, John and Joyce conducted workshops, training over five thousand students.
John said it was very challenging for him to reduce the richness and complexity of his ideas to the written word. He believed one needed to experience the work firsthand, the process of transformation that occurred, and the value that comes from being part of a learning community.
However in 1975 John contributed one chapter to a book called The Laboratory Method of Changing and Learning.
Part I of this chapter tells a bit about the theories and the people who influenced John.
Part II tells about the actual training program he and Joyce designed, refined, and conducted for over forty years.
It is the basis of the Green Psychology trainings we conduct today.
