{"id":15,"date":"2013-09-24T00:42:40","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T00:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/?page_id=15"},"modified":"2020-03-24T20:51:20","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T20:51:20","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.\u00a0\u00a0Who was Arthur W. Combs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arthur W. Combs (1912-1999) was a psychologist\/educator who began his academic career as a teacher of biological sciences and a school psychologist in the public schools of Alliance, OH (1935-1941).\u00a0\u00a0He earned a Master\u2019s degree in School Counseling at Ohio State University (1941) and entered the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at that institution, where Carl Rogers served as a teacher and mentor.\u00a0\u00a0He completed his Ph.D. in 1945.<\/p>\n

His professional career was based at three institutions: Syracuse University, where he helped organize a psychoeducational clinic open to the community, developed a doctoral program in Clinical Psychology and served as Director of Clinical Training and head of Personal Counseling Services (1943-1954); the University of Florida, where he held a dual appointment in the Department of Personnel Services and the Educational Foundations Department and also taught for a time in the Department of Psychology (1954-1976); and at the University of Northern Colorado as a Distinguished Professor (during the 1980s).<\/p>\n

In 1949, he was elected President of the New York State Psychological Association and that same year he co-authored (with Donald L. Snygg)\u00a0Individual Behavior: A New Frame of Reference for Psychology.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0This book presented a comprehensive and systematic framework for making better sense of human experience, behavior, and the relationship between the two.\u00a0\u00a0Known as \u201cPerceptual Psychology\u201d and later \u201cField Psychology,\u201d its primary assertion was that people behave in accordance with personal meanings or perceptions, especially how they perceive themselves, the situations they are in and the purposes they are trying to achieve.\u00a0\u00a0More recent formulations were published as\u00a0Perceptual Psychology: A Humanistic Approach to the Study of Persons<\/i>\u00a0(with Anne C. Richards & Fred Richards, 1976),\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0Being and Becoming: A Field Approach to Psychology<\/i>\u00a0(1999). His autobiography (2006), In Search of Fulfillment: The Quest of Psychologist\/Educator Arthur W. Combs<\/em>, has been described by David J. Cain, Ph.D. (Alliant International University) as \u201cnot just an autobiography of an exceptional man whose life story is well worth knowing, but also a personal history of the pioneering development, significance and evolution of humanistic psychology, education and psychotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Art spent most of his career establishing, refining, researching, and implementing this theoretical position and sharing insights and implications derived from it in clinical, counseling, educational, and other settings.\u00a0\u00a0His publications explored implications of Perceptual Field Theory for better understanding goals and purposes of education and teacher preparation (Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming<\/i>, 1962;\u00a0The Professional Education<\/i>\u00a0of Teachers<\/i>, 1965;\u00a0Myths of Education<\/i>, 1979) and for better discriminating between good and poor professional \u201chelpers\u201d such as\u00a0\u00a0teachers, therapists, ministers, public officials, etc. (Florida Studies in the Helping Professions<\/i>, 1969;\u00a0The Schools We Need:\u00a0\u00a0New<\/i>\u00a0Assumptions for Educational Reform<\/i>, 1991;\u00a0Helping Relationships: Basic Concepts for<\/i>\u00a0the Helping Professions\u00a0<\/i>[with Donald Avila & Williams W. Purkey in 1971; with David Gonzalez in 1994];\u00a0On becoming a school leader: A person-centered challenge<\/i>\u00a0[with Ann B. Miser & Kathryn Whitaker, 1999]).\u00a0\u00a0One of Art\u2019s often-quoted articles, \u201cIntelligence from a Perceptual Point of View,\u201d was published in the\u00a0Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology<\/i>\u00a0(1952).<\/p>\n

By the end of the 1960s, Art\u2019s consulting and speaking engagements had taken him to every state of the United States and into six other countries.\u00a0\u00a0He had published nearly 100 articles and several books and monographs on psychology, education, and therapeutic practice which had gone into revisions and were translated into other languages.<\/p>\n

Among other awards and honors he received were the following: an Outstanding Research Award from the American Personnel and Guidance Association, now the American Counseling Association (1963); election as President of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD – 1966); the John Dewey Society Award for distinguished service to contemporary education for his \u201csignal contributions to teaching, educational theory, and educational research\u201d (1967).\u00a0\u00a0In 1998 he received the Charlotte and Karl B\u00fchler Award from Division 32 of the American Psychological Association for his \u201cground-breaking contributions to psychological theory, educational reform and research in the helping professions.\u201d<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0What is THE FIELD PSYCH TRUST<\/span>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before his death, Arthur W. Combs set aside monies to encourage the continuation of graduate student research from a perceptual (field) psychology perspective and to support publication of manuscripts related to his professional life and work.\u00a0\u00a0He designated one of his former doctoral students, Anne C. Richards (Ed.D., University of Florida, 1972) as Trustee.\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Richards was formerly on the faculty of the University of Northern Colorado (1971-1975) and retired in May of 2001 from the University of West Georgia after 26 years of service. A Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychology at UWG, she also served as editor of Combs\u2019 autobiography, In Search of Fulfillment<\/em>, which was released in December, 2006.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0Where can I get more information about research methods which have been developed from Perceptual (Field) Theory?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the books cited on this website, the following website may be helpful:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nku.edu\/academics\/coe\/centers\/educatordispositions.html<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the website of the National Network for the Study of Educator Dispositions<\/strong>, directed by Mark Wasicsko, Ph.D., Bank of Kentucky Endowed Professor at the University of Northern Kentucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1.\u00a0\u00a0Who was Arthur W. Combs? Arthur W. Combs (1912-1999) was a psychologist\/educator who began his academic career as a teacher of biological sciences and a school psychologist in the public schools of Alliance, OH (1935-1941).\u00a0\u00a0He earned a Master\u2019s degree in School Counseling at Ohio State University (1941) and entered the doctoral program in Clinical Psychology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldpsychtrust.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}