Abstract
Without the right power sources, clients can achieve very little in therapy. It is no surprise, therefore, that empirical research has identified the activation of resources as an essential effective factor. Personal values are powerful resources. They always have a positive significance for the person, and indicate what is truly important and valuable to that person. They provide information on what the person wants to be involved in. Their origins lie in the correspondingly powerful and reinforcing experiences the client is happy to identify himself with. This resources orientation also helps the client to submit to a therapy which, it has to be admitted, look more like deficit orientation. Often the aspired-to changes are not easy to achieve, clients have to withstand anxieties and go through motivation crises. A felt value helps to justify this strenuous enterprise. Clients can then feel again why they are taking on all these efforts and want to invest the necessary energy. The activation of a suitable value system reinforces self-confidence, reduces stress, and increases the willingness to open oneself and to work on achieving difficult goals. The work in the spirit of embodiment takes the term “value stance” quite literally. Body posture and movement are linked in a suitable way with a value stance. This ensures both the rapid availability as well as the reinforcing effect of this resource—even in difficult situations.
Inside every woman there is a queen. Speak to the queen and she will come out.
Inside every man there is a king. Speak to the king and he will come out.
German proverb
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brosch, T., & Sander, D. (2013). Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying value-based decision-making: from core values to economic value. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 398.
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Creswell, J. D., Welch, W. T., Taylor, S. E., Sherman, D. K., Greunewald, T. L., & Mann, T. (2005). Affirmation of personal values buffers neuroendocrine and psychological stress responses. Psychological Science, 16, 846–851.
Damasio, A. (2005). Human values: The issue of origins. In J. P. Changeux, A. R. Damásio, & W. Singer (Eds.), Neurobiology of human values (pp. 47–56). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Ent, M. R., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Embodied free will beliefs: Some effects of physical states on metaphysical opinions. Consciousness and Cognition, 27, 147–154.
Förster, J. (2009). Cognitive consequences of novelty and familiarity: How mere exposure influences level of construal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 444–447.
Fujita, K., & Han, H. A. (2009). Moving beyond deliberative control of impulses: The effect of construal levels on evaluative associations in self-control conflicts. Psychological Science, 20, 799–804.
Fujita, K., Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Levin-Sagi, M. (2006). Construal levels and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 351–367.
Gallese, V., & Lakoff, G. (2005). The brain’s concepts: The role of the sensory-motor-system in conceptual knowledge. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 455–479.
Hauke, G. (2010). Reinforcing goal commitment: Work with personal values in Strategic Behavioral Terapy (SBT). European Psychotherapy, 9(1), 93–116.
Deonna, J., & Teroni, F. (2015). Emotions and Values. In D. Sander & T. Brosch (eds), J. Deonna, F. Clément, E. Fehr, P. Vuillemier (co-eds.), The Handbook of Value, Affective Sciences Series. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kirsh, D. (2010). Thinking with the body. In S. Ohlsson & R. Catrambone (Eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2864–2869). Austin: Cognitive Science Society.
Kross, E., Ayduk, O., & Mischel, W. (2005). When asking “why” doesn’t hurt: Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions. Psychological Science, 16, 709–715.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: the Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.
Lepora, N., & Pezzulo, G. (2015). Embodied Choice: How action influences perceptual decision making. PLOS Computational Biology, 11(4), e1004110.
Schmeichel, B. J., & Vohs, K. (2009). Self-affirmation and self-control: Affirming core values counteracts ego depletion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 770–782.
Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). New York: Academic Press.
Schwartz, S. H. (2016). Basic individual values: Sources and consequences. In D. Sander & T. Brosch (Eds.), Handbook of value (pp. 63–85). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Storch, M., & Krause, F. (2007). Selbstmanagement – ressourcenorientiert. Grundlagen und Manual für die Arbeit mit dem Zürcher Ressourcen Modell ZRM (4th ed.). Bern: Huber.
Tschacher, W., Munt, M., & Storch, M. (2014). Bewegung und Psychotherapie durch den Embodimentansatz. Körper – Tanz – Bewegung, 2, 54–63.
Wakslak, C. J., & Trope, Y. (2009). Cognitive consequences of affirming the self: The relationship between self-affirmation and object construal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 927–932.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hauke, G. (2018). Resource Activation: Bringing Values into the Flesh. In: Hauke, G., Kritikos, A. (eds) Embodiment in Psychotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92889-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92889-0_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92888-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92889-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)