Pragmatics of Human Communication A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes

by Watzlawick, Paul; Bavelas, Janet Beavin; Jackson, Don D.; O'Hanlon, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780393707076
• ISBN10: 0393707075
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-25
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

A perennial bestseller in hardcover, translated into many languages, and one of the best books ever about human communication, this work has formed the foundation of much research in interpersonal communication. The authors identify simple properties or axioms of human communication and demonstrate how all communications are a function of their contexts. A new foreword by Bill O'Hanlon puts Watzlawick's work and importance in context.

Author Biography

Paul Watzlawick, who died in 2007, was an internationally-known psychologist. An expert in human communication, he was one of the most influential members of the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, CA. Janet Beavin Bavelas is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Victoria. Don D. Jackson, a founding father of therapy, was a therapist and teacher, and made countless contributions to the understanding of human behavior.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the paperback edition	p. ix
Introduction	p. xiii
The The Frame of Reference	p. 1
Some Tentative Axioms of Communication	p. 29
Pathological Communication	p. 53
The Organization of Human Interaction	p. 99
A Communicational Approach to the Play Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?	p. 129
Paradoxical Communication	p. 167
Paradox in Psychotherapy	p. 213
Epilogue Existentialism and the Theory of Human Communication: an Outlook	p. 241
References	p. 257
Glossary	p. 271
Index	p. 276
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