Image Description
This pencil drawing depicts Paul Watzlawick (1921–2007). He was an Austrian communication scientist, psychotherapist, and philosopher who became known primarily for his work on communication theory and constructivism. He was born in Villach, Carinthia, and studied philosophy and languages at the University of Venice, where he received his doctorate in 1949. He then trained in analytical psychotherapy at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. In 1960, Watzlawick emigrated to the USA and became a member of the renowned Palo Alto Research Center at the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in California. There, together with colleagues such as Gregory Bateson and Don D. Jackson, he developed the “theory of human communication,” which had a major influence on psychotherapy, education, and interpersonal communication. One of his best-known works, “The Pursuit of Unhappiness” (1983), uses ironic humor to show how people create and perpetuate problems through their own way of thinking. Watzlawick's works emphasize that “one cannot not communicate” and that reality is essentially constructed through communication. He taught at Stanford University for many years and left behind an extensive body of work that remains central to psychology, communication, and systemic therapy to this day. Paul Watzlawick died in 2007 in Palo Alto, California.
Why am I drawing Paul Watzlawick? Since I have been working as a teacher for some time now and also teach LER, I discuss the topic of communication with my students. In this context, we naturally talk about Watzlawick and his axioms. The second axiom in particular (short form: Every communication has a content and a relationship aspect) always provides a good transition to Friedemann Schulz von Thun's four-ears model (which I have also drawn, of course).
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') "Paul Watzlawick Portrait (Detail 5)")