The Development of Social Intelligence in Psychotherapy

Abstract

George Herbert Mead described "the whole nature of intelligence as social to its very core." In this respect, he was a forerunner of social constructionism, which, when applied to psychotherapy, focuses the therapeutic process on the client's meaning-making process in the context of relationships. Furthermore, Mead perceived the primary aspect of human intelligence to be the capacity of the individual to "put himselfin the place of' another. The implications ofthis for both individual and family psychotherapy and, in particular, its relevance to the practices of empathy and dialogue are explored. A case of couple therapy is used to illustrate the specific applications of the theoretical concepts discussed.

It is generally recognized that the specifically social expressions of intelligence... depend upon the given individual's ability to take the roles of, or "put himself in the place of," the other individuals implicated with him in given social situations; and upon his consequent sensitivity to their attitudes toward himself and toward one another. These specifically social expressions of intelligence, of course, acquire unique significance in terms of our view that the whole nature of intelligence is social to its very core, that this putting of one's self in the places of others, this taking by one's self of their roles or attitudes, is not merely one of the various aspects or expressions of intelligence or of intelligent behavior, but is the very essence of its character. (Mead, 1934, p. 141)