Paul Watzlawick

1921–2007, Austria / USA

Clinical psychologySocial psychology

Austro-American psychologist and philosopher. Pioneer of human communication theory and brief therapy.

Books

  • Pragmatics of Human Communication (1967)

    Watzlawick and colleagues formulate the axioms of communication and analyze how communication dysfunctions generate relational pathologies.

  • Change (1974)

    Watzlawick distinguishes between first-order change (within the system) and second-order change (of the system itself), proposing paradoxical interventions.