Assertiveness

Abstract

Although the concepts underlying assertiveness training have been gaining increasing popularity, the usefulness of the training model to the helping professions was first noted in 1949. Originally conceived as a limited form of behaviour therapy (Salter, 1961; Wolpe, 1958), assertiveness training has been found to have so many applications that it can no longer be considered as a single technique, but rather as an array of techniques designed to be effective with a large and varied number of target populations (Shoemaker & Satterfield, 1977). Most of the strategies and techniques, however, rest on three basic assumptions about human nature (Percell, 1977):

• 1. That feelings and attitudes relate closely to behaviour;

• 2. That behaviour is learned; and

• 3. That behaviour can be changed.

She is currently Chair of the Department of Social, Organizational and Counseling Psychology. As a psychologist, she consults nationally with industry, health care systems, and educational institutions. Dr Raskin is a former coordinator of the Women's Task Force of the American College Personnel Association. She has been teaching assertiveness to various lay and professional groups since 1974.