Another theoretical approach fundamental for the self-characterization as self-exploration
method is The Self Perception Theory – by Daryl Bem (1970); this theory is about the
self-knowledge derived from observing our own behaviour, without any cognitive
dissonance. Self-perception is expressed by objective self-assessment in given situations.
This self-assessment is similar to a self-characterization.
The Greek researcher Athena Androutsopoulou (2001) presents the self-characterization
as a narrative tool that could be used in individual and family counselling settings. She
argues that Kelly’s method (self-characterization) could help the story telling in therapy,
and in this framework the self-description should become a narration in which the whole
person is presented. Self-characterization is useful for the counsellor to recognize the
„codes” and „personal and family themes”. The technique reveals the importance people
place on negotiation, writing, and, finally, presentation of the way the self and the family
are perceived and experienced at a particular time in their history.
Methods presentation
Autobiography is a retrospective longitudinal investigation by means of which the
individual is encouraged to explore his/her personal experiences.
This method asks for the subject’s cooperation in self-assessment and is based on the
capacity to looking back to one’s own actions, analysing them, expressing opinions about
self, observing, and understanding the reactions of others.
Autobiography is considered an easy working method because the person is involved
narrating, usually in writing, the important events for his own evolution. In the work
coordinated by Holban there is a distinction between two types of autobiography: an
official one – derived from collecting the official information about the identification data
(date and place of birth, parents and family, school and life conditions) and one aimed at
understanding the way the personality functions. The difference between these two
autobiography types lies in the fact that the former has mainly an informative value, while
the second mainly an interpretative value. For the counselling process both
autobiographies are useful, but the latter is essential in general evaluation of the person,
which happens in the first counselling sessions.
The official autobiography could be the base for approaching the young client by
identifying the parameters relating to his/her family, school, and social environment,
which reflect in how the personality develops further on (Holban, 1978).
As an investigation method, autobiography implies a trip of the subject in his/her own life
in order to identify significant events. This process provides a framework where one
could make connections between facts of life and the psychological structure; it also