连载：SAT OG作文题目范文赏析 第一套

What motivates people to change?

What motivates people to change is a relentless and innate desire for self-improvement.
Rarely ever has history seen a man or society kick back, relax, and say “Well that about
does it. Not much else to do here!” Within every person is the potential to achieve
greatness in some form; be it athletically, mentally, spiritually. This inherent potential
demands that people continue to explore and change both their environments and
themselves throughout their life’s course. Never should a man be idle for too long. After
acknowledging the changes a man has already made to his environment, the pursuit of
self-improvement will once again stir within his soul and call him to action. This internal
desire, this pursuit of challenge and perfection, does not prohibit man from being happy
with his status and achievements. On the contrary, the device serves more to allow the
man to constantly strive for greater change, newer innovation. What motivates people to
change is the ongoing need to redefine people’s lives and identities –to elevate them to
higher levels of eminence and sucess.
A good example of this can be seen in clinical psychology. When patients seek therapy
for difficulties that have encumbered their daily functioning, they most often arrive for
treatment voluntarily and willingly- they consciously accept the necessity of therapy and
so participate without any duress. During the course of clinical therapy, the patient’s
concerns, anxieties, ideas, emotions, and fears are brought to light. However, the clinician
does not try to alter the beliefs, feeling, and sentiments of his client; rather, he simply
illuminates them in order to provide the patient with an accurate view of himself. The
process, of raising concerns and ideas to the surface of conscious awareness, is known as
clarification. Modern psychology is a far throw from the psychoanalysis of Freud’s time,
in which psychologists attempted to “interpret” pre-and unconscious feelings that had
been repressed by the patient. Because clinicians only clarify, and not dissect, alter, or
interpret a client’s inner desires and emotions, the client himself is responsible for
instituting change. If he is to change, he must dictate the course of therapy, and make the
conscious choice to improve himself. This widely used approach is called “client
centered therapy.” If the client’s ennui or ill feelings are due to situational factors or
internal designs (as oppose to biological changes that would qualify for a diagnosis of
psychopathology (mental disorder)), he must change them on his own accord to
precipitate change within himself. The therapist will not “cure” him in any way. He alone
must answer the call within himself to refine and redefine his identity and place in
society. This need, of self-improvement, also initially brought him to the therapist. He
was able to recognize the disorder of his environment and acknowledge his own negative
feelings. This in turn brought him to therapy, where he was guided through a process of
introspection that ultimately enabled him to improve himself, assuage his anxieties, and
rightfully continue on his lifelong pursuit of even greater achievements.