Early Recollections: A

Humanistic Assessment in
Counseling.
Authors:
Clark, Arthur J.1 ac/a@stlawu.edu
Source:
Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education & Development.
Spring2001, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p96-105. 9p.
Document Type:
Article
Subject
Terms:
*Counseling
*Evaluation
*Counselors
Early memories
Recollection (Psychology)
Lifestyles
Abstrac
The article examines early recollections as an assessment tool in
counseling. Early recollections is a projective methodology to
systematically reveal enduring personality trends or characteristics of
a person's lifestyle. In counseling sessions, a counselor might
empathize with the client and acknowledge feelings and perceptions
evoked by the early recollections. After interpreting the memories and
integrating the findings with other relevant data, a counselor may use
the insights generated to prepare a coherent framework for
therapeutic change and development. As a projective technique, early
recollections enhance the understanding of the uniqueness and
potential of individuals. In the context of an empathic interaction, the
counselor is able to acknowledge perspectives of client that evoke
personal meaning. Eliciting early recollections emphasizes specific
guidelines that are contiguous with the counseling process.
Synthesizing the critical factors of characters, themes, details, and
affect from early memories enables practitioners to develop
hypotheses relating to clients' core convictions or lifestyle. The
interpretation of early recollections also involves three ways of
knowing about persons that provide perspectives from multiple
sources of data through a contextual assessment.
Author A
1
Associate Professor and coordinator of the Counseling and
Development Program, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.
Full Tex
3858
ISSN:
1931-0293
DOI:
10.1002/j.2164-490X.2001.tb00105.x
Accessi
4035834
Databas
Education Research Complete
Publishe

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Early Recollections: A Humanistic Assessment in Counseling 

 Contents
1. HUMANISTIC QUALITIES OF EARLY RECOLLECTION
ASSESSMENT
2. SUMMARY
3. REFERENCES
4. APPENDIX
5. Psychological Variables
Full Text
Listen
As a projective technique, early recollections help
counselors understand the uniqueness and potential of
individuals through an empathic interaction in counseling.
A case presentation illustrates the use of early
recollections in counseling.
Many humanistically oriented counselors may be reluctant to use objective self-report personality assessment
instruments with clients because of their relative impersonal quality, which is generally detached from the counseling
process (Brown, 1972). Objective measures typically involve a series of written questions to which individuals provide
checked responses to various scaled dimensions. Information elicited from these procedures can be essential for
understanding clients and for making informed decisions about counseling goals and plans. It is possible, however, for
practitioners to obtain vital evaluation data, while enhancing the counseling relationship and maintaining respect for
the client's integrity. Using early recollections as an appraisal approach emphasizes the uniqueness and potential of
individuals in the context of an empathic therapeutic interaction. As with other projective techniques, early memories
may be integrated into the counseling process and not viewed by clients as an interruption of it (Hood & Johnson,
1997).
Alfred Adler (1937) conceived early recollections as a projective methodology to systematically reveal enduring
personality trends or characteristics of a person's lifestyle (Munroe, 1955). According to Adler (1937), ingrained
convictions that individuals maintain about life are consistent with early childhood memories. In counseling sessions, a
counselor might empathize with the client and acknowledge feelings and perceptions evoked by the early
recollections. After interpreting the memories and integrating the findings with other relevant data, a counselor may
use the insights generated to prepare a coherent framework for therapeutic change and development. In this article, I
examine early recollections as an assessment tool in counseling and present a case study in which the technique was
used.
HUMANISTIC QUALITIES OF EARLY RECOLLECTION ASSESSMENT
Empathy
For most clients, the absorbing nature of narrating early memories allows them to become involved in the counseling
process and reduces defensiveness (Clark, 1998). Through a collaborative effort, individuals participate in a creative
task that provides freedom of expression through open-ended responses that assume no right or wrong answers. The
counselor may express a genuine and sensitive regard for a client's perspectives through an interaction that enhances
the counseling relationship. As a rapport-building technique, the elicitation of early memories, in either the initial or
second counseling session, allows for an alternative to the direct verbalization of immediate concerns or difficulties.
The number of memories that practitioners elicit varies from 2 to 10 (Watkins, 1985). Requesting a smaller number of
early recollections, perhaps 3, allows for a reasonable time allocation and maintains client interest; the limited number
of recollections is generally sufficient for interpretation. In addition, the childhood memory must be visualized as a
single event rather than a report of an experience that occurred during an extended period and must have occurred
before the client was 8 years old (Mosak, 1958).
The directions for requesting early recollections are brief: "Think back to a long time ago when you were little, and try
to recall one of your earliest memories, one of the first things you can remember." When the client seems to have
completed the memory, the counselor asks, "Is there anything else that you can recall in the memory?" At times,
essential details added by the client can affect the meaning of the recollection. To further clarify memories, Olson
(1979) suggested that the counselor ask the client, "What part do you remember most about the memory?" This
question often pinpoints the central theme of the recollection. The final counselor question, "What feelings do you
remember having then?" reveals an individual's affect regarding the most vivid part of the memory. Feelings
associated with client recollections are crucial in subsequent interpretations of the memory. The counselor should
make verbatim recordings of the client's initial comments and follow-up responses. This effort further reflects the value
the counselor places on narrations that are significant to the client. Practitioners may also use other projective
techniques, such as sentence completion tasks (Hart, 1986) and human figure drawings (Handler, 1996), that are
compatible with early recollections; their use contributes to the goals of a humanistic assessment.
Uniqueness
Saul, Snyder, and Sheppard (1956) observed that early recollections are absolutely specific and distinctive and
illuminate the core of each person's psychodynamics more clearly than any other psychological data. Despite having
many early childhood experiences, individuals tend to remember a small number of incidents; these incidents are
consistent with their outlook on life or schemas of apperception (Adler, 1937). Thus, a fundamental assumption is that
early recollections reveal the phenomenological stance that individuals maintain toward their private worlds of
meaning (Kopp & Der, 1979). Another key assumption is that, although early memories are consciously acknowledged
and expressed, they represent covert or unconscious aspects of personality and, thus, function outside an individual's
awareness. Furthermore, rather than measure specific traits, early recollections as a projective technique present a
global and holistic perspective to the appraisal of personality (Bruhn, 1990). Although the use of early recollections is
not restricted to practitioners with an Adlerian orientation, a counselor's familiarity with theoretical principles from
individual psychology helps him or her understand the projective technique. A counselor should be aware of Adlerian
concepts (e.g., lifestyle, basic mistakes, private logic, holism, social interest) before using early memories in
counseling (Dinkmeyer & Sperry, 2000; Ekstein, Baruth, & Mahrer, 1982).
Distinguishing features of early recollections that include virtually unlimited subjective and schematic meanings,
however, reduce the possibility of determining precise empirical measurement of personality structures. Although
there have been various attempts to devise quantifiable scoring systems (Bruhn, 1990, 1992; Langs, Rothenberg,
Fishman, & Reiser, 1960; Levy, 1965; Lieberman, 1957; Lord, 1982; Manaster & Perryman, 1974; Mayman, 1968),
the results have not received wide acceptance because of psychometric and methodological limitations. Instead, early
recollections tend to be interpreted qualitatively and on an idiosyncratic basis by practitioners (Goldman, 1990). At the
same time, although this approach uses both clinical experience and intuitive acumen, it becomes difficult to
document findings or to adapt procedures for instructional purposes. One way to approach this dilemma is to consider
early recollections as a counseling tool that yields specific hypotheses that may subsequently be supported or refuted
by data from contextual sources, such as objective and projective measures; reports elicited from a parent, teacher,
spouse, or other significant person; and dream material (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997; Clark, 1994,1995,1999).
Potential
After clients complete the early recollections procedure and other compatible appraisal techniques, the counselor
might critically assess the material by using a discovery process that searches for patterns and meanings (Faidley &
Leitner, 1993). Carl Rogers (1964) conceptualized "three ways of knowing," which facilitates this exploratory approach
for broadening the counselor's awareness of clients' experiencing that constricts or enhances their potential. The
objective way of knowing focuses on the counselor's capacity for empathy for observable client information. Observing
individuals in the classroom, on the playground, or at work sites and reviewing the results of standardized self-report
instruments are examples of objective ways of knowing. Early recollections have also been related to a variety of
normal personality features and psychological disorders (Rabin, 1986), and these comparative data are available to
the counselor. The subjective way of knowing, in contrast, emphasizes the counselor's empathic capacity for
understanding his or her own internal frame of reference. Recounting his or her own early recollections allows the
counselor to perceive and "feel" how the client's childhood memories resonate within themselves. Closing one's eyes
and visualizing memory experiences may assist the practitioner in this effort.
In an intermediate position between objective and subjective modes, the interpersonal way of knowing manifests the
counselor's capacity to express empathy toward clients and to understand their phenomenological perspectives.
Interpersonal knowledge may also include observations of other individuals who can corroborate hypotheses. Central
to the interpretation of client early recollections is developing inferences from critical factors: characters, themes,
details, and affect (Mosak, 1958). Perceptions of specific characters in an individual's early memories tend to
represent prototypes of classes of people (Mosak). A client's adverse reaction to his or her parent, for example, may
suggest how the person relates to other authority figures. A thematic analysis of early recollections requires the
counselor to search for prominent patterns in the client's human experience. The Appendix presents psychological
variables consolidated from various researchers (Altman, 1973; Lord, 1982; Manaster & Perryman, 1974; Sweeney,
1998).
It is possible for counselors to extract thematic material from the psychological variables. For example, a client who
initiates tasks or demonstrates involvement in particular circumstances would be considered active rather than
passive. Each recollection should then be thematically evaluated beyond the variables presented to fully assess the
idiosyncratic quality of early memories. Details mentioned by clients are also significant in the development of
meaningful inferences. Individuals who make reference to color in their memories, for example, tend to have an artistic
appreciation and sensitivity to color that is often expressed in home decor, clothing, and avocational or vocational
interests (Sweeney, 1990). Finally, affect expressed by clients in their early recollections varies, and the tone
expressed directly affects the meaning of experiences. In the case of the individual who recalls falling down in a mud
puddle, for example, it is critical to determine whether he or she found the incident joyful or humiliating to understand
the memory.
After the counselor analyzes the early recollections' critical factors (characters, themes, details, and affect) and makes
inferences, a schematic of an individual's lifestyle can be useful in synthesizing the data. The lifestyle syllogism
(Manaster & Corsini, 1982) depicts convictions that an individual maintains about oneself, the world (people and
events), and conclusions about life that are based on these core beliefs. For example, the self-perception of a person
derived from several early memories is "I am ... capable and resourceful"; "the world is ... nurturing, stimulating, and
challenging"; therefore, "life is ... abundant and fulfilling." These core convictions are tentatively held and subject to
revision as data from all three modes of knowing are evaluated. Furthermore, throughout the counseling process,
hypotheses about client experiencing should be open to change as individuals more fully realize their potential.
Although the interpretation process is somewhat time-consuming and complex, gaining an incisive understanding of
the client's perspectives may actually accelerate the counseling process and contribute to sound therapeutic plans.
The use of early recollections in counseling helps practitioners to be aware of an individual's uniqueness and potential,
but the projective technique also enhances the ability of counselors to understand people in general. As experience
accrues with the instrument, perspectives may broaden through analysis of early memories from the counselor's total
clientele, which frequently involves diverse cultural and experiential backgrounds. To begin the process of skill
development using the procedure, the counselor can elicit early childhood memories from family members and trusted
others and also examine his or her own early recollections; this process often yields instructive and enlightening
results (Myer & James, 1991). Training and supervised experience in using early memories as an assessment tool in
counseling is essential for achieving proficiency with the instrument. Finally, exploring the extensive literature on early
recollections and reflecting on published case studies enhances counselors' understanding of the projective
technique.
Early Recollections Assessment: A Case Illustration
Carl, a 5th grade student, was referred by his team of teachers to the elementary school counselor because of
conflicted peer relationships and a marked decline in academic performance. Carl's teachers were concerned that he
seemed to be becoming more withdrawn and distressed and at times seemed to set himself up for ridicule from other
students. The counselor had recently met with Carl regarding an incident in which he started to cry after being
reprimanded by one of his teachers. After the session with Carl, the counselor decided to arrange a meeting with his
mother and to review Carl's scholastic records. These initiatives revealed that Carl's parents were recently divorced
and that he and his mother had moved to the community at the end of the previous school year. Carl's school
progress was unremarkable, other than the frequent anecdotal entries from teachers regarding strained peer
relationships and his extreme sensitivity to criticism.
Carl's mother gave the counselor permission to complete a psychological assessment and to arrange for several
counseling sessions. In the initial session, Carl seemed guarded and hesitant to talk about the reprimand from his
teacher. At the same time, the counselor sensed feelings of anguish that Carl seemed to be experiencing yet did not
wish to talk about. Consequently, in the subsequent meeting with Carl, the counselor decided to focus first on Carl's
interests and current activities. Carl initially seemed less tense but became anxious when the topic of peer
relationships surfaced. The counselor then decided to invite Carl to draw a picture of a person, and Carl seemed
relieved to be involved in this graphic task. After completing the drawing, in which Carl drew an extremely small figure
with raised arms, he began working on a 25-item sentence completion instrument (Clark, 1998). Several of Carl's
responses to sentence stems were enlightening "I feel ... like a nobody"; "my father ... is never around"; "other kids ...
are mean to me"; "I wish ... I had a real friend"; "the happiest time ... I can't remember."
After the relatively brief psychological evaluation had been completed, the counselor asked Carl to relate his earliest
recollections. Carl seemed anxious as he began.
I think I was in the first grade, and it was show-and-tell
time, and I brought in my teddy bear to show the class. It
was an old bear which I really loved, but his fur had mostly
fallen off. Some of the kids laughed at me and said I was
poor or dumb for bringing the bear to school. I felt really
embarrassed and wanted to run out of the classroom.
The most vivid part of the memory for Carl occurred when he was being laughed at by some of the students.
Carl's second early memory also evoked feelings of humiliation.
I was on the playground and I heard some kids talking about
being invited to a birthday party, and I went to ask the boy
whose birthday party it was if I could go. The kid smirked
at me and then squeezed his nose with his fingers. I felt
like punching the boy in the face, but instead, I walked
away, and I cried inside.
The child holding his nose stood out the most for Carl in the memory, and he felt embarrassed and angry. After Carl
shared his third recollection, which also involved tormenting peer experiences, the counselor reflected Carl's feelings
of anguish. This empathic interaction prompted Carl to disclose at some length the sense of hopelessness that he
experienced when he tried to improve his situation, both in school and at home.
Between counseling sessions with Carl, the counselor evaluated the projective material and information from multiple
sources. To interpret Carl's early recollections, the counselor first considered the critical factors beginning with
characters in the early recollections. Individuals represented were exclusively peers, although it may be inferred that in
the first memory, a teacher was present. Peers rejected Carl harshly, despite his attempts to engage them. Also
significant was the omission of persons who potentially could have offered support or protection, including a teacher or
a parent, but who were not mentioned in the memories. The counselor then analyzed themes that emerged in the
recollections. This effort began as the counselor considered the psychological variables from the Appendix and
identified appropriate binaries. It is apparent from the character factor that the themes of rejection and ridicule were
prominent. The following factors seemed to be pertinent to Carl's self-perception: rejected, incompetent, discouraged,
failure, active, cooperative, friendly, and internal locus of control. Regarding Carl's perception of the world, the
following two factors seemed to be relevant: hostile and blame. The setting for each of Carl's recollections was
indoors, and he referred to his teddy bear as a prized possession. Finally, Carl's affect included feelings of
embarrassment, humiliation, anguish, and anger.
After analyzing the critical factors, the counselor can evaluate their implications and integrate material from the three
ways of knowing. Several factors of Carl's self-perception represented potential strengths as counseling progressed:
active, cooperative, friendly, and internal locus of control. Related aspects of his core convictions suggested goal
directions for purposeful change in counseling: rejected, incompetent, discouraged, and failure. From his perception of
the world, hostile and blame factors constricted Carl's development and presented a direction for constructive schema
change. The teddy bear detail in one of Carl's recollections was significant because it suggested his need for comfort
and affection; Carl's feelings of rejection were already prominent in counseling. Data from corroborative sources, such
as the diminutive human figure drawing, support the inference of Carl's reduced self-concept. The availability of other
information illustrates the value of exploring Carl's conflicted feelings toward his father, his parents' recent divorce,
and the marked decline in his school performance.
Consolidating the various perspectives and data allowed the counselor to formulate Carl's lifestyle syllogism: "I am ...
in spite of my efforts, worthless." "Other people ... are scornful, and events are harsh." Therefore, "life is ...
comfortless." Thus, the crucial and urgent task of counseling was to encourage Carl and to stimulate therapeutic
change in more constructive and purposeful directions. As counseling proceeds, implications of the lifestyle syllogism
will be couched in terms relevant to and congruent with Carl's intellectual and emotional level. Through the counseling
process, Carl will be challenged to make choices that transcend core convictions that restrict the expression of his
intrinsic worth and potential as a person.
SUMMARY
As a projective technique, early recollections enhance the understanding of the uniqueness and potential of
individuals. In the context of an emphatic interaction, the counselor is able to acknowledge perspectives of clients that
evoke personal meaning. Eliciting early recollections emphasizes specific guidelines that are contiguous with the
counseling process. Synthesizing the critical factors of characters, themes, details, and affect from early memories
enables practitioners to develop hypotheses relating to clients' core convictions or lifestyle. The interpretation of early
recollections also involves three ways of knowing about persons that provide perspectives from multiple sources of
data through a contextual assessment. Various opportunities exist for developing counselor proficiency in using early
recollections in counseling.
REFERENCES
Adler, A. (1937). Significance of early recollections. International Journal of Individual Psychology, 3, 283-287.
Altman, K. (1973). The relationship between social interest, dimensions of early recollections and selected counselor
variables. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of South Carolina.
Anastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (1997). Psychological testing (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brown, E. C. (1972). Assessment from a humanistic perspective. Psychotherapy: Theory, research and practice, 9,
103-106.
Bruhn, A. R. (1990). Earliest childhood memories: Vol. 1. Theory and application to clinical practice. New York:
Praeger.
Bruhn, A. R. (1992). The Early Memories Procedure: A projective test of autobiographical memory, Part 1. Journal of
Personality Assessment, 58, 1-15.
Clark, A. J. (1994). Early recollections: A personality tool for elementary school counselors. Elementary School
Guidance and Counseling, 29, 92-101.
Clark, A. J. (1995). Projective techniques in the counseling process. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73, 245-
251.
Clark, A. J. (1998). Defense mechanisms in the counseling process. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Clark, A. J. (1999). Theoretical and practical issues in working with children's dreams in counseling. Journal of
Humanistic Education and Development, 37, 160-168.
Dinkmeyer, D., Jr., & Sperry, L. (2000). Counseling and psychotherapy: An integrated, individual psychology approach
(3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Eckstein, D., Baruth, L., Mahrer, D. (1982). Lifestyle: What it is and how to do it (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
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Westport, CT: Praeger.
Goldman, L. (1990). Qualitative assessment. The Counseling Psychologist, 18, 205-213.
Handler, L. (1996). The clinical use of figure drawings. In C. S. Newmark (Ed.), Major psychological assessment
instruments (2nd ed., pp. 206-293). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
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personality (pp. 245-272). New York: Guilford.
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procedures (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Kopp, R. R., & Der, D. (1979). Humanistic psychological assessment in psychotherapy. In H. A. Olson (Ed.), Early
recollections: Their use in diagnosis and psychotherapy (pp. 29-38). Springfield, IL: Thomas.
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the earliest memory. Archives of General Psychiatry, 3, 523-534.
Levy, J. (1965). Early memories: Theoretical aspects and applications. Journal of Projective Techniques and
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Lieberman, M. G. (1957). Childhood memories as a projective technique. Journal of Projective Techniques, 21, 32-36.
Lord, D. B. (1982). On the clinical use of children's early recollections. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian
Theory, Research & Practice, 38, 198-206.
Manaster, G. J., & Corsini, R. J. (1982). Individual psychology: Theory and practice. Itasca, IL: Peacock.
Manaster, G. J., & Perryman, T. B. (1974). Early recollections and occupational choice. Journal of Individual
Psychology, 30, 232-237.
Mayman, M. (1968). Early memories and character structure. Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality
Assessment, 32, 303-316.
Mosak, H. (1958). Early recollections as a projective technique. Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality
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Munroe, R. L. (1955). Schools of psychoanalytic thought: An exposition, critique, and attempt at integration. New York:
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Myer, R., & James, R. K. (1991). Using early recollections as an assessment technique with children. Elementary
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Olson, H. A. (1979). Techniques of interpretation. In H. A. Olson (Ed.), Early recollections: Their use in diagnosis and
psychotherapy (pp. 69-82) Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Rabin, A. J. (1986). (Ed.). Projective techniques for children and adolescents. New York: Springer.
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Mental Health Counselors Assocation Journal, 7, 32-40.
APPENDIX
Psychological Variables
1. Accepted--Rejected
 2. Active--Passive
 3. Competent--Incompetent
 4. Cooperative--Defiant
 5. Encouraged--Discouraged
 6. Friendly--Hostile
 7. Independent--Dependent
 8. Internal--External Locus of Control
 9. Nurture--Neglect
 10. Praise--Blame
 11. Secure--Insecure
 12. Success--Failure
~~~~~~~~
By Arthur J. Clark
Arthur J. Clark is an associate professor and coordinator of the Counseling and Development Program at St.
Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to Arthur J. Clark,
Associate Professor, St. Lawrence University, Atwood Hall, Canton, NY 13617 (e-mail: ac/a@stlawu.edu).

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