science

Sidney Jourard

Sidney Jourard is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sidney Jourard rather than just read about it. In short: Sidney Marshall Jourard (1926–1974) was a Canadian psychologist, professor, and writer. He was best known as the author of the books The Transparent Self and Healthy Personality: An Approach From the Viewpoint of Humanistic Psychology, which was a synthesis of the concepts and techniques that humanistic psychologists utilized and built upon in the 1960s and 1970s.

Key takeaways

Sidney Jourard belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sidney Jourard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sidney Jourard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sidney Marshall Jourard (1926–1974) was a Canadian psychologist, professor, and writer. He was best known as the author of the books The Transparent Self and Healthy Personality: An Approach From the Viewpoint of Humanistic Psychology, which was a synthesis of the concepts and techniques that humanistic psychologists utilized and built upon in the 1960s and 1970s. Jourard is also known for his "Self-Disclosure Theory" of humanistic therapy. He has written many other works, including essays, books, and lectures on growth as a human being.

Life and career Sidney Marshall Jourard was born in 1926 in Mount Dennis, a neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Albert Louis Jourard and Anna Rubinoff Jourard, both Russian immigrants. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1947 and received a master's degree in 1949. He began teaching at the University of Buffalo where he received his PhD in psychology. Jourard moved to Atlanta, Georgia and taught at Emory University, then moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he taught at the University of Alabama. In 1958, he was invited to work with the J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center at the University of Florida in Gainesville, working with the School of Nursing. He joined the Psychology Department in 1959, where he lectured and taught large sections of Introductory Psychology. He also had a private practice up until his death on December 2, 1974. Jourard was working on his small sports car in his garage at his home when the jack slipped and brought about his accidental death.

Self-Disclosure Theory Jourard's "Self-Disclosure Theory" is a therapeutic model of humanistic treatment where total disclosure is encouraged between the client and the therapist. The therapist would also disclose himself to the client in reciprocation, however, the therapist, being a psychologist, would rely on training and the concepts of psychological theories to relate to the client. According to Jourard, disclosure is important in any relationship, as it fosters openness, healthy relationships, and an enthusiasm to grow within the personal and social sphere.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sidney Jourard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sidney Jourard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sidney Jourard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sidney Jourard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sidney Jourard

In research: Sidney Jourard appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sidney Jourard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sidney Jourard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 1974 deaths, 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sidney Jourard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sidney Jourard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sidney Jourard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sidney Jourard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sidney Jourard in simple terms?

Why does Sidney Jourard matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sidney Jourard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sidney Jourard.