Transcript Humanistic Existentialism

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Big Questions…
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Are we free to make choices?
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What is the purpose of relationships with others?
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What is the meaning of life?
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experience is subjective
make meaning out of it
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born in reaction to psychoanalysis and
behaviorism (no freewill)
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we determine our destiny and that the locus
of control for our lives lies within
not a coherent theory of personality but
a philosophy
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derives from people such as Kierkegaard,
Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre and
Buber
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European: Binswanger, Boss, and Frankl
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Frankl - student of Freud and developed
logotherapy
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logotherapy = therapy through meaning
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existential vacuum = experienced when we do not
busy ourselves with routine and work
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American: May and Yalom
Carl Rogers (Humanism)
Fritz Perls (Gestalt Psychology)
common thread among these approaches is
the focus on the conscious experiences
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emphasizes health rather than sickness
clients are not viewed as sick, but rather
they are viewed as sick of life or awkward at
living
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respect of individuals
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exploring new aspects of human behavior
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existence is not fixed
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we continually recreate ourselves through our
projects
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humanism = any philosophy which recognizes the
value and dignity of persons and makes people the
measure of all things
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a) We have the capacity for self-awareness
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b) Freedom and Responsibility
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c) Striving for Identity and Relationship to Others
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d) The Search for meaning
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e) Anxiety as a condition for living
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f) Awareness of death and nonbeing
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we are finite
we can act, or not act
we can choose, and thus we can shape our
destiny
we are basically alone, but we have the
opportunity to relate to others
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we are free to choose
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we must accept responsibility for our actions
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if we don't accept responsibility for our actions, we
act in what Sartre calls "bad faith"
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existential guilt = occurs when we choose not to
choose, or when we let others define or make
choices for us
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part of the human condition is aloneness
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we cannot depend on anyone else for our
own confirmation
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define from within
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we alone must give a sense of meaning to life
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we alone must decide how we live
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when we are able to stand alone and dip within
ourselves for our own strength, our relationships
with others are based on fulfillment, not our
deprivation
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concerns the struggle for significance and purpose in life
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therapists would encourage clients to help create a value
system that is based on their way of being
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sometimes people experience meaninglessness
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we create meaning working, loving, and building
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life is not meaningful in and of itself, rather an individual
creates and discovers meaning
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when we make a decision or change, there will be anxiety
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there is normal and neurotic anxiety
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neurotic anxiety = anxiety that is out of proportion to the
situation
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existentialist therapists do not strive to eliminate normal
anxiety, rather life can not be lived, nor can death be faced
without anxiety
"whenever you leave the sure basis of the now and become
preoccupied with the future, you experience anxiety“ (Perls)
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Rogers…
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when we receive information which is inconsistent
with our self-concept we experience anxiety
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the more inaccurate yourself concept, the more
likely you will have clashes with other people
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to ward off anxiety, a person has to reinterpret the
experience to make it congruent with their selfconcept
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awareness of death as a basic condition gives
significance to life
death means that we are finite and that we
have a limited amount of time to do things
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Reversal Theory (Apter, 1989)
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suggests that our conscious experience shifts
between telic and paratelic modes
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telic mode = consciousness is goal directed
to the future
paratelic mode = consciousness is direct to the
pleasure of the activity at hand
present oriented
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Csikszentmihalyi has argued for a psychology of
optimal experience
autotelic experiences occur when you are
completely absorbed by what you are doing
you are able to experience "flow“
1908-1970
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Humanism (Allport, 1930)
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1960s and 1970s
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Third Force Psychology
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Behaviorism
◦ Narrow sterile view of human nature
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Psychoanalytic
◦ Focus on emotional disturbance
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Brooklyn, New York
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Intense drive to succeed
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Unhappy childhood
Father –”loved whiskey and woman”
Mother – hatred for her, punishing
Scrawny, large nose
Inferiority complex
Academically inclined (IQ = 195)
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Married at 20, his cousin Bertha
fan of behaviorism in the 1930s
Training in experimental psychology
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PhD 1934 University of Wisconsin
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Taught in New York in the 1930-1940s
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1951 – 1969 Brandeis University
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President of APA 1967
died 1970 massive heart attack
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Hierarchy of Needs
Self-actualization (weakest)
Esteem
Belongingness
Safety
Physiological (strongest)
Instinctoid needs = hereditary component
One need dominates personality
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Vary in strength
Higher needs appear later in life
SA does not arise until midlife
Lower needs called Deficient Needs
SA called Being Needs
contentment, happiness, fulfillment
We work our way up the need chain
Total satisfaction does not need to occur
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Physiological Needs
food, shelter, water
Safety Needs
If unsatisfied – infants and neurotic adults
Manifest by over need for structure/order
Belongingness Needs
close relationship with friend, lover, mate or
even being part of group
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Esteem Needs
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Two needs for esteem
◦ From self and others
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Derived from status, recognition or social
success – feelings of self-worth
Failure to achieve – inferiority, helpless
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Highest need (Being Need)
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Maximal realization of potential
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Takes many forms
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Conditions to SA
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Free from society constraints
Not distracted by lower needs
Secure in self-image
Realistic knowledge of self
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Fasting until death
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Religious figures
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Innate need to know and understand
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Exists outside the hierarchy of needs
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Need to know stronger than need to understand
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Appears in late infancy
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SA depends on satisfaction of cognitive need
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B-motivation
Drive toward self-actualization
Less than 1% of the population
D-motivation (deficiency)
Drive toward every other need
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Efficient perception of reality
Acceptance of self and others
Spontaneous and natural
Focus on problems outside themselves
Need for privacy/sense of detachment
Fresh appreciation and Peak experiences
Social Interest and Profound relations
Democratic
Creative
Resistant to enculturation
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Inadequate education
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Improper child-rearing practices
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Jonah complex
The fear that maximizing our potential will
lead to a situation with which we will be
unable to cope
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Freewill
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Balance of nature versus nurture
Balance of past and present
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Uniqueness of people
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Emphasis on growth
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Optimistic view
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Started with the study of
Ruth Benedict and Max Wertheimer
For historical figures, he worked with
biographical material
For living persons, he used interviews, free
association and projective tests
Data collection not rigorous or controlled
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He referred to his program as consisting of a
serious of pilot studies.
He is describing an ideal, but how did he
arrive at this conclusion?
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)
Shostrom (1964)
Self-report, 150 pairs of statements
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Positively correlated with
Emotional health, creativity, academic
achievement, autonomy, racial tolerance
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Negatively correlated with
Alcoholism, neuroticism, depression and
hypochondriasis
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POI scores increase gradually with age
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Ryan and Deci, 2000
People have an innate tendency to express their
interests, exercise their interests, develop their
capabilities and overcome challenges
Three basic needs:
Competence- mastery of tasks
Autonomy – freedom to act on one’s choices
Relatedness – feeling connected with others
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"studies the strengths and virtues that enable
individuals and communities to thrive."
"to find and nurture genius and talent”
"to make life more fullfilling”
not to cure mental illness
Martin Seligman the father of positive
psychology
1902-1987
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Originated client-centered or personcentered therapy
Believes we are rational beings ruled by a
conscious perception or our selves and our
experiential world
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Focus on the present
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Inborn tendency to self-actualize
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Oak Park, Illinois
Strict religious background
◦ Suppression of displays of emotions
◦ Virtue of hard work
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Had little social life outside his family
Competitive with his brother
Felt lonely – inspired his theory of personality
Started with agriculture then to theology
Swung from fundamentalist to liberal
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PhD – 1931
1940 – moved from clinical to academia
Ohio State University
1945 – 1957: University of Chicago
1957-1963: University of Wisconsin
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APA President 1946
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Received APA’s Distinguished Scientific
Contribution Award and Distinguished Professional
Contribution Award
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Self at the core of personality
We are motivated to self-actualize
Actualization tendency
Emcompasses all physiological and
psychological needs
Actualization begins in womb
Responsible for maturation
Is genetically determined
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Full development is not automatic
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Involves struggle and pain
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Organismic valuing process
The process by which we judge experiences
in terms of their value for fostering or
hindering our actualization and growth
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reality of our environment depends on our
perception of it
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perception is subjective
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Phenomenology (experiential inner world)
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The only reality we can be sure of is our inner
perception of reality
Our inner reality is private and only we can know it
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Need for positive regard
Acceptance, love and approval from others
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Lack of it thwarts SA and development of self
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Unconditional Positive Regard
Love that is independent of behavior
Reciprocal influence – when we give love to
others, it come back to us
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Conditions of worth
A belief that we are worthy of approval only
when we express desirable behaviors and
attitudes and refrain from expressing those
that bring disapproval from others
Conditional positive regard
Approval love or acceptance granted only
when a person expresses desirable behaviors
attitudes
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Incongruence
A discrepancy between a person’s selfconcept and aspects of his or her experiences
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“We should love everyone”
Then feel hatred towards another
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Results in anxiety
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To decrease the anxiety, we deny the hatred
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Psychological adjustment is the result of
compatibility between our self-concept and
our experiences
Aspects of self are not denied or distorted
Goal – all facets of the self are developed and
become a fully functioning person
leading the “good life”
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All aspects of self are developed
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Awareness of experience
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Not defensive, reality not distorted
Self-concept is not threatened
Open to Positive and Negative Experiences
Wider range of emotions
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Fresh appreciation of experience
◦ Experiences cannot be predicted
◦ We participate in fully in experience
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Trust in one’s own behavior and feelings
◦ Trust own reactions rather than being guided by
someone’s judgments
◦ Nothing is threatening, all is experienced
◦ Trust the emotional and intuitive side rather than
the intellectual
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Freedom of choice
◦ Power in knowing future depends on choices
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Creativity and spontaneity
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Continual need to grow, maximize oneself
Rogers used the word “actualizing” not
“actualized”
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The latter implies a static personality
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Freewill
Nurture
Present experiences
Uniqueness balanced with universality
Growth
Optimism
The Gloria Session
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Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
Gloria
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Link 1
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What do you think about the difference
between the two therapists?