Chp 9 - Existential and Humanistic Psychology Flashcards
Existential and Humanistic Psychology (main ideas) (5)
*Personal responsibility
*Focus on the present
*Personal growth
*Holistic view of person
*Reaction against Freud and Behaviourism
Humanistic and Existential Approaches (3) Prominent Figures
Erich Fromm
- We are alienated from our self, others
Rollo May
- Anxiety is triggered by a threat to the core values of existence
Victor Frankl
- Importance of personal choice
- Search for meaning
Figures Establishing humanistic (2)
Carl Rogers
- Clinical psych
Abraham Maslow
- Theory of motivation
Carl Rogers: Humanistic Psychology (3)
- People are free to exert control over their own life, motivation to grow and mature
- People will, if allowed, work to become healthy and well adjusted, to experience life to the fullest
- To become a fully functioning person
the Self (Carl Rogers) (3)
Need for:
- Self-consistency (All aspects of self are consistent)
- Congruence (Consistency between real self and ideal self)
Problems arise if self-concept experience not consistent.
Congruence (Carl Rogers) (3)
For a fully functioning person:
- real self and ideal self match; can accept and act on reality without denial or distortion.
If there is a mismatch:
- distort or deny experience in attempt to make real self and ideal self align.
- The poorer the match between real self and ideal self, the poorer the adjustment, psychological health.
Unconditional Positive Regard (3)
Healthy development depends on unconditional positive regard.
- the basic acceptance and support of a person regardless of what the person says or does, especially in the context of client-centred therapy
- Psychologist must show unconditional positive regard for client, or else it will not succeed
Children come to think of themselves as “good” or “bad”.
Healthy developmental depends on unconditional positive regard
Bad girl? Or Good girl but bad activity?
Actualizing tendency
“the urge to expand, extend, develop, mature … to express and activate all the capacities of the organism”
Rogers, 1961
The Fully Functioning Person (5)
- Openness to Experience
- Existential Living
- Organismic Trusting
- Experiential Freedom
- Creativity
Openness to Experience (The Fully Functioning Person) (2)
Accurately perceives events, tolerates ambiguity
Diff from OCEAN
in humanistic:
- this openness is changeable, and we become more and more open through out the life
Existential Living (The Fully Functioning Person) (3)
“to live each moment fully” (Rogers, 1961);
- self as fluid, adaptable;
- experience as constantly changing, dynamic
Organismic Trusting (The Fully Functioning Person)
Relies on inner experience, on the organismic valuing process
(do what feels right)
Experiential Freedom (The Fully Functioning Person) (2)
- Free each moment to chose
- To grow, have to be present in the moment
Creativity (The Fully Functioning Person)
Adaptable and creative in how they live; finding new ways to experience life.
Abraham Maslow: Humanistic Psychology (3)
- Hierarchy of needs;
- Self-actualization;
- Health as more than the absence of disorders
Theory of motivation and personality rests
on assumptions (Maslow) (5)
1) Holistic approach to person
2) Motivation is complex, Behaviour may have multiple motivations:
- Sexual behaviour: physiological, companionship, love, dominance, dependence
- Desire to succeed: dominance, power, financial security, self-worth, ideals…
3) People are continually motivated by one need or another
- When one need met, next need motivates
4) Basic needs are universal
- The manner in which needs met culturally determined, but fundamental needs universal
5) Needs can be arranged hierarchically.
Hierarchy of Needs (8) (Maslow)
Deficiency Needs:
Physiological > Safety > Belongingness > Esteem
Penis should be enormous
Growth Needs: (needs to have deficiency fulfilled first)
Cognitive > Aesthetic > Self-actualization > Transendence (Spiritual)
cock as should too
Characteristics of a self-actualized person (7) (Maslow)
EASPSAF
Eagerly, Annie speaks persuasive shit at Frank
Efficient Perception of Reality
- Accurate perception of self and external events; not threatened by the unknown
Acceptance
- Accepting and tolerant of others and of self
Spontaneity
- Behave naturally, in accordance with self, not external norms and expectation
Problem Centered
- not self-centred
- Not doubtful of self
- Can work on external issues
Solitude
- Need for and enjoyment of privacy, not shyness
Autonomy
- Self-sufficient, not dependent
Freshness of Appreciation
- Awe and wonder at life
Peak Experiences (Maslow) (3)
- Capacity for mystical experience,
- But not all self-actualised people have peak experiences (“peakers and non-peakers”)
- May be experienced by those who are not fully self-actualised
Self-actualization (Maslow) (3) thwarted by:
Similar to roger’s actualizing tendency
Thwarted by:
1) Deficiency needs not met;
2) Attraction of safety;
- If we expect failure, we don’t try
- Low self-efficacy
3) Lack of self-confidence.
- If we expect failure, we don’t try
- Low self-efficacy
Positive Psychology
(Martin Seligman) (3)
Psychology should be:
- As concerned with strength as with weakness
- As interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst
- As concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling and with nurturing high talent as with healing pathology.
Two Perspectives on Happiness (2)
Hedonia: pleasure and pain
Eudaimonia: meaning, engagement, contentment/life satisfaction, living as a fully functioning person
Happiness and Health (3) Accessed 3 broad disease categories:
- hypertension,
- diabetes,
- respiratory tract infections.
= happiness reduced risk for all
1000 patients
Positive emotions, SWB (subjective well-being), anxiety, and anger tracked over 2 years (Richmond et al., 2005)
What makes us happy (but not really) (4)
American Paradox
- High societal wealth, but high alienation, poor psychological health, poor life satisfaction
Financial Situation
- Threshold, but data inconsistent
Life changes
- Immediate but habituate to both positive and negative changes
Yes ppl lvl of happy increase when income increase
- Only until the level of fulfilment, above is in plateau
Volunteering (5)
↑ Happiness
↑ Life satisfaction
↑ Self-esteem
↑ Mood
↑ Physical health
No vol
Vol- Worship
Vol- Secular (not worship)
5 years intervals, n= 3k
20’s to 70
Controllled for age, income, marital. Employment, phy health…
Spend Time with others (2)
Research consistently shows the importance of relationships:
- Happier, healthier.
- Quality, not the number.
Much of what we enjoy, we enjoy because of others.
Despite activities like reading books being solidarity, we get joy from discussing
Subjective Well-being (SWB)
- What individuals think of their own level of happiness, life satisfaction, I.e., how we evaluate our lives
- Tends to be stable over time
Positive Psychology: PERMA (5)
- Positive emotion and pleasure (Pleasant Life)
- Positive emotional experience, and learning to savour it, heritable, habituation
- Habituation might be able to countered by amplifying pleasure
- Engagement in life (Flow, the good life)
(Overlaps with Maslow’s Peak experience)
- Commitment, focus, full involvement, feeling fully immersed, time stops, signature strengths
- Relationships
- Ties to family, friends, community
- Meaningful Life
- Sense of meaning, purpose, signature strength in service of something larger than oneself
- Accomplishment
- Setting and attaining goals
- Attainable but challenging
3 “happy” lives
The pleasant life (PA)
- Have as many pleasures as possible
- Learning the skills to amplify them
But is
Heritable
Habituates (become less happy)
The good life
- Pleasure vs. Flow
- Can’t feel anything, intense concentration
- Knowing what you highest strengths are
- Recrafting work, life, play
- Derive and flow
Meaningful life
- Know what your signature strengths are
