Existential, humanistic & positive psych Flashcards
What was Rogers and Maslow’s view?
Optimistic Humanism
What were Rogers and Maslow’s beginning assumptions?
Began with existential assumptions
Phenomenology is central
People have free will
What is another crucial idea Rogers and Maslow added?
People are basically good: they seek to relate closely with one another and they have an innate need to improve themselves and the world
There is no proof for this assumption
What is Self-Actualization?
People have one basic tendency and striving—to actualize, maintain, and enhance their own experience (i.e., growth)
What is Phenomenal field?
the entire panorama of conscious experience
How a person can be understood
What is Actualization?
need to maintain and enhance life
Goal of existence is to satisfy this need
What is the basic assumption of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
: the ultimate need or motive is to self-actualize
-Only active when the more basic needs have been met
What is the Hierarchy of needs?
how human motivation is characterized
1) -Basic needs (food water)
2) - Safety, security, comfort, sex
3) -Belonging, social activity
4) - Status, esteem
5) -Self-actualization
Definition of The Fully Functioning Person?
someone who perceives the world accurately and without neurotic distortion and takes responsibility for his or her choices
Face the world without fear, self-doubt, or neurotic defenses
Life is rich in emotion and self-discovery
Importance of unconditional positive regard
Conditions of worth
-Limit your freedom to act and think
Personal constructs (Kelly)
bipolar dimensions along which people or objects can be arranged
Based on how one’s cognitive system assembles various construals of the world
Help to determine how new experiences are construed
What are Chronically assessable constructs?
those that are more easily brought to mind
-An individual difference
What are Sources of constructs?
Your chosen interpretation of past experiences
What is Sociality corollary?
understanding another person means understanding his or her personal construct system
Constructive alternativism?
any pattern of experience can lead to numerous construals
Your personal reality is constructed in your mind
What are the implications of Constructive alternativism for science?
Scientific paradigms are frameworks for construing the meaning of data
Researchers choose which paradigm to use
Important to be aware that other paradigms are equally plausible
Construct and reality
Your personal reality is constructed in your mind: you can choose to reconstruct it differently
Researchers choose which paradigm to use: and therefore what to focus on (and ignore)
Maximizing and Satisficing
satisficers are happier, more optimistic, and more satisfied; maximizers are prone to perfectionism, depression, and regret
What is an Optimal experience?
how to make the most of your moment-to-moment experience
Autotelic activities
enjoyable for their own sake
Flow (Csikszentmihalyi)
the subjective experience of an autotelic activity
What is Flow is characterized by?
Tremendous concentration, total lack of distractibility, and thoughts concerning only the activity at hand
Mood that is slightly elevated
Time seems to pass very quickly
When does Flow arise?
when the challenges of an activity match a person’s skills
What is the secret for enhancing your quality of life?
: spend as much time in flow as possible
But flow is solitary
Is stress always bad?
Stress is not always bad
Without stress, life would be boring and meaningless
How do people seek to avoid stress?
by developing a conformist lifestyle;
Likely to lead to existential psychological pathology and a false sense of self
Vegetativeness
: the person feels that nothing has meaning and becomes listless and aimless
Nihilism?
experience is dominated by anger, disgust, and cynicism
extreme thrills
Only extreme thrills garner one’s full attention and distract from deep feelings of meaninglessness
can lead to promiscuous sex, drug use, etc.; purpose is to conceal the emptiness of life
Hardiness (Maddi)
a lifestyle that embraces rather than avoids potential sources of stress
A cure for bad faith
Related to happiness and adjustment
How can stress be good?
Stressful and challenging experiences can bring learning, growth, and wisdom
Important for giving meaning to life
