Experience, Existence, and the Meaning of Life Flashcards
What is Humanistic Psychology?
Premise: to understand a person, you must understand his or her unique view of reality
•Studying the mind is fundamentally different
• Self-awareness
What is the goal of Humanistic Psychology?
seek to understand awareness, free will, happiness, and the many related aspects of the mind that are uniquely human and that give meaning to life
Phenomenology: Awareness is Everything Defintion
one’s conscious experience of the world;
everything a person hears, feels, and thinks •At the center of humanity •Psychologically more important than the world itself
• Reality exists, but it has to be perceived to matter
-the basis of free will
Construal:
a person’s particular experience of the
world
• Form the basis of how you live your life • Free will is achieved by choosing your construal
Existentialism
A broad philosophical movement that began in the mid-1800s
•A reaction against the alienation created by rationalism, science, and the industrial revolution
•Purpose: regain contact with the experience of being alive and aware
Existentialism Biological experience (Umwelt):
the sensations you feel by virtue of being a biological organism
Existentialism Social experience (Mitwelt):
what you think and feel as a social being
Existentialism Psychological experience (Eigenwelt):
the experience of experience itself and of introspection
Thrown-ness:
the time, place, and circumstances into which you happened to be born
•An important basis of your experience
•Being thrown into modern society is particularly difficult
•Religion plays a small role in creating meaning and purpose
•Modern substitutes for religion have failed to provide an alternate worldview to tell us why we are here and what we should do
Angst:
he unpleasant feeling caused by contemplating
the meaning of life and how one should spend one’s
time
Anguish:
everyone feels this because choices are never perfect
Forlornness:
each person must make his or her own choices
Despair:
awareness that many outcomes are beyond control
Our moral imperative:
face thrown-ness and angst directly
• Requires existential courage or optimistic toughness
Bad Faith
ignoring the existential questions
