Fromm Flashcards
Erich Fromm was a _____ psychoanalyst.
Humanistic
What is a humanistic psychoanalyst interested in?
They believe in the essential worth and dignity of each person, and in the importance of helping each person to do the most with what she or he has
Fromm was also influenced by _____.
Existentialism
What is existentialism?
An approach to understanding each person’s most immediate experience, the conditions of his or her existence, and the necessity of exercising freedom of choice in a chaotic world
Fromm believed that…
The aim of each person’s life is to join with others while remaining a free and separate being. He stressed the unique capacities of each individual to create and love, not his or her despair, alienation, and anxiety.
What was Fromm’s background?
Sociology
True or false: Fromm was Jewish and a refugee from Nazis
True
Fromm’s basic tenet:
Individual is victimized by harmful social institutions
What are Fromm’s two core structures?
- For freedom and autonomy
2. For “connectedness” to others
What is so significant of Fromm’s core structures?
They are contradictory with one another
What are the three stages of societal development?
- Feudal societies
- Renaissance
- Rise of capitalism
What occurs in the feudal societies stage?
There is too much connectedness and hardly any freedom
What occurs in the renaissance stage?
Individual pursuits are now becoming more appreciated, and freedom is starting to become more important
What occurs in the rise of capitalism stage?
Freedom is heavily emphasized, and people are encouraged to pursue their own goals
What is Fromm’s core tendency?
To escape freedom
The behaviors you choose to escape freedom are your ____.
Traits
Which are the personality types from Fromm’s old theory?
Authoritarian
Destructive
Conformist
Which traits are part of the authoritarian type?
Sadism and masochism; “dominance vs. submissiveness”
Can be destructive because the person is used and abused by the person to which he or she has submitted
Which traits are part of the destructive type?
Vandalism and vicious gossip; “misery loves company”
Which traits are part of the conformist type?
Trying to fit in and echoing others’ opinions
When a person bends over backwards to maintain the union by strict adherence to social norms and conventions. Can be destructive because cultural values ensnares us so completely that we do what it dictates, never what our inner voices demand
Which needs are part of Fromm’s new (United States) theory?
- Need for relatedness
- Need for rootedness
- Need for transcendence
- Need for identity
- Need for frame of reference
Which needs are part of the need for connectedness?
Need for relatedness and need for rootedness
Which needs are part of the need for freedom and autonomy?
Need for transcendence, need for identity, and need for frame of reference
What is need for relatedness?
The necessity to unite with other living things… [constitutes] an imperative need on the fulfillment of which man’s sanity depends.” In other words, a need for togetherness
What is need for rootedness?
A deep craving to maintain one’s natural ties and not be “separated”; sense of belonging
What is need for transcendence?
The act of transforming one’s accidental and passive role of “creature” into that of an active and purposeful “creator”; sense of mattering in some way. By creative acts, humans can rise above the “creature” in them and ascend to new heights where purposefulness and freedom dwell.
What is need for identity?
The need to be aware of oneself as a separate entity, and to sense oneself as the subject of one’s own actions. The person is able to say and feel “I am I.”
What is need for frame of reference?
A cognitive “map” of their natural and social worlds that enables people to organize and make sense of puzzling matters and allows them to operate in the arena of rational understanding. (i.e., “a rain god”)
What are the five new personality types?
- Receptive
- Exploitative
- Hoarding
- Marketing
- Productive
What is receptive?
Dependent, passive
Being taken care of
What is exploitative?
Con, manipulative
What is hoarding?
Collecting
What is marketing?
Sales Selling themselves (connectedness)
What is productive?
Perfect type
Devote all energy to growth, self-improvement
Fromm believed in a utopian world, which meant…
He believed that a society that balanced our needs perfectly is possible
Where does psychopathology come from?
Society
How to cure psychopathology?
Change society
What did Fromm say about frame of orientation?
“The more an ideology pretends to give answers to all questions, the more attractive it is.” False or irrational ideology (such as political or religious ideologies) may be particularly seductive when adopted as frames of orientation because they offer solutions to every problem.
What is mature love?
A union under the condition of preserving one’s integrity, one’s individuality… [it] is an active power of man.
If you are dependent, favor saying “yes” rather than “no,” listen to others rather than talking, and seek to be loved and helped rather than give love and help, you have adopted the ____ personality type.
Receptive
If your orientation is to grab, steal, and manipulate, while being suspicious, cynical, jealous, and hostile, you have adopted the ____ personality type.
Exploitative
If you withdraw from others and set up a protective wall around yourself, only bringing in as much as possible but letting out hardly anything, and have the motto “Mine is mine, and yours is yours,” you have adopted the ____ personality type.
Hoarding
If you seek to package and sell yourself so that you seem “in demand,” and try to make yourself seem as “one of a kind,” you have adopted the ____ personality type.
Marketing
If you have an attitude of relatedness to the world and yourself that encompasses all realms of human experience (reasoning, loving, and working), then you have adopted the ____ personality type.
Productive
