Humanistic approach in psychology. Humanistic psychology: features, representatives and interesting facts

Humanistic psychology was the result of serious reflections of the American society, which faced the question of what a person is, what is his potential and ways of development. These issues have, of course, been raised before and considered by representatives different schools. However, two world wars led to global changes in society, which entailed the importance of new ideas and understandings.

What does humanistic psychology study?

The main subject of study of the humanistic direction in psychology is healthy, mature, creatively active individuals striving for continuous development and taking an active life position. Psychologists of the humanistic movement did not oppose man and society. Unlike other directions, they believed that there was no conflict between society and the individual. On the contrary, according to them, it is social ones that give a person a sense of the fullness of human life.

Personality in humanistic psychology

Basics humanistic psychology originate in the philosophical traditions of the humanists of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, German romanticism, the teachings of Feuerbach, Nietzsche, Husserl, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, the teachings of existentialism and Eastern philosophical and religious systems.

The methodology of humanistic psychology is disclosed in the works of such authors:

• A. Maslow, K. Rogers, S. Jurard, F. Barron, who expressed their views on a mentally healthy, fully functioning person;
• A. Maslow, V. Frankl, S. Buhler wrote about the development of personality in humanistic psychology, the problem of driving forces in the formation and development of personality, about needs and values;
• the problem of interpersonal relationships and self-disclosure in relationships are described by K. Rogers, S. Jurard, R. May;
• F. Barron, R. May and V. Frankl wrote about the problems of freedom and responsibility.

In general, the personality of a person is considered in the following aspects:

• a person is not a set of components, but a holistic personality;
• each person is unique, so it is more correct to approach each specific case from the point of view of its individuality. Based on this representation, statistical generalizations do not make sense;
• human life- this is a single process of being and becoming a person;
• man is an active being who needs development;
• the main psychological reality is human experiences;
• a person can be guided by his principles and values, which helps him to be independent to a certain extent from external causes.

Methods of humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology has become widespread, which has led to an expansion of the set of methods suitable for this direction. Among the most famous methods are the following:

It would be inaccurate to call humanistic psychology scientific theory. At the time of its appearance, it occupied an important niche in the understanding that there is a person, and rather quickly became a general cultural phenomenon.

Humanistic psychology.

The new situation that developed in the world in connection with the consequences of the first and especially the second world wars, the madness of fascism turned the psychological thought of the West to a new problem - the meaning (or meaninglessness) of being, freedom (or lack of freedom) of the individual, loneliness (or non-loneliness) of a person, his responsibility, life and death - to the problems developed in the philosophy of existentialism. In addition to the fact that this philosophy influenced many neo-Freudians (K. Horney, E. Fromm, etc.), it brought to life new psychology, which revised the basic foundations of the previous one and in many respects opposed itself to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis, primarily in understanding the true nature of man. This direction as a whole is often referred to as existential-humanistic psychology.

In 1964, the first conference on humanistic psychology was held in the USA. Its participants came to the conclusion that behaviorism and psychoanalysis (they were designated as the two main psychological forces at that time) did not see in a person what constitutes his essence as a person. Behaviorism and psychoanalysis considered a person from natural-science positions: in Freud, human morality and spirituality were considered not as independent realities, but as a consequence of the complexities of psychosexual development and, accordingly, secondary, derivative from drives and their fate; in behaviorism (with the exception of socio-behaviorism, which was formed in the same years as humanistic psychology), such things as freedom, human dignity, etc., were not only not considered, but were declared fictions, i.e. artificially created and not related to real concepts. Humanistic psychology has identified itself as a third force opposed to behaviorism and psychoanalysis.

Principles of humanistic psychology.

The principle of integrity.

Personality is a holistic formation, not reducible to its components. What happens in any part of the whole affects the whole person. The integrity of the Self creates a unique character of the experiences of each person. That is why the subject of study should be goals, meanings, self-attitude, self-perception of the individual.

The principle of positivity.

Human nature is kind and constructive, in connection with which the emphasis is shifted to the study of healthy, creative individuals with huge internal resources for their solution. Rigid external determinism is opposed to self-determination and self-determination.

development principle.

This principle is intended to explain the presence of internal potencies. Like any creature, a person is naturally endowed with a tendency to growth, development and realization. K. Rogers gives the following analogy: the grain thrown into the ground grows, develops and bears fruit (results). Similarly, every person: nature gives strength for growth, development and self-regulation, i.e. to choose your one and only path, which will lead to the multiplication of good in this world. Therefore, the most important thing is the actualization of human potential. Development has no limit. A person has a huge creative potential, but in order for it to be realized, a person must be active.

Activity principle .

A person is not a victim of circumstances, previously acquired skills, childhood experiences. He is self-determined by nature, creates his own destiny, is free to choose his life and is responsible for his choice. Humanistic psychology abandoned the idea of ​​violence and pressure on the individual. Everything that comes from the outside and does not coincide with the internal needs of the individual is blocked, sooner or later makes itself felt in nervous breakdowns, illnesses, breaks with loved ones.

These principles mainly apply to other humanistic concepts, although in general humanistic psychology does not represent a unified theory, it is united by some general provisions and personal orientation in practice - in psychotherapy and pedagogy.

The emergence of the name and the formulation of the basic principles are associated primarily with the name of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow. At the center of humanistic psychology is the concept personality development, the idea of ​​the need for maximum creative self-realization, which means true psychological health.

Let us denote, following Maslow, the main differences between humanistic psychology and the first two forces.

First of all, humanistic psychology emphasizes that a person must be considered as a creative self-developing being, striving not only for peace and certainty, i.e. equilibrium state, but also to imbalance: a person poses problems, solves them, striving to realize his potential, and it is possible to understand a person exactly as a person only by taking into account his highest ups, highest creative achievements.

Individuality in humanistic psychology is seen as an integrative whole, as opposed to behaviorism, focused on the analysis of individual events.

Humanistic psychology emphasizes the irrelevance of animal research to human understanding; this thesis is also opposed to behaviorism.

In contrast to classical psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology asserts that man is inherently good, or at most neutral; aggression, violence, etc. arise due to environmental influences.

Basic provisions of humanistic psychology:

Man must be studied in his wholeness

Each person is unique, so the analysis of individual cases is no less unique than statistical generalizations.

Man is open to the world; human experience of the world and oneself in the world is the main psychological reality;

Life should be considered as a single process of becoming and being of a person;

A person has a certain degree of freedom from external determination due to the meanings and values ​​that guide him in his choices;

Man is endowed with the potentialities of continuous development and self-realization as part of his nature;

Man is an active, intentional, creative being.

The most universal human characteristic in Maslow's concept is creativity , i.e. creative direction, which is innate in everyone, but is largely lost by the majority due to the influence of the environment, although some manage to maintain a naive, childish view of the world.

Maslow emphasizes the interest of humanistic psychology in the psychologically healthy individual; before analyzing the disease, you need to understand what health is (in Freud's psychoanalysis - the way back; according to Maslow, Freud showed the sick side of the psyche, it's time to show the healthy). Genuine health - not in the medical, but in the existential sense - means creative growth and self-development.

The heart of Maslow's concept is his understanding of human needs . Maslow showed that the so-called basic human needs are given and hierarchically organized by levels. If this hierarchy is represented as a pyramid or ladder, then the following levels are distinguished (from bottom to top)6

Physiological needs (for food, water, oxygen, optimal temperature, sexual need, etc.)

security needs (confidence, structure, order, predictability of the environment)

Needs related to love and acceptance (the need for affective relationships with others, for being included in a group, for loving and being loved)

needs related to respect and self-respect

self-actualization needs

General principle, proposed by Maslow for the interpretation of personality development: lower needs must be satisfied to some extent before a person can move on to the realization of higher ones. Without this, a person may not be aware of the existence of higher-level needs.

In general, Maslow believed, the higher a person can climb the ladder of needs, the more health, humanity he will show, the more individual he will be.

At the top of the pyramid are needs related to self-actualization. Maslow defined self-actualization as the desire to become everything that is possible; it is the full use and disclosure of a person's talents and abilities. This is the need for self-improvement, in realizing one's potential. This path is difficult, it is associated with the experience of fear of the unknown and responsibility, but it is also the path to a full, internally rich life. By the way, self-actualization does not necessarily imply an artistic form of embodiment: communication, work, love are also forms of creativity.

Characteristics of a "self-actualizing personality".

objective perception of reality

acceptance of self, others, world such what they are

non-egocentricity, orientation to solving external problems, centering on the object

the ability to endure loneliness and the need for isolation

Creative skills

naturalness of behavior, lack of desire to violate conventions simply from the spirit of contradiction

friendly relations with any person with good character, regardless of his education, status and other formal characteristics.

The capacity for deep attachments, often to few people, in the absence of constant unconditional hostility towards anyone

moral certainty, a clear distinction between good and evil, consistency in moral consciousness and behavior

relative independence from the physical and social environment.

awareness of the difference between the end and the means: the ability not to lose sight of the end, but at the same time emotionally perceive the means in itself

Large-scale mental content and activity (These people are raised above trifles, have a wide horizon, a long-term perspective. They are guided by broad and universal values.)

Although all people are looking for inner consistency, few reach the level of self-actualization (which is not a state, but a process) - less than 1%. The majority, according to Maslow, are simply blind to their potential, do not know about its existence and do not lead the joy of movement to its disclosure. The environment contributes to this: a bureaucratic society tends to level the individual.

This also applies to the family environment: children who grow up in a friendly environment, when the need for security is satisfied, are more likely to self-actualize.

In general, if a person does not reach the level of self-actualization (self-actualizing personality), he turns out to be a special person, not burdened with many small vices such as envy, anger, bad taste, cynicism; he will not be prone to depression and pessimism, selfishness, etc. - all this does not correspond to true human nature, all this is a manifestation of mental illness in the sense in which it is considered by humanistic psychology.

Such a person is distinguished by high self-esteem, he accepts others, accepts nature, is unconventional (i.e., independent of conventions), simple and democratic, has a sense of humor (moreover, of a philosophical nature), is prone to experiencing peak feelings such as inspiration, etc.

So, the task of a person, according to Maslow, is to become what is possible - and therefore to be himself - in a society where conditions do not contribute to this. A person turns out to be the highest value and is ultimately responsible for being successful.

The concept of self-actualization is at the center of the concept of one of the most popular psychologists of the twentieth century - Carl Rogers.

Man, like other living organisms, Rogers believes, has an innate tendency to live, grow, develop. All biological needs are subject to this trend - they must be satisfied in order to develop positively, and the development process proceeds despite the fact that many obstacles stand in its way - there are many examples of how people living in harsh conditions not only survive, but also continue to progress .

According to Rogers, a person is not what appears in psychoanalysis. He believes that a person is inherently good and does not need to be controlled by society; moreover, it is control that makes a person do bad things. Behavior that leads a person down the path to misfortune is not in accordance with human nature. Cruelty, anti-sociality, immaturity, etc. - the result of fear and psychological protection; the task of a psychologist is to help a person discover his positive tendencies, which are present at deep levels in everyone.

The actualization trend is the reason why a person becomes more complex, independent, socially responsible.

Initially, all experiences, all experience is evaluated (not necessarily consciously) through the tendency to actualization. Satisfaction is brought by those experiences which correspond to this tendency; the organism tries to avoid opposite experiences. The term organism in this case means a person as a single bodily-spiritual being. Such an orientation is characteristic of a person as a leading one until the structure of the Self is formed, i.e. self-awareness. The problem, according to Rogers, is that along with the formation of the I, the child has a need for a positive attitude towards himself from others and a need for a positive self-attitude; however, the only way to develop a positive self-image is to learn behaviors that evoke a positive attitude from others. In other words, the child will now be guided not by what contributes to actualization, but by how likely it is to receive approval. This means that in the mind of the child, not those that correspond to his nature will arise as life values, and that which contradicts the acquired system of values ​​will not be allowed into the self-image; the child will reject, not allow into knowledge about himself those experiences, manifestations, that experience that do not correspond to ideals that have come from outside. The self-concept (i.e. self-image) of the child begins to include false elements that are not based on what the child really is.

This situation of abandoning one's own assessments in favor of someone else creates an alienation between a person's experience and his self-image, their inconsistency with each other, which Rogers refers to as " incongruence»; this means - at the level of manifestations - anxiety, vulnerability, lack of integrity of the personality. This is exacerbated by the unreliability of external reference points - they are unstable; from this Rogers deduces a tendency to join relatively conservative groups in this respect - religious, social, small groups of close friends, etc., because. incongruence, to one degree or another, is characteristic of a person of any age and social status. However, the ultimate goal, according to Rogers, is not the stabilization of external assessments, but fidelity to one's own feelings.

The main cause of neuroses, according to Rogers, is the discrepancy between who a person considers himself to be and what he wants to be. The essence of the Rogers method is aimed at:

form a new, more adequate image of oneself in a person

to make more real, corresponding to the capabilities of a person, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhis ideal.

Rogers proposed to fill the concept of " mental health" positive content. In other words, mental health- this is not the absence of illness, but a positive way of life, which is characterized by openness to new experience, striving for the fullness of life, trust in one's feelings and high creative activity.

Is it possible to develop on the basis of self-actualization, and not an orientation towards external evaluation? The only way of non-interference in the self-actualization of the child, Rogers believes, is an unconditional positive attitude towards the child, “ Unconditional acceptance »; the child must know that he is loved no matter what he does, then the need for a positive attitude and self-relationship will not be in conflict with the need for self-actualization; only under this condition will the individual be psychologically whole, fully functioning.

As a practitioner, Rogers proposed a number of procedures to mitigate incongruity; they are reflected primarily in individual and group psychotherapy. Rogers originally referred to his psychotherapy as non-directive which meant abandoning the recommendations of the prescriptive plan (and most often the psychologist is expected to do just that) and trusting in the client's ability to solve his own problems if an appropriate atmosphere is created - an atmosphere of unconditional acceptance. Rogers later referred to his psychotherapy as client centered therapy; now the therapist's task was not only to create an atmosphere; The most important role was played by the openness of the therapist himself, his movement in the direction of understanding the problems of the client, the manifestation of this understanding, i.e. both the client's feelings and the therapist's feelings are important.

Finally, Rogers developed person centered therapy, the principles of which (the main attention is to the person as such, not social roles or identity) extended beyond psychotherapy in the traditional sense of the word and formed the basis of groups - meetings, covered the problems of education, family development, interethnic relations, etc. In all cases, the main thing for Rogers is an appeal to self-actualization and emphasizing the role of an unconditional positive attitude as which allows a person to "become a fully functioning person". Its properties, in the understanding of Rogers, in many ways resemble the properties of a child, which is natural - a person, as it were, returns to an independent assessment of the world, characteristic of a child before reorienting to the conditions for obtaining approval.

Position close to humanistic psychology Viktor Frankl. His approach is called logotherapy, those. therapy focused on finding the meaning of life(in this case, logos means meaning). Frankl bases his approach on three basic concepts:

free will,

will to meaning

meaning of life.

Thus, Frankl indicates disagreement with behaviorism and psychoanalysis: behaviorism, in fact, rejects the idea of ​​human free will, psychoanalysis puts forward ideas about the desire for pleasure (Freud) and the will to power (Adler); As for the meaning of life, Freud at one time believed that a person who asks this question, thereby manifests mental distress.

According to Frankl, this question is natural for modern man, and precisely the fact that a person does not strive to acquire it, does not see the paths leading to this, is the main cause of psychological difficulties and negative experiences, such as a sense of meaninglessness, worthlessness of life. The main obstacle is the centering of a person on himself, the inability to go beyond himself - to another person or to meaning; According to Frankl, meaning exists objectively in every moment of life, including the most tragic ones; a psychotherapist cannot give a person this meaning (it is different for everyone), but he can help to see it. "Going beyond one's limits" Frankl means by the concept "self-transcendence and considers self-actualization to be only one of its moments.

This desire of man may be called will to meaning. Frankl focuses on situations of meaning loss and the search for meaning in hopeless situations (he himself was a prisoner of Auschwitz). Frankl concludes that suffering is worthwhile if it changes you for the better.

In order to help a person in his problems, Frankl uses two basic principles (they are also therapies): the principle of dereflection and the principle of paradoxical intention.

The principle of dereflection means the removal of excessive self-control, thinking about one's own difficulties, what is commonly called "self-digging".

So, in a number of studies, it was shown that today's youth suffer more from the thought of what carries "complexes" than from the complexes themselves.

The principle of paradoxical intention suggests that the therapist is inspiring the client to do exactly what the client is trying to avoid. At the same time, various forms of humor are actively used (although this is not necessary) - Frankl considered humor to be a form of freedom, similar to how heroic behavior is a form of freedom in an extreme situation.

The direction developed by Frankl, like humanistic psychology, can hardly be called a theory in the traditional natural science sense. Characteristic is Frankl's statement that the main argument confirming the legitimacy of his position is his own experience of being a prisoner in fascist concentration camps. It was there that Frankl became convinced that even in inhuman conditions, it is possible not only to remain human, but also to rise - sometimes to holiness - if the meaning of life is preserved.

Lecture, abstract. 6. Humanistic direction in psychology - concept and types. Classification, essence and features.

Humanistic psychology

In 1964 ᴦ. The first conference on humanistic psychology was held in the United States. Its participants came to the conclusion that behaviorism and psychoanalysis (they were designated as the two main "psychological forces" at that time) did not see in a person what constitutes his essence precisely as a person. Humanistic psychology has designated itself as the "third force" in psychology, opposed to psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

The emergence of the name and the formulation of the basic principles are associated primarily with the name of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow(1908 - 1970). At the center of humanistic psychology is the concept of the formation of a personality, the idea of ​​the extreme importance of maximum creative self-realization, which means true mental health.

First of all, humanistic psychology emphasizes that a person must be considered as a creative self-developing being, striving not only for peace and certainty, that is, a state of equilibrium, but also for imbalance: a person poses problems, resolves them, striving to realize his potential , and to understand a person exactly as a person is possible only by taking into account his ʼʼhighest upsʼʼ, the highest creative achievements.

Individuality in humanistic psychology is perceived as an integrative whole, as opposed to behaviorism, focused on the analysis of individual events.

In humanistic psychology, the irrelevance (unsuitability) of animal research for understanding man is emphasized; this thesis is also opposed to behaviorism.

In contrast to classical psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology asserts that man is inherently good, or at most neutral; aggression, violence, etc. arise in connection with the influence of the environment.

Most versatile human characteristic in Maslow's concept is creativity, that is, a creative orientation that is characteristic of everyone, but is largely lost by the majority due to the influence of the environment, although some manage to maintain a naive, "childish" view of the world.

Finally, Maslow emphasizes the interest of humanistic psychology in the psychologically healthy individual; before analyzing illness, one must understand what health is (in Freud's psychoanalysis, the path is reversed; according to Maslow, Freud showed the sick side of the psyche; it's time to show the healthy). Genuine health - not in the medical, but in the existential sense - means creative growth and self-development.

These principles generally apply to other humanistic concepts, although in general humanistic psychology does not present a unified theory; it is united by some general provisions and ʼʼpersonalʼʼ orientation in practice - psychotherapy and pedagogy.

Central to Maslow's concept is his understanding of human needs. Maslow believed that the so-called ʼʼbasalʼʼ human needs are ʼʼʼʼʼ and are hierarchically organized by levels. If this hierarchy is represented as a pyramid or ladder, then the following levels are distinguished (from bottom to top):

1. Physiological needs (for food, water, oxygen, optimal temperature, sexual need, etc.).

2. Needs related to security (confidence, structure, order, predictability of the environment).

3. Needs related to love and acceptance (the need for affective relationships with others, for being included in a group, for loving and being loved).

4. Needs related to respect and self-respect.

5. The needs associated with self-actualization, or the needs of personal consistency.

The general principle proposed by Maslow for the interpretation of personality development is that lower needs must be satisfied to some extent before a person can move on to the realization of higher ones. Without this, a person may not be aware of the existence of higher-level needs.

In general, Maslow believed, the higher a person can "climb" the ladder of needs, the more health, humanity he will show, the more individual he will be.

At the top of the pyramid are the needs associated with self-actualization. A. Maslow defined self-actualization as the desire to become everything that is possible; it is the need for self-improvement, for realizing one's potential.

So, the task of a person, according to Maslow, is to become what is possible - and therefore, to be himself - in a society where conditions do not contribute to this, a person turns out to be the highest value and is ultimately responsible only for taking place.

The concept of self-actualization is at the center of the concept of one of the most popular psychologists of the 20th century (including among practitioners - therapists and educators) - Carl Rogers(1902 - 1987), whose theoretical views were formed as practical work. It is worth saying that for him, unlike Maslow, the concept of self-actualization turns out to be a designation of the force that makes a person develop at the most various levels, defining both his mastery of motor skills and the highest creative ups.

Man, like other living organisms, Rogers believes, has an innate tendency to live, grow, develop. All biological needs are subject to this trend - they must be satisfied in order to positive development, and the process of development proceeds despite the fact that many obstacles stand in its way - there are many examples of how people living in harsh conditions not only survive, but continue to progress.

According to Rogers, a person is not what appears in psychoanalysis. He believes that a person is inherently good and does not need to be controlled by society; moreover, it is control that makes a person do bad things. Behavior, leading man down the road to misfortune, does not correspond to human nature. Cruelty, anti-sociality, immaturity, etc. is the result of fear psychological protection; the task of a psychologist is to help a person discover his positive tendencies, which are present at deep levels in everyone.

The trend of actualization (this is how the need for self-actualization is indicated in the dynamics of its manifestation) is the reason that a person becomes more complex, independent, socially responsible.

Initially, all experiences, all experience are evaluated (not necessarily consciously) through a tendency to actualization. Satisfaction is brought by those experiences which correspond to this tendency; the organism tries to avoid opposite experiences. Such an orientation is characteristic of a person as a leading one until the structure ʼʼIʼʼ, that is, self-consciousness, is formed. The problem, according to Rogers, is that along with the formation of ʼʼIʼʼ, the child has a need for a positive attitude towards himself from others and a need for a positive self-attitude; however, the only way to develop a positive self-image is to learn behaviors that evoke a positive attitude from others. In other words, the child will now be guided not by what contributes to actualization, but by how likely it is to receive approval. This means that in the mind of the child as life values not those that correspond to its nature will arise, and that which contradicts the assimilated system of values ​​will not be allowed into the self-image; the child will reject, not allow into knowledge about himself those experiences, manifestations, that experience that do not correspond to ideals that have come from outside. The ʼʼI-conceptʼʼ (i.e. self-image) of the child begins to include false elements that are not based on what the child really is.

This situation of abandoning one's own assessments in favor of someone else creates an alienation between a person's experience and his self-image, their discrepancy with each other, which Rogers refers to as ʼʼincongruityʼʼ; this means - at the level of manifestations - anxiety, vulnerability, lack of integrity of the personality. This is aggravated by the unreliability of ʼʼexternal landmarksʼʼ - they are unstable; from here Rogers deduces a tendency to adjoin relatively conservative groups in this respect - religious, social, small groups of close friends, etc., since incongruence is to some extent characteristic of a person of any age and social status. At the same time, the ultimate goal, according to Rogers, is not the stabilization of external assessments, but fidelity to one's own feelings.

The only way of non-interference in the self-actualization of the child, Rogers believes, is an unconditional positive attitude towards the child, ʼʼunconditional acceptanceʼʼ; the child must know that he is loved, no matter what he does, then the need for a positive attitude and self-relationship will not be in conflict with the need for self-actualization; only under this condition will the individual be psychologically whole, ʼʼfully functioningʼʼ.

Position close to humanistic psychology Viktor Frankl(1905 - 1997), founder of the 3rd Vienna School of Psychotherapy (after the schools of Freud and Adler). His approach is called logotherapy, that is, therapy focused on finding the meaning of life (in this case logos means meaning.) At the basis of his approach, Frankl puts three basic concepts: free will, the will to meaning, and the meaning of life.

Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, Frankl indicates disagreement with behaviorism and psychoanalysis: behaviorism essentially rejects the idea of ​​human free will, psychoanalysis puts forward ideas about the pursuit of pleasure (Freud) or will to power (early Adler); As for the meaning of life, Freud at one time believed that a person who asks this question, thereby manifests mental distress.

According to Frankl, this question is natural for a modern person, and it is precisely the fact that a person does not strive to acquire it, does not see the ways leading to this, that is the main cause of psychological difficulties and negative experiences such as a sense of meaninglessness, worthlessness of life. The main obstacle is the centering of a person on himself, the inability to go ʼʼbeyond himselfʼʼ - to another person or to meaning; meaning, according to Frankl, exists objectively in every moment of life, incl. the most tragic a psychotherapist cannot give a person this meaning (it is different for everyone), but he can help to see it. ʼʼGoing beyond one's limitsʼʼ Frankl refers to the concept of ʼʼself-transcendenceʼʼ and considers self-actualization to be only one of the moments of self-transcendence.

In order to help a person in his problems, Frankl uses two basic principles (they are also methods of therapy): the principle of dereflection and the principle of paradoxical intention.

The principle of dereflection means the removal of excessive self-control, thinking about one's own difficulties, what is commonly called ʼʼself-diggingʼʼ.

The principle of paradoxical intention suggests that the therapist inspires the client to do exactly what he is trying to avoid; are actively used (although this is not necessary) various forms humor - Frankl considers humor a form of freedom, similar to how heroic behavior is a form of freedom in an extreme situation.

Humanistic psychology - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Humanistic psychology" 2017, 2018.

Humanistic psychology

The direction that calls itself humanistic psychology includes Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Charlotte Buhler, Gordon Allport and others. Humanistic psychologists themselves believe that many other psychologists, even of completely different orientations, can be called humanistic if they adhere to certain postulates to one degree or another.

Adler's ideas about the importance of social context led psychoanalysis away from the study of individual developmental factors (primarily associated with early childhood) towards a sociocultural explanation of personality. The American psychiatrist K. Horney argued that it was culture that was responsible for the emergence of neuroses. Another American psychiatrist H. Sullivan believed that not only neuroses, but also psychoses originate in society. The founder of humanistic psychology, E. Fromm, argued that a person has special needs that animals do not have and that must be satisfied in order for a person to be mentally healthy.

Humanistic psychology arose as a natural development of the views of Adler, Horney and Sullivan on the role of sociocultural factors in mental activity. By the 1960s, among the representatives of this school were such influential psychologists as K. Rogers, E. Maslow and G. Allport. Humanistic psychology insists, first of all, on the importance of self-actualization (ie, satisfaction of the individual's inherent need to identify and develop proper human personality traits) as a condition for the formation of a personality. Another important principle- the need to analyze the personality as a whole (holism). Humanistic psychologists reject reductionism, i.e. description proper human properties in the language of the natural sciences (the example they use is the reduction of love to "sexual chemistry" or biological instincts).

Here are three signs of humanistic psychology:

1. Humanistic psychology is an anti-experimental psychology, its representatives are united by the denial of experiments - any, behavioral, cognitivist, etc.

2. It is a psychology that grows and feeds on a certain direction of psychotherapy - not related to the ideas of behavior modification.

3. Humanistic psychology focuses on man, on his capabilities, and in this sense opposes itself to religion. Religion sees the main factor regulating behavior in God, and the humanistic psychologist sees in the person himself. A person must do everything herself, but it is important to help her.

Humanistic is the psychologist who considers himself humanistic, that is, at the core - a characteristic of his self-consciousness. There are no clear boundaries, but there are basic ideas - focus on a whole person, on his development, the disclosure of his potential, on assistance and removal of barriers in this development.

Individuality in humanistic psychology is seen as an integrative whole;

The irrelevance (unsuitability) of animal research for human understanding (as opposed to behaviorism) is emphasized;

Humanistic psychology maintains that man is inherently good, or at most neutral; aggression, violence, etc. arise in connection with the influence of the environment.

The development of humanistic psychology was facilitated by the situation that developed in society after the Second World War. She showed that many people extreme situations show resilience and maintain dignity in the most difficult conditions.

This desire of a person to preserve and develop his spiritual uniqueness was impossible to explain in terms of the old psychology and only natural-scientific determination. Ignoring philosophical postulates.

That is why the leaders of humanistic psychology turned to the achievements of the philosophy of the 20th century, primarily to existentialism, which studied the inner world, the existence of man.

Thus, a new determination appeared - a psychological one, which explains the development of a person by his desire for self-actualization, the creative realization of his potentialities.

The relationship of the individual with society is also partially revised, since the social environment can not only enrich a person, but also stereotype him. Based on this, representatives of humanistic psychology tried to study the various mechanisms of communication, to describe the complexity of the relationship between the individual and society in its entirety.