Module 25: Psychodynamic & Humanistic
Perspectives [Ernst]
1. Psychodynamic Perspective
a. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
i. Personality Structure
ii. Defense Mechanisms
iii. Personality Development
iv. Assessing the Unconscious
b. Neo-Freudians
i. Alfred Adler
ii. Carl Jung
iii. Karen Horney
c. Evaluating the Psychodynamic Perspective
2. Humanistic Perspective
a. Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization
b. Carl Rogers and the Person-Centered Approach
c. Assessing Personality and the Self
d. Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
What is “personality”? I hear students use this word all the time. Meredith likes
how J.J. looks but laments, “If only he had a personality.” And for those who don’t
suffer J.J.’s problem, personalities have been labeled everything from “rotten” to
“winning.” These everyday notions of personality are fine for discussing friends
between classes or at lunch, but psychologists use the term “personality” more
carefully.
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Psychologists define personality as an individual’s characteristic pattern of
thinking, feeling, and acting. In this module, we’ll consider the psychodynamic and
humanistic perspectives, two very different theories about how personality
develops and how it can be assessed.
Psychodynamic Perspectives
After going out for three months and then breaking up, Tyler says, “I know I’m in
denial, but I think we’ll get back together.” Julie refuses to talk about a past
relationship, saying she doesn’t remember much about it. “I’ve repressed that
whole thing.” In a class full of ill-mannered students, the teacher might say,
“You’ve all regressed to 8th grade.” These three terms, denial, repression, and
regression, all used by people who may not have studied psychology, can be traced
back to psychology’s first, and most famous personality theory, Sigmund Freud’s
psychoanalysis. Freud believed unconscious motives and unresolved childhood
conflicts (many of them sexual) produce our characteristic thoughts and behaviors.
Between 1888 and 1939, Freud published 24 volumes of material on his theory.
Today, the strict psychoanalytic perspective has mostly given way to the
more moderate psychodynamic approaches. These theorists do share Freud’s
belief that many of our thought processes occur unconsciously, and that childhood
experiences affect our adult personalities. However, they are less likely than Freud
to dwell on unresolved childhood conflicts and more likely to consider today’s
inner struggles.
Yet, thanks to persisting Freudian popularity in “pop” psychology, you are
more likely to be familiar with Freud’s outdated terminology than almost anyone
else we introduce in this book! In this module, I will outline Freud’s original ideas
so you know how the buzz got started.
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Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
What’s the Point? What were the key elements of Freud’s personality theory?
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian physician who noticed that some of his patients’
problems seemed to have no physical origins. A neurologist in France who was
treating patients using hypnotism intrigued Freud. Hypnotism is a social interaction
during which a hypnotist makes forceful suggestions to a subject. Freud was
amazed to find that some patients’ physical symptoms disappeared after the
hypnotic experience.
Freud experimented with hypnotism, but found that some patients could not
be hypnotized. As an alternative to hypnosis, Freud asked his patients to free
associate their thoughts by relaxing and saying whatever came to their minds
regardless of how trivial or embarrassing the statements seemed. Using free
association and other techniques, Freud believed he could tap into the patient’s
unconscious, which he believed was a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts,
wishes, feelings, and memories. If the unconscious could be reached, Freud
believed painful childhood memories could be uncovered and healing could occur.
Freud saw personality as a big iceberg consisting of three parts:
unconscious, conscious, and preconscious. Just as the majority of an iceberg is
below sea level and unseen, Freud felt that most of personality was unconscious
and hidden from view. The conscious mind, the thoughts and feelings we’re aware
of is represented by the visible part of the iceberg above sea level. Freud also
believed there was a preconscious just below the water line, consisting of the
thoughts and memories that are not in our current awareness, but are easily
retrieved. (Figure 25.1).
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For Freud, treating those with psychological disorders meant revealing the
nature of one’s inner conflicts so that tensions could be released. He used free
association and dream analysis to catch glimpses of the unconscious. Freud also
thought the unconscious could be revealed by carefully observing people’s habits
and listening to their “slips of the tongue.” These “Freudian slips” as they are often
called are supposed misstatements reflective of something you’d like to say (Figure
25.2).
Underlying Freud’s view was the idea that personality grows out of the
conflict between our pleasure-seeking biological impulses and the internalized
social roadblocks restraining us. Resolving this conflict, he believed, shapes the
structure of your personality.
Personality Structure
What’s the Point? How do id, ego, and superego interact, according to
psychoanalytic theory?
According to Freud, you have a healthy personality if you successfully resolve the
conflict between social restraints and pleasure-seeking impulses. Success means
expressing these impulses satisfactorily while avoiding punishment or guilt. This
conflict involves the interaction of three, abstract psychological concepts that
Freud believed help us understand the mind:
•
The id, present at birth, consists of unconscious energy from basic
aggressive and sexual drives. Operating from the pleasure principle,
the id demands immediate gratification. For instance, a newborn cries
for whatever it needs, whenever it needs it, regardless of what
anybody else wants or needs.
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•
The superego consists of the internalized ideals and standards for
judgment that develop as the child interacts with parents, peers, and
society. It is the voice of conscience that focuses on what we should
do, not what we’d like to do. The superego wants perfection, and
those with a weak superego are likely to give into their urges and
impulses without regard to rules. On the other hand, an overly strong
superego often produces someone who is virtuous yet guilt-ridden.
•
The ego is the mediator that makes decisions after listening to both the
demands of the id and the restraining rules of the superego. Operating
from the reality principle, the ego satisfies the id in a realistic way
that does not lead to personal strife. The ego, Freud thought,
represented good sense and reason.
Roughly speaking, some have said the id is the “child” in you, the superego “your
parent,” and the ego “the adult” that results from the mix.
Defense Mechanisms
What’s the Point? According to Freud, how are defense mechanisms helpful?
Anxiety, wrote Freud, is the price we pay for living in a civilized society. He
believed the conflict between the id’s wishes and the superego’s social rules
produces anxiety. However, Freud believed the ego has an arsenal of unconscious
defense mechanisms that help get rid of this anxious tension by distorting reality.
You have probably heard of several of these. We’ll consider seven:
1.
Repression banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
from consciousness. Freud believed repression was the basis for all these
anxiety-reducing defense mechanisms. The aim of psychoanalysis was to
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draw repressed, unresolved childhood conflicts back into consciousness
to allow resolution and healing.
2.
Regression allows an anxious person to retreat to a more comfortable,
infantile stage of life. The five-year-old who wants Mom to read to him
when a baby is born into the family may be regressing to a more
comfortable time.
3.
Through denial an anxious person refuses to admit that something
unpleasant is happening. Thoughts of invincibility, such as “I won’t get
hooked on cigarettes. It can’t happen to me” represent denial. The drinker
who consumes a six-pack a day but claims not to have a drinking
problem is another example of denial.
4.
Reaction formation reverses the unacceptable impulse, making the
anxious person express the opposite of the anxiety-provoking
unconscious feeling. To keep the “I hate him” thoughts from entering
consciousness, “I love him” becomes the feeling. If you’re interested in
someone who is already going out with another, and you find yourself
feeling a curious dislike instead of fondness for the unobtainable, Freud
would say you’re experiencing reaction formation.
5.
Projection disguises threatening feelings of guilty anxiety by attributing
the problem to others. “I don’t trust him” really means, “I don’t trust
myself.” Hamlet, in the Shakespearean play of the same name, thinks his
mother is guilty of murder after she denies wrongdoing. “The lady doth
protest too much,” The thief thinks everyone else is a thief.
6.
Rationalization displaces real, anxiety-provoking explanations with more
comforting justifications for one’s actions. Rationalization helps mistakes
seem reasonable and often sound like excuses. The smoker insists she
smokes “just to look older” or “only when I go out with friends.” After
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addiction to cigarettes, you might hear, “It’s no big deal, I can quit
whenever I want.”
7.
Displacement shifts an unacceptable impulse toward a more acceptable
or less threatening object or person. The classic example here is when the
owner of a company gets upset and yells at the manager, who yells at the
clerk, who goes home and yells at the kids, who end up kicking the dog.
All except the dog could have been displacing.
Personality Development
What’s the Point? What were Freud’s stages of personality development?
Freud’s analyses of his patients lead him to conclude that personality forms during
the first five or six years of life, and that his patients’ problems seemed to originate
in unresolved conflicts from the childhood years. These conflicts occurred in one
of several stages that Freud called the psychosexual stages of development. Each
stage is marked by the id’s pleasure seeking focus on a different part of the body
(Table 25.1).
The oral stage lasts through the first 18 months of life. Pleasure comes from
chewing, biting, and sucking. Weaning can be a conflict in this stage.
The anal stage lasts from age 18 months to 3 years. Gratification comes
from bowel and bladder retention and elimination. Potty training can be a conflict
in this stage.
The phallic stage lasts from age 3 to 6 years. The pleasure zone shifts to the
genitals. Freud believed boys felt love for their mothers and hatred, fear, and/or
jealousy of their fathers. Dad is seen as a rival for Mom, and the phallic-stage boy
is said to fear punishment from his father for loving his mother. Freud called this
collection of feelings the Oedipus (ED-uh-pus) complex, named after the Greek
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tragedy, where Oedipus unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother (and
pokes his eyes out after realizing what he has done). Freud did not believe in a
parallel process for girls, though other psychoanalysts have written about an
Electra complex where girls love Dad and fear Mom.
These feelings, according to Freud, are repressed as children enter a period
called latency. Girls and boys, instead of fearing the same-sex parent, start to
“buddy-up” to Mom or Dad. The result is girls learn to do girl-like things and boys
learn boy-like behaviors. Freud called this the identification process. This offers
one explanation of gender identity, which is our sense of what it means to be either
male or female.
The genital stage starts at puberty. At this point, and the person begins
experiencing sexual feelings toward others.
Freud thought that unresolved conflicts in any of the stages could cause
problems later in life for adults. The person who does not work through a conflict
at a given stage may become stuck or fixated in that stage. For instance, a child
who has a bad experience during potty training may develop an anal fixation. This
conflict may manifest itself, wrote Freud, in the adult who likes everything neat,
perfect, and in its proper place. Now you know where the label “anal-retentive”
comes from!
Assessing the Unconscious
What’s the Point? What personality assessment techniques have those from
the psychodynamic perspective preferred?
Before providing therapy for a personality disorder, psychologists need to assess
personality characteristics. Different personality theories develop different
assessment techniques. Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapists want
assessments that reach into and reveal elements of the unconscious. True-false tests
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are of no interest, as they would only tap into surface elements of the conscious.
Instead, Freud turned to assessment techniques such as dream analysis, which he
called the “royal road to the unconscious.” There are also projective tests designed
to trigger projections of one’s unconscious motives. Therapists use several
different kinds of projective tests. Two are particularly well known:
1)
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) In this test, subjects are shown
pictures, where you can’t really tell what’s happening. The pictures
are deliberately ambiguous. For instance, if you were taking a TATlike assessment, you might be shown a picture of two men in a room,
one sitting looking out a window and the other standing with his back
turned. After looking at the picture, you’d be asked to tell stories
about it. Stories are supposed to include what is going on in the
picture, as well as what was going on before and after the scene. The
idea is that you would express your inner feelings and interests in the
story you told.
2)
Rorschach (ROAR-shock) inkblot test
This is the most widely
used projective test. Those administering this test assume analyzing
responses to a set of ten inkblots reveals inner feelings. Subjects are
asked to look at the inkblot and tell what they see. If subjects see a bat
on a part of the inkblot where most people see a bat, they have given a
“normal” response. But, if they see a gun where most would see a bat,
they might be showing aggressiveness.
Are there problems with tests like the Rorschach? Yes. Different therapists
interpret the same inkblot responses in different ways, which means the test is not
very reliable. No single, universally-accepted scoring system has been developed.
Further, the Rorschach is not the emotional x-ray some hoped it would be. The
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scientific community agrees that the Rorschach does not accurately predict
personality characteristics (Sechrest & others, 1998).
Some clinicians use the Rorschach to break the ice of a therapy session;
others use it as part of a series of personality tests looking for trends among the
results. But critics maintain there is “no scientific basis for justifying the use of the
Rorschach scales in psychological assessments” (Hunsley & Bailey, 1999).
Neo-Freudians
What’s the Point? How did Freud’s key followers modify his psychoanalytic
approach?
Sigmund Freud attracted many followers. Several of these neo-Freudians broke
from Freud in order to modify his stance on personality. Three of these pioneering
psychoanalysts are Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Karen Horney (HORN-eye).
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
Like all of the neo-Freudians, Alfred Adler agreed and disagreed with some of
Freud’s views. Adler agreed on the importance of childhood experiences, but he
thought social tensions, not sexual tensions, were crucial in the development of
personality. Adler saw psychological problems in personalities centering on
feelings of inferiority, and believed that if we start to organize our thoughts based
on perceived shortcomings or mistakes, we might develop an inferiority complex.
There is the origin of another famous label you’ve probably already heard..
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Unlike Adler, Carl Jung (pronounced, Yoong) discounted social factors but
placed importance on the role of the unconscious in personality development. But
Jung kicked it up a notch, saying we not only have an individual unconscious, but
that we as a species also have a collective unconscious. This is a shared, inherited
reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history. Jung thought the collective
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unconscious included hard-wired information from birth on things we all know.
According to Jung, archetypes (AR-kuh-types) or universal symbols found in
stories, myths, and art, reflect this collective unconscious. For instance, the shadow
archetype is the darker, evil side of human nature. Supposedly, we hide this
archetype from the world and ourselves. Psychologists today reject the notion of
inherited memory. However, many believe that our shared evolutionary history has
contributed to some universal behavior tendencies (like hiding our worst secrets
from others) or dispositions (evil).
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
Trained as a psychoanalyst, Karen Horney (HORN-eye) broke from Freud in
several ways. She deftly pointed out that Freud’s theory was male dominated, and
that his explanation of female development was inadequate. She also stated that
cultural variables were the foundation of personality development, not biological
variables. She felt that cultural expectations created the psychological differences
between males and females, not anatomy. Basic anxiety, wrote Horney, is the
helplessness and isolation felt in a potentially hostile world brought on by the
competitiveness of today’s culture (Horney, 1950).
Evaluating the Psychodynamic Perspective
What’s the Point? How do Freud’s ideas hold up in light of modern research?
No discussion of Freud’s work is complete without at least a simple update and
critique. Indeed, most contemporary psychodynamic theorists do not believe
Freud’s assertion that sex is the basis of personality (Westen, 1996). Nor do they
classify patients as oral or anal. They do agree with Freud, that much of our mental
life is unconscious; that we struggle with inner conflicts among values, wishes and
fears; and that childhood experiences shape our personalities.
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Freud’s personality theory was comprehensive, unlike any personality theory
before. It influenced psychology, literature, religion, and even medicine. Still, we
need to be aware of some of the weaknesses of this perspective:
•
Freud’s work was based on individual case studies of mostly upper
class, Austrian, white women. Are experiences of these women from
100 years ago applicable to a population of say, today’s middle-class
Japanese men? Were the results even applicable to the vast majority
of Austrian women outside Freud’s study 100 years ago? Probably
not.
•
Boys’ gender identity does not result from an Oedipus complex
around the time of kindergarten. Gender identity is achieved even
without a same-sex parent around the house (Frieze & others, 1978).
•
The neural network of children under three is insufficiently developed
to sustain the kind of emotional trauma Freud described.
•
Freud underestimated peer influence on personality development, and
overestimated parental influence.
•
Development is a lifelong process, and is not simply fixed in
childhood.
•
Freud’s personal biases are evident in his focus on male development.
•
Freud’s theory is not scientific. It’s difficult to submit concepts such
as the Oedipal complex or the id to the rigors of scientific testing.
•
Freud asked his patients leading questions which may have led to
false recall of events that never really happened (Powell & Boer,
1994). These same concerns exist today over reported “repressed
memories” of childhood sexual abuse. Evidence suggests therapists
may actually implant false memories of abuse in the way they ask
subjects questions (Ofshe & Watters, 1994).
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Freud left a lasting legacy. Our language is laden with psychoanalytic concepts
from repression to inferiority complex. Many people still believe that behaviors
disguise motives, and that childhood experiences shape personality. Freud’s ideas
have steadily declined in importance in the academic world for years, but some
therapists, talk shows, and the public still love the concepts (Seligman, 1994).
Humanistic Perspective
What’s the Point? Describe the humanistic perspective.
In contrast to Freud’s focus on troubled people, humanistic psychology has
focused on fulfilled individuals with the goal of helping all of us reach our
potential. This movement began gaining credibility and momentum in the United
States in the 1960s. Humanistic psychologists wanted a psychology that:
1.
emphasized conscious experience
2.
focused on free will and creative abilities
3.
studied all factors (not just observable behaviors) relevant to the
human condition (Schultz & Schultz, 1996)
Humanistic psychologists thought psychology was ignoring human strengths
and virtues. Freud studied the motives of “sick” people, those who came to him
with psychological problems. Humanists, such as Abraham Maslow and Carl
Rogers, thought we should also study “healthy” people. They believed human
personality was shaped more by our unique capacity to determine our futures than
by unconscious conflicts or past learning.
Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization
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What’s the Point? Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Abraham Maslow is famous for his hierarchy of needs (1970). Maslow believed
we could only strive for self-actualization, or the highest level on his hierarchy, if
our basic needs were met first. He felt we must meet the physiological needs for
food, water, and air before attempting to meet the security and safety needs of the
second level. And only after meeting our needs for self-esteem could we fulfill our
potential as humans and obtain self-actualization. The self-actualized person works
toward a life that is challenging, productive, and meaningful.
Maslow formulated his beliefs by studying psychologically healthy
people, not those with a psychological disorder. Maslow studied paragons of
society, like Eleanor Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, and found that those who
live productive and rich lives are:
•
self-aware and self-accepting.
•
open and spontaneous.
•
loving and caring.
•
not paralyzed by others’ opinions.
•
focused on a particular task that is often seen as a mission.
•
involved in a few deep relationships, not many superficial ones.
•
likely to have been moved by personal peak experiences that surpass
ordinary consciousness..
These mature adult qualities, wrote Maslow, are found in those who have
“acquired enough courage to be unpopular,” have found their calling, and who
have learned enough in life to be compassionate. These individuals have also
outgrown any mixed feelings toward their parents and are “secretly uneasy about
the cruelty, meanness, and mob spirit so often found in young people.”
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Carl Rogers and the Person Centered Approach
What’s the Point? How did Rogers believe human growth could best be
fostered?
Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers agreed with Maslow that people are good
and strive for self-actualization. Rogers (1980) viewed people much like a seed
that flourishes when it has the right mixture of ingredients, such as water, soil, and
sun. The three ingredients for proper human growth, said Rogers, are acceptance,
genuineness, and empathy.
Rogers believed we nurture growth in others by being accepting. This is best
achieved through unconditional positive regard: an attitude of total acceptance
toward another person. This is an attitude that values others even when we are
aware of their faults and failings. Rogers thought that family members and close
friends who express unconditional positive regard for us provide us with great
relief. We can let go, confess our most troubling thoughts, and not have to explain
ourselves.
People who are genuine nurture growth, according to Rogers. Genuine
people freely express their feelings and aren’t afraid to disclose details about
themselves.
Those who are empathic also nurture growth. Empathy involves sharing
thoughts, and a deep understanding of another’s feelings. The key to empathy is
listening to another with understanding. When the listener shows understanding,
the person sharing feelings has a much easier time being open and honest. Rogers
wrote, “…listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for
change that I know.”
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Acceptance, genuineness, and empathy help build a strong relationship
between the parent and child, teacher and student, or any two people. For Rogers,
this notion was particularly important in the relationship between a client and a
therapist.
Assessing Personality and the Self
What’s the Point? How do humanistic psychologists assess personality?
If Rogers, Maslow, or any humanistic psychologist wanted to assess your
personality, you’d probably be asked to answer questions that would evaluate your
self-concept. Your self-concept includes all your thoughts and feelings about
yourself, in answer to the question “Who am I?” A common technique for Rogers
was to ask clients to describe themselves as they are and as they would ideally like
to be. He believed that the closer the actual self is to the ideal self, the more
positive the self-concept. Assessing personal growth during therapy was a matter
of measuring the difference between ratings of ideal and actual self.
For some humanistic psychologists, any kind of written test of personality
was simply too impersonal and detached from the real human being. Assessing
someone’s personality could only be done through a series of lengthy interviews
and personal conversations. Only in this way could a person’s unique experiences
be acceptably understood.
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
What’s the Point? What are the greatest contributions of the humanistic
movement? What have been the greatest weaknesses.
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Carl Rogers once said, “Humanistic psychology has not had a significant impact on
mainstream psychology. We are perceived as having relatively little importance”
(Cunningham, 1985). Was Rogers correct?
Society has benefited from humanistic psychology. Therapy practices,
child-rearing techniques, and workplace management can all attest to a positive
humanistic influence. On the other hand, there have been unintentional negative
effects as well. Unconditional positive regard for children has been mistakenly
interpreted as never offering constructive criticism to a child, or worse, never
telling a child “no.”
Critics have pointed out that many of the humanistic terms are vague and
hard to operationally define in a way that other researchers test. For instance, the
self-actualized person is supposed to be spontaneous, loving, and productive. Are
these descriptions scientific or do they simply reflect Maslow’s values? Perhaps
the primary concern of critics is that without operationally defined terms,
assumptions are difficult if not impossible to test.
Humanistic psychology may not have its intended impact on mainstream
psychology, but perhaps it laid the foundation for the positive psychology
movement of the past few years. More and more researchers are studying the
human strengths and virtues, like courage and hope, of healthy people, not just the
disorders of those who are not psychologically healthy.
Without question, the humanistic perspective gave the study of personality
some balance. The study of hope and humor in treating illness, and the research of
ways to nurture creativity and empathy in children are wonderful legacies to the
field.
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Key Terms
personality an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
psychoanalysis
Freud’s theory of personality and therapeutic technique that
attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.
psychodynamic approaches
theories of personality based on modified Freudian
principals, but different in that they are less likely to sight childhood conflicts as a
source of personality development.
free association in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in
which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial
or embarrassing.
unconscious
according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable
thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary
psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
preconscious
information that is not conscious but is retrievable into
conscious awareness.
id
contains a reservoir of unconscious, psychic energy that, according to Freud,
strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the
pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.
superego
the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized
ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscious) and for future
aspirations.
ego the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to
Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego
operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will
realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
defense mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of
reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
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psychosexual stages
the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic,
latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking
energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.
projective tests
a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides
ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) a projective test in which people express
their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous
scenes.
Rorschach inkblot test the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots,
designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by
analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
inferiority complex
according to Alfred Adler, a condition that comes from
being unable to compensate for normal inferiority feelings
collective unconscious Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of
memory traces from our species’ history.
humanistic psychology a system focusing on the study of conscious experience,
freedom to choose, and capacity for personal growth.
self-actualization according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that
arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is
achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.
unconditional positive regard
toward another person.
according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance
self-concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the
question, “Who am I?”
Key People
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)—founder of psychoanalysis.
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Alfred Adler (1870-1937)—neofreudian who thought social tension was more
important to study than sexual tensions.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)—neofreudian who thought humans shared a collective
unconscious.
Karen Horney (1885-1952)—neofreudian who found psychoanalysis negatively
biased toward women, and believed cultural variables were the foundation of
personality development.
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)—prime mover of humanistic psychology
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)—humanistic psychologist who developed the clientcentered therapy approach
References
Cunningham, S. (1985, May). Humanists celebrate gains, goals. APA Monitor, pp.
16, 18.
Frieze, I. H., Parsons, J. E., Johnson, P. B., Ruble, D. N., & Zellman, G. L. (1978).
Women and sex roles: A social psychological perspective, New York: Norton.
Horney, K. (1950). Neurosis and human growth: The struggle toward selfrealization. New York: Norton.
Hunsley, J., & Bailey, J. M. (1999). The clinical utility of the Rorschach:
Unfulfilled promises and an uncertain future. Psychological Assessment, 11(3),
266-277.
Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper &
Row.
Ofshe, R. J., & Watters, E. (1994). Making monsters: False memory,
psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria. New York: Scribners.
Powell, R. A., & Boer, D. P. (1994). Did Freud mislead patients to confabulate
memories of abuse? Psychological Reports, 74, 1283-1298.
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Rogers, C. R. (1980). A way of being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
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(Vol. Ed.), Comprehensive clinical psychology: Vol. 4 Assessment. New York:
Pergamon.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1994). What you can change and what you can’t. New York:
Knopf.
Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. (1996) A history of modern psychology (6thrd ed.). Fort
Worth: Harcourt Brace & Company.
Westen, D. (1996). Is Freud really dead? Teaching psychodynamic theory to
introductory psychology. Presentation to the Annual Institute on the Teaching of
Psychology, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.
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