psy 239 401 chapter 13 slides

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The Personality PuzzleSixth Edition

by David C. Funder

Chapter 13:Experience, Existence, and the Meaning of Life: Humanistic and

Positive Psychology

Slides created byTera D. LetzringIdaho State University 1

Objectives

• Discuss the main issues of humanistic psychology

• Discuss positive psychology• Discuss the implications of phenomenology

2© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Humanistic Psychology

• Goal: overcome the paradox of studying humans

• Implications of self-awareness• Do people have free will? If they do, what does

this mean and how is it possible?


Phenomenology: Awareness is Everything

• Definition of phenomenology• At the center of humanity• Central insight: Phenomenology is

psychologically more important than the world itself.– Basis of free will



• “We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.” –Talmud

• “It is not things in themselves that trouble us, but our opinions of them.” –Epictetus

• “I do not react to some absolute reality, but to my perception of this reality. It is this perception which for me is reality.” –Carl Rogers



• Construal– Everyone’s is different.– Form the basis of how you live your life– Free will is achieved by choosing your construal.


Existentialism

• A reaction against rationalism, science, and the industrial revolution

• Purpose: regain contact with the experience of being alive and aware

• Key questions: – What is the nature of existence? – How does it feel? – And what does it mean?


Existentialism: Three Parts of Experience

• Biological experience (Umwelt)• Social experience (Mitwelt)• Psychological experience (Eigenwelt)

– Introspection


Existentialism: Thrown-ness and Angst

• Thrown-ness– An important basis of your experience– Being thrown into modern society is particularly

difficult

• Angst– Anguish– Forlornness– Despair


Existentialism: Bad Faith

• Our moral imperative– Requires existential courage or optimistic

toughness– This can be avoided

• Living in bad faith


Existentialism: Bad Faith

• Creates three problems– Living a cowardly lie– Unhappiness– It is impossible

“What is not possible is not to choose. . . . If I do not choose, I am still choosing.” –Sartre


Existentialism: Authentic Existence

• Definition• The alternative to bad faith• Will not relieve loneliness and unhappiness

– Because every person is alone and doomed– Life has no meaning beyond what you give it– The essence of the human experience:

understanding that you must die


Existentialism: Authentic Existence

• Allows us to be aware of our freedom and this gives us dignity

• The existential challenge• Ask: What does life want from me?

– Strive to better the human condition


Existentialism: The Eastern Alternative

• Existentialism is based on the Western focus on the individual and the difficulty of finding meaning in life.

• Existentialism is fundamentally wrong.– The self is an illusion.– This illusion is harmful.– True nature of reality– All people are interconnected.– Immortality


Existentialism: The Eastern Alternative

• Anicca• Enlightenment

– Achieved by understanding that nothing will last forever and that the well-being of others matters as much as your own

– Leads to universal compassion

• Nirvana: a serene, selfless state


Optimistic Humanism: Rogers and Maslow

• Began with existential assumptions– Phenomenology is central.– People have free will.

• Added another crucial idea– People are basically good.


Optimistic Humanism: Self-Actualization

• People have one basic tendency and striving: to actualize, maintain, and enhance their own experience

• Actualization– Goal of existence is to satisfy this need


Optimistic Humanism: The Hierarchy of Needs

• Basic assumption: The ultimate need or motive is to self-actualize.

• Hierarchy of needs: how human motivation is characterized


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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.


• Practical applications– Career choice– Employee motivation– Understand happiness in different cultures



• Update to Maslow’s hierarchy


Optimistic Humanism: The Fully Functioning Person

• Definition• Be clearly aware of reality and yourself• Face the world without fear, self-doubt, or

neurotic defenses• Importance of unconditional positive regard• Conditions of worth

– Limit your freedom to act and think


Optimistic Humanism: Psychotherapy

• Goal: help the client become a fully functioning person

• The therapist develops a genuine and caring relationship with the client and provides unconditional positive regard.



• Jobs of the therapist– Help the client perceive her own thoughts and

feelings– Make the client feel appreciated

• Goals– Allow insight– Remove conditions of worth



• Efficacy research– Real and ideal self-perceptions became more

closely aligned after therapy.

• Criticism of research– Both real and ideal selves change with therapy.– Having closely aligned real and ideal selves is not

always a good measure of psychological adjustment.


Think About It

• If a psychotherapist is treating a murderer, do you think the therapist should give the client unconditional positive regard? Why or why not?


Personal Constructs: Kelly

• Personal constructs– Based on how one’s cognitive system assembles

various construals of the world– Help to determine how new experiences are

construed– Each person has a unique set



• Role Construct Repertory Test (Rep)– Identify three important people and how two of

them are similar and different from the third– Repeat with ideas, traits, etc.


• Chronically accessible constructs• Sources of constructs• Sociality corollary




• Constructs and reality– Constructive alternativism– Implications 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

exist and are equally plausible



• Maximizers vs. satisficers“How you choose to see the world will affect everything

in your life.” (p. 459)


Flow: Csikszentmihalyi

• Optimal experience• Autotelic activities• Flow

– 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.


Flow: Csikszentmihalyi

• The secret for enhancing your quality of life• Would you spend the majority of your life in a

state of flow if you could?


Hardiness: Maddi

• Stress is not always bad.– Without stress, life would be boring and

meaningless.


Hardiness: Maddi

• Many people seek to avoid stress by developing a conformist lifestyle.– Likely to lead to existential psychological

pathology and a false sense of self– Vegetativeness– Nihilism– Desire for extreme thrills


Hardiness: Maddi

• Hardiness• Stressful and challenging experiences can

bring learning, growth, and wisdom.– Important for giving meaning to life– Related to happiness and adjustment– Purpose of life


Self-Determination Theory: Deci and Ryan

• Based on distinction between two ways of seeking happiness– Hedonia– Eudaimonia

• Hedonia is dangerous• Extrinsic vs. intrinsic goals


Self-Determination Theory: Deci and Ryan

• Three central intrinsic goals– Autonomy– Competence– Relatedness

• Research support for advantages of following intrinsic goals

• Claim of universality


Positive Psychology

• Health means more than the absence of disease.

• Traditional psychology overemphasizes psychopathology and malfunction and ignores the question of the meaning of life.

• The focus is on positive phenomenon.


Positive Psychology

• Goal: improve quality of life and prevent pathologies

• True happiness comes from overcoming important challenges– Investigates the traits, processes, and social

institutions that promote a happy and meaningful life

– Factors that contribute to happiness and subjective well-being


Positive Psychology

• Optimism has advantages and disadvantages.• Virtues: courage, justice, humanity

(compassion), temperance, wisdom, transcendence– Difficult to identify virtues for everyone– May be evolutionarily based– But not everyone has them all


Positive Psychology


Positive Psychology

• Not the complete rebirth of humanism– It does not say much about existential anxiety or

the difficult dilemmas that arise from free will.– Focuses on subjective well-being


The Implications of Phenomenology: The Mystery of Experience

• Conscious experience cannot be explained by science and is difficult to describe in words.

• Problems– Assuming conscious awareness is not important

and proceeding as if it did not exist– Treating conscious experience as a form of

information processing done by a computer


The Implications of Phenomenology: The Mystery of Experience

• Cognitive theories: consciousness is a higher-order cognitive process that organizes thoughts and allows flexible decision making– Consciousness is a feeling.

• What does it feel like to be alive and aware? How could you tell whether a computer had this feeling?


The Implications of Phenomenology: Understanding Others

• To understand another person, you must understand his construals.

• Discourages judgmental attitudes• Consequence: cultural and moral relativism • Do not judge the values and practices of other

cultures from the perspective of your own.


Clicker Question #1

The alternative to bad faith isa)living an authentic existence.b)being connected with others and happiness.c)achieving nirvana.d)experiencing thrown-ness.


Clicker Question #2

According to optimistic humanism, the goal of life is toa) understand other people.b) self-actualize, or maintain and enhance life.c) enhance one’s social experience, or Mitwelt.d) achieve enlightenment.


Clicker Question #3

Which of the following is true about flow, or autotelic experience?a)People who spend more time in flow tend to be depressed.b)During flow, time seems to pass very slowly.c)People experience a very positive state during flow.d)In order to experience flow, a person’s skills must meet the challenge of the activity.


psy 239 401 chapter 13 slides

Education

norton company

optimistic humanism

human experience

definition of phenomenology

implications of phenomenology

optimistic toughness

life free

maslows hierarchy of