AMU The Humanistic and Existential Perspectives Discussion

Contrast the Humanistic and Existential perspectives as they pertain to the concept of personality. Which philosophical assumptions were most important to Rogers? Using the Existential framework, how do times of change and crisis lead us to reconsider our values?

Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, & Henry Murray from Personality Theory – https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/22859-personality-theory/15/view

Viktor Frankl, Rollo May, & Existential Psychology – https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/22859-personality-theory/16/view

Classmate responses 150 words +

Response #1

Hello class,

The humanistic perspective suggests studying an individual as a whole. Whereas the existential perspective focuses on how a person interacts and fits in to the environment. We also understand that humans have free will and are active participants in their own lives. Rogers believed that everyone is responsible for their own life and development; and that people naturally strive to grow and develop. A person will reach their maximum potential unless an outside force becomes involved, most often in a negative way. Rogers did not believe a therapist’s job to fix a person’s problem but rather that a therapist was there to offer empathy and support while a person healed themselves. Humanism believes in free will and that we make our own choices, paths, and consequences of those choices. It also places great importance on individual worth, human nature, and values. Humanism focuses on human’s ability to change, grow, and improve. Existentialism states that creation comes before essence and that a person must decide and create their own essence. We all must assign our own meaning to life and not allow authority figures to determine the meaning of our lives. I times of change and crisis people examine their patterns of thinking and values. A crisis causes us to reflect on our decisions in order to determine how we have gotten to this point in our life. This is done in the hope that identifying the choices that lead us here will aid in preventing ending up in crisis again.

Haleigh

Response #2

Contrast the Humanistic and Existential perspectives as they pertain to the concept of personality. Which philosophical assumptions were most important to Rogers? Using the Existential framework, how do times of change and crisis lead us to reconsider our values?

The Humanistic is the study of the uniqueness, the value and the wit of the human being stating that there would be no human being without the world and that it would not be a world without the human being. The humanistic approach observes the study from 1st persons perspective and also from the observed perspective of one’s life. The existential psychology focuses more on one’s existence and mainly in my opinion brings up the question why? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? This concept is viewed from one’s own perspective through his/hers experiences. Rogers believed that we lived in our own private world that is changing which is defined as the experiential field. We are at the center of this field and only can be fully understood by the person that experiences this field. That only certain impulses and sensations can only enter the conscious field under certain circumstances and for which is believed this is not a reality field but a potential reality field. -Frederick

Response # 3

Hello Class,

Humanistic and existential perspectives pertain to personality because they give a purpose to life. All people want to be is good and the best they can be. In humanistic it is about having free will and meeting their self actualization. Self actualization is having a higher purpose and larger aspect of life. Once you full-fill physiological needs, safety and love then self actualization can be met. Existential is figuring out your essence. You are first born into existence and then you figure out your purpose. In existentialism it is believed that the world has a lot of freedom to where it is too much freedom that there is no bigger purpose and we are created to feel the need to have a purpose. Rogers believed in a growth prompting culture and most related to humanism. The most important things to him were growth, acceptance, and genuineness. We can constantly change our thoughts on which one we believe in or relate most to. Some people it may be affected by their religious beliefs of a bigger purpose and others how they were raised. In times of trouble one may change their thought process.

-Rylee Hartley