The humanistic and existential trends arose in the middle of the last century in Europe as a result of the development of philosophical and psychological thought of the last two centuries, being, in fact, the result of the sublimation of such currents as Nietzsche's "philosophy of life", Schopenhauer's philosophical irrationalism, Bergson's intuitionism, the philosophical ontology of Scheler, the psychoanalysis of Freud and Jung, and the existentialism of Heidegger, Sartre and Camus. In the works of Horney, Fromm, Rubinstein, in their ideas, the motives of this trend are clearly traced. Pretty soon, the existential approach to psychology became very popular in North America. The ideas were supported by prominent representatives of the "third revolution". Simultaneously with existentialism in the psychological thought of this period, a humanistic trend was also developing, represented by such prominent psychologists as Rogers,Kelly, Maslow. Both of these branches have become a counterbalance to the already established trends in psychological science - Freudianism and behaviorism.
Existential-humanistic direction and other currents
The founder of the existential-humanistic direction (EHP) - D. Budzhental - often criticized behaviorism for a simplified understanding of personality, disregard for a person, his inner world and potentialities, mechanization of behavioral patterns and a desire to control a personality. Behaviorists, on the other hand, criticized the humanistic approach for giving supervalue to the concept of freedom, considering it as an object of experimental research and insisted that there is no freedom, and the stimulus-response is the basic law of existence. Humanists insisted on the failure and even the danger of such an approach for a person.
The humanists also had their own claims to the followers of Freud, despite the fact that many of them started out as psychoanalysts. The latter denied the dogmatism and determinism of the concept, opposed the fatalism characteristic of Freudianism, and denied the unconscious as a universal explanatory principle. Despite this, it should be noted that the existential psychology of personality is still to a certain extent close to psychoanalysis.
The essence of humanism
At the moment there is no consensus regarding the degree of independence of humanism and existentialism, but most representatives of these movements prefer to share them, although allrecognize their fundamental commonality, since the main idea of these trends is the recognition of the freedom of the individual in choosing and building his being. Existentialists and humanists agree that the awareness of being, touching it, transforms and transforms a person, raising him above the chaos and emptiness of empirical existence, reveals his originality and, thanks to this, makes him the meaning of himself. In addition, the undoubted advantage of the humanistic concept is that it is not abstract theories that are introduced into life, but, on the contrary, real practical experience serves as the foundation for scientific generalizations. Experience is considered in humanism as a priority value and the main guideline. Both humanistic and existential psychology regard practice as the most important component. But here, too, the difference of this method can be traced: for humanists, it is important to practice the real experience of experiencing and solving very specific personal problems, and not the use and implementation of methodological and methodological templates.
Human nature in GP and EP
The humanistic approach (HP) is based on the concept of the essence of human nature, which unites its diverse currents and distinguishes it from other areas of psychology. According to Roy Cavallo, the essence of human nature is to continuously be in the process of becoming. In the process of becoming, a person is autonomous, active, capable of self-change and creative adaptation, focused on internal choice. Departure from continuous becoming is the rejection ofauthenticity of life, "human in man".
The existential approach of psychology (EP) of humanism is characterized, first of all, by a qualitative assessment of the essence of the personality and a look at the nature of the sources of the formation process. According to existentialism, the essence of a person is not set to be either positive or negative - it is initially neutral. Personality features are acquired in the process of searching for his unique identity. Possessing both positive and negative potential, a person chooses and bears personal responsibility for his choice.
Existence
Existence is existence. Its main characteristic is the absence of predestination, predestination, which can influence the personality, determine how it will develop in the future. Postponement for the future, redirection of responsibility onto the shoulders of others, the nation, society, state is excluded. Man decides for himself - here and now. Existential psychology determines the direction of development of the individual solely by the choice he makes. Person-centered psychology, on the other hand, considers the essence of the personality as given by the positive from the very beginning.
Faith in man
Faith in personality is the basic setting that distinguishes the humanistic approach in psychology from other currents. If Freudianism, behaviorism, and the vast majority of the concepts of Soviet psychology are based on disbelief in personality, then the existential direction in psychology, on the contrary, considers a person from the position of faith in him. In classical Freudian natureof the individual is initially negative, the purpose of influencing it is correction and compensation. Behaviorists evaluate human nature in a neutral way and influence it by shaping and correcting it. Humanists, on the other hand, see the nature of a person as either unconditionally positive and see the goal of influence as assistance in the actualization of the personality (Maslow, Rogers), or they evaluate personal nature as conditionally positive and see help in choosing as the main goal of psychological influence (the existential psychology of Frankl and Bugenthal). Thus, the institute of existential psychology puts the concept of a person's individual life choice as the basis of its teaching. The personality is treated as initially neutral.
Problems of existential psychology
The humanistic approach is based on the concept of conscious values that a person “chooses for himself”, resolving the key problems of being. Existential psychology of personality declares the primacy of human existence in the world. An individual from the moment of birth continuously interacts with the world and finds in it the meanings of his being. The world contains both threats and positive alternatives and opportunities that a person can choose. Interaction with the world gives rise to basic existential problems in the individual, stress and anxiety, the inability to cope with which leads to an imbalance in the individual's psyche. The problems are varied, but schematically it can be reduced to four main "knots" of polarities, in which the personality must make a choice in the process of development.
Time,life and death
Death is the most easily conscious, because it is the most obvious and inevitable final given. The realization of impending death fills a person with fear. The desire to live and the simultaneous awareness of the temporality of existence is the main conflict studied by existential psychology.
Determinism, freedom, responsibility
Understanding of freedom in existentialism is also ambiguous. On the one hand, a person strives for the absence of an external structure, on the other hand, he is afraid of its absence. After all, it is easier to exist in an organized universe that obeys an external plan. But, on the other hand, existential psychology insists that a person creates his own world and is fully responsible for it. Awareness of the lack of prepared templates and structure creates fear.
Communication, love and loneliness
The understanding of loneliness is based on the concept of existential isolation, that is, detachment from the world and society. A person comes into the world alone and leaves it the same way. The conflict is generated by the awareness of one's own loneliness, on the one hand, and the person's need for communication, protection, belonging to something more, on the other.
Meaninglessness and the meaning of being
The problem of the lack of meaning in life stems from the first three nodes. On the one hand, being in continuous cognition, a person creates his own meaning, on the other hand, he is aware of his isolation, loneliness and impending death.
Authenticity and conformism. Wine
Psychologists-humanists, based on the principle of a person's personal choice, distinguish two main polarities - authenticity and conformity. In an authentic worldview, a person shows his unique personal qualities, sees himself as a person who is able to influence his own experience and society through decision-making, since society is created by the choice of individual individuals, therefore, is able to change as a result of their efforts. Authentic lifestyle is characterized by inwardness, innovation, harmony, refinement, courage and love.
A person who is outwardly oriented, who does not have the courage to take responsibility for his own choice, chooses the path of conformism, defining himself exclusively as a performer of social roles. Acting according to prepared social patterns, such a person thinks stereotypically, does not know how and does not want to recognize his choice and give it an internal assessment. The conformist looks into the past, relying on ready-made paradigms, as a result of which he has insecurity and a sense of his own worthlessness. Ontological guilt accumulates.
A valuable approach to a person and faith in a person, his strength allow him to study it more deeply. The heuristic nature of the direction is also evidenced by the presence of various angles of view in it. The main ones are traditional-existential, existential-analytical and humanistic existential psychology. May and Schneider also highlight the existential-integrative approach. In addition, there are approaches such asFriedmann's Dialogic Therapy and Frankl's Logotherapy.
Despite a number of conceptual differences, the person-centered humanistic and existential currents are in solidarity in trusting a person. An important advantage of these directions is that they do not seek to "simplify" the personality, place its most essential problems in the center of their attention, do not cut off the intractable questions of the correspondence of a person's existence in the world and his inner nature. Recognizing that society influences the formation of the individual and her existence in it, existential psychology is in close contact with history, cultural studies, sociology, philosophy, social psychology, while being an integral and promising branch of the modern science of personality.
