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, a consequence of the sublimation of such currents as Nietzsche’s “philosophy of life”, Schopenhauer's philosophical irrationalism, Bergson’s intuitionism, Scheler’s philosophical ontology, the psychoanalysis of Freud and Jung; and the existentialism of Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus. In the writings of Horney, Fromm, Rubinstein, in their ideas, the motives of this movement are clearly traced. Pretty soon, the existential approach in psychology gained great popularity in North America. The ideas were supported by prominent representatives of the "third revolution". Along with existentialism, the humanistic trend developed by such prominent psychologists as Rogers, Kelly, and Maslow developed in the psychological thought of this period. Both of these branches became a counterbalance to the already established trends in psychological science - Freudianism and behaviorism.
Existentially-humanistic direction and other trends
The founder of the existential-humanistic tendency (EGP) - D. Bugental - often criticized behaviorism for a simplified understanding of the person, disregard for the person, his inner world and potential capabilities, the mechanization of behavioral patterns and the desire to control the personality. Behavioralists criticized the humanistic approach for over-appreciating the concept of freedom, considering it as an object of experimental research and insisted that there is no freedom, and the main law of existence is the stimulus-response. Humanists insisted on the insolvency and even danger of such an approach for humans.
Humanists also had their own complaints about Freud's followers, despite the fact that many of them started 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 the personality is still somewhat close to psychoanalysis.
The essence of humanism
At the moment, there is no consensus on the degree of independence of humanism and existentialism, but most representatives of these movements prefer to separate them, although everyone recognizes their fundamental commonality, since the main idea of these directions is the recognition of individual freedom in the choice and construction of their 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 an empirical existence, reveals his identity and makes him the meaning of himself. In addition, the undoubted advantage of the humanistic concept is that not abstract theories are implemented, but, on the contrary, real practical experience serves as the foundation for scientific generalizations. Experience is considered in humanism as a priority value and a basic guideline. Both humanistic and existential psychology evaluate practice as the most important component. But here, the difference between this method can be traced: for humanists, the practice of real experience of experiencing and solving very specific personality problems is important, and not the use and implementation of methodological and methodological templates.
Human nature in GP and EP
The basis of the humanistic approach (GP) is the concept of the essence of human nature, which combines its diverse currents and distinguishes it from other areas of psychology. According to Roy Cavallo, the essence of human nature is to be continuously in the process of its formation. In the process of formation, a person is autonomous, active, capable of self-change and creative adaptation, focused on internal choice. A departure from continuous formation is a rejection of the authenticity 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 the personality is not set 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 lack of predestination, prejudice, which can affect the personality, determine how it will develop in the future. Putting aside for the future, redirecting responsibility to the shoulders of others, the nation, society, and the state is excluded. Man decides for himself - here and now. Existential psychology determines the direction of personality development solely by the choice that he makes. The personality-centered psychology considers the essence of the personality as preset positive initially.
Faith in man
Belief in the personality is the basic setting that distinguishes the humanistic approach in psychology from other currents. If Freudianism, behaviorism, and the vast majority of concepts of Soviet psychologists are based on disbelief in a person, then the existential direction in psychology, on the contrary, considers a person from the position of faith in him. In classical Freudianism, the nature of the individual is initially negative, the purpose of influencing it is correction and compensation. Behavioralists assess human nature neutrally and influence it through formation and correction. Humanists, on the other hand, see human nature as either unconditionally positive and see the goal of influence as helping to actualize the personality (Maslow, Rogers), or they evaluate personal nature as conditionally positive and see psychological aid as the main goal of psychological influence (the existential psychology of Frankl and Budgetary). Thus, the institute of existential psychology puts the concept of individual life choice of a person at the core of its teaching. A person is regarded as initially neutral.
Problems of existential psychology
The basis of the humanistic approach is the concept of conscious values that a person “chooses for himself”, solving the key problems of life. Existential personality psychology declares the primacy of human existence in the world. From the moment of birth, an individual 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 people can choose. Interaction with the world gives rise to basic existential problems, stress and anxiety, the inability to cope with which leads to an imbalance in the psyche of the individual. The problems are diverse, but schematically it can be reduced to four basic “nodes” of polarities, in which individuals must make choices in the development process .
Time, life and death
Death is the most easily recognized, as the most obvious inevitable end given. Awareness of impending death fills a person with fear. The desire to live and the simultaneous awareness of the temporal existence is the main conflict studied by existential psychology.
Determinism, freedom, responsibility
The 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 feels fear of its absence. After all, it is easier to exist in an organized, subordinate to the external plan of the Universe. 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 breeds fear.
Communication, love and loneliness
Understanding loneliness is the concept of existential isolation, that is, detachment from the world and society. Man comes into the world alone and leaves him the same way. The conflict is generated by the realization of one’s own loneliness, on the one hand, and the person’s need for communication, protection, belonging to something more, on the other.
The meaninglessness and the meaning of being
The problem of the lack of meaning of life stems from the first three nodes. On the one hand, being in continuous knowledge, a person creates his own meaning, on the other hand, he is aware of his isolation, loneliness and impending death.
Authenticity and conformism. Wines
Humanist psychologists, based on the principle of a person’s personal choice, distinguish two main polarities - authenticity and conformism. 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, it can change as a result of their efforts. Authentic lifestyle is characterized by inner orientation, innovation, harmony, refinement, courage and love.
A person who is outwardly oriented, not having the courage to take responsibility for his own choice, chooses the path of conformism, identifying himself solely as an executor of social roles. Acting on prepared social patterns, such a person thinks stereotypically, does not know how and does not want to recognize his choice and give him an internal assessment. A conformist looks to the past, relying on ready-made paradigms, as a result of which he has insecurity and a sense of his own worthlessness. There is an accumulation of ontological guilt.
The value-based approach to a person and belief in a personality, its strength allow us to study it more deeply. The presence of various angles of view in it also testifies to the heuristic nature of the direction. The main ones are traditional-existential, existential-analytical and humanistic existential psychology. May and Schneider also highlight the existentially integrative approach. In addition, there are such approaches as Friedman's dialog therapy and Frankl's speech therapy .
Despite a number of conceptual differences, the personality-centered humanistic and existential trends are in solidarity in trust in a person. An important advantage of these areas is that they do not seek to “simplify” the person, put their most essential problems in the center of their attention, and do not cut off the intractable questions of the correspondence of a person’s life in the world and his inner nature. Recognizing that society influences the formation of the personality and its 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 modern personality science.