“it is not things in themselves that trouble us, but our opinions of things.” “change your...
TRANSCRIPT
• “It is not things in themselves that trouble us, but our opinions of things.”
• “Change your thoughts and you change your world."
• “I do not react to some absolute reality, but to my perception of this reality. It is this perception which for me is reality.”
Awareness is everything!
• Conscious experience is all that matters
• The past is only important if it affects your thoughts and feelings now
• Even if “reality” exists, it doesn’t matter
• Note how different from other approaches– Trait– Genetic– Psychodynamic
Humanistic Psychology
• The study of the mind is different than any other science
• The mind is aware!– The mind is attempting to understand the
mind
Awareness
• Existentialism– The cs mind has a sense of “existence”
• Phenomenological– The “phenomenon” of experience
• Humanistic– This phenomenon is uniquely human
Phenomenological, Humanistic, and Existentialism
• Free will
• Awareness
• Meaning
• Responsibilities of free will
• The object of study are human beings
Free Will
• Previous approaches
• CS experience is personality• The UCS mind does not matter• The past does not matter
• Only times these do matter is if you let them– Gordon Liddy example
Awareness
• What does it feel like to exist?
• Umwelt– Senses you feel as a biological organism
• Mitwelt– Feelings related to social experiences
• Eigenwelt– Feelings when you think of your own
existence
• What would you have been like if you. . .
• Were born to an extremely wealth family?
• Were born to an extremely poor family?
• Were born in North Dakota in 1952?
• Were born in England in 1500?
Thrown-ness
• The circumstances into which you happened to be born
• What time period do you think it is most difficult to find a sense of meaning?
What to do?
• “Lucky mud”
• Free choice – must not “blow” your chance to find “meaning”– Not a “true” meaning, but a personal “meaning”
Authentic Existence
• Come to terms with your existence– Life is shot– You will die– You are in control of your choices – find meaning
• Still not a “happy” existence– Life is shot– Your will die– Meaning is only an illusion
Bad Faith
• Problems
• 1) Living a lie– Might as well just be the “unlucky mud”
• 2) Still will not be happy
• 3) Still making a choice– Chosen not to chose is a choice– “Man is condemned to freedom”
Subjective Experiences
• Inner reality more important than objective reality
• Inner experiences
• Conscious experiences– Experiences that can be verbalized or imagined
• Unconscious experiences– Experiences that cannot be verbalized or imagined
Self-Actualizing Tendency
• Innate motive toward fulfillment of our potentials
• Evidence– Rat and human studies– Evolution
• “Innate goodness”
• Uninhibited by the evaluations of others
• All behavior directed toward satisfying need for SA
• Organismic Valuing Process– SA is the criterion used to make judgments of worth
• As we get older. . . .
• Start to experience a need for positive regard– Satisfying the needs for others satisfies this need
So why do people do bad things?
• Social self hinders movement toward SA
• Not behaving like true self causes anxiety
• Anxiety causes defense mechanisms
Positive Development
• Avoid conditions of worth
• Unconditional positive regard
• Congruence between true self and experiences
Fully Functioning Person
• Open to experience
• Characterized by existential living
• Trust their organisms
• Are creative
• Live rich lives