What did third-force psychologists believe was missing from behaviorism and psychoanalysis?

Both ignored healthy human growth, meaning, choice, and self-actualization.

What did behaviorism leave out according to humanistic psychologists?

Subjective experience, free will, meaning, creativity, and personal values.

What did psychoanalysis leave out according to humanistic psychologists?

Focus on healthy functioning; it overemphasized pathology and unconscious conflict.

What was the goal of third-force psychology?

To study healthy personality development, meaning, and human potential (self-actualization).

What is subjective reality?

A person’s internal experience of the world (perception, meaning, interpretation).

Why is subjective reality important in humanistic psychology?

Behavior is determined by personal meaning, not just external events.

Key idea about interpretation in humanistic psychology?

The same event can produce different behaviors depending on how it is experienced.

How does humanistic psychology differ from behaviorism here?

Behaviorism focuses on external stimuli; humanistic psychology focuses on personal meaning.

ROMANTICISM

What did Romanticism contribute to humanistic psychology?

Emphasis on emotion, individuality, and natural human goodness.

What did Rousseau believe about humans?

Humans are naturally good but corrupted by society.

EXISTENTIALISM

What did existentialism emphasize?

Freedom, responsibility, meaning, and individuality.

What did Kierkegaard mean by “subjectivity is truth”?

Truth is experienced personally, not just objectively defined.

What did Nietzsche argue about values?

Humans must create their own values rather than follow imposed ones.

PHENOMNEOLOGY

What is phenomenology?

The study of experience as it is directly lived in consciousness.

Why is phenomenology important to psychology?

It prioritizes describing experience without reducing it to behavior or biology.

KEY THINKERS IN PHENOMENOLOGY

FRANZ BRENTANO

What did Brentano study?

Mental acts (judging, thinking, loving, fearing), not just mental content.

What is intentionality?

The idea that all mental states are directed toward something.

EDMUND HUSSERL

What did Husserl want phenomenology to do?

Describe consciousness exactly as it appears, without assumptions.

What is pure phenomenology?

Studying consciousness itself to find the essence of experience.

MAURICE MERLEAU -PONTY

What did Merleau-Ponty emphasize?

The body as central to perception and experience.

How did he critique behaviorism?

It ignores lived, embodied experience.

ONTOLOGY

What is ontology?

The study of being and existence.

Why is ontology important in existential psychology?

It asks what it means to exist as a human being, not just how humans behave.

EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY & PSYCHOLOGY

SARTRE

What is Sartre’s main idea about human beings?

Humans are radically free and create themselves through choices.

What does “existence precedes essence” mean (Sartre)?

We are not born with a fixed nature; we define ourselves through actions.

What is the main idea of No Exit?

Social relationships shape identity; we can become trapped in others’ perceptions.

CAMUS

What is the “absurd” (Camus)?

The conflict between human desire for meaning and a meaningless universe.

What is Camus’ main psychological message?

Humans must create meaning despite the lack of inherent purpose.

MARTIN HEIDEGGER

What is Dasein?

Human existence as “being-in-the-world.”

Key idea of Dasein?

Humans cannot be separated from their world and context.

What is authenticity (Heidegger)?

Living consciously with awareness of freedom and mortality.

What is inauthenticity?

Living according to social expectations without personal reflection.

What causes existential anxiety?

Awareness of freedom, responsibility, and death.

What is existential guilt?

Failing to fully realize one’s possibilities.

What is thrownness?

We are born into conditions we did not choose (family, time, body, culture).

Key idea about thrownness and freedom?

We are free, but always within given limitations.

What does third-force and existential psychology emphasize?

Human beings are meaning-making, free, embodied individuals who must navigate freedom, anxiety, and personal interpretation of experience.

LUDWIG BINSWANGER (1881 - 1966)

Who was Ludwig Binswanger?

Swiss psychiatrist who combined psychoanalysis, phenomenology, and existential philosophy into psychotherapy.

What philosophical influence shaped Binswanger’s work most?

Martin Heidegger (especially Dasein and being-in-the-world).

What is Binswanger’s therapeutic approach called?

Daseinanalysis (therapy focused on lived existence).

What are Binswanger’s three modes of existence?

Umwelt, Mitwelt, Eigenwelt.

What is Umwelt?

The physical/environmental world (body, nature, objects).

What is Mitwelt?

The social world (relationships, society, communication).

What is Eigenwelt?

The inner/personal world (self-awareness, feelings, identity).

Key idea of the three modes?

Psychological health depends on balance across physical, social, and inner worlds.

What is the ground of existence?

The life conditions we are “thrown into” (family, culture, health, history).

Key idea of freedom in Binswanger’s theory?

Humans are constrained by conditions but still capable of transcending them.

What is “being-beyond-the-world”?

The human capacity to go beyond circumstances through choice and meaning.

What is the goal of existential therapy (Binswanger)?

To understand a person’s lived experience and help them find meaning.

What is the key assumption of existential therapy?

Each person lives in a unique subjective world.

VIKTOR FRANKL

Who was Viktor Frankl?

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who developed logotherapy.

What is Frankl’s main idea?

Meaning is essential for psychological survival, even in suffering.

What is logotherapy?

Therapy focused on helping people find meaning and purpose.

Key Frankl insight from concentration camps?

Those who found meaning were more psychologically resilient.

What do Binswanger and Frankl contribute to existential psychology?

Humans exist within physical, social, and inner worlds but survive psychologically by creating meaning within life’s constraints.

ROLLO MAY (1909 1994)

Why is Rollo May important?

He brought existential psychology into American clinical psychology.

Key influence on May’s thinking?

Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Freud, and Paul Tillich.

What is the human dilemma (May)?

Humans are both objects (biological beings) and subjects (meaning-making agents).

Key tension in the human dilemma?

Determinism vs. freedom.

What is normal anxiety?

Anxiety that accompanies growth, choice, and authentic living.

What is neurotic anxiety?

Anxiety caused by avoiding freedom and clinging to security.

Main consequence of neurotic anxiety?

Self-alienation (not living according to one’s own choices).

What is the daimonic?

Inner forces (anger, sexuality, ambition) that can be creative or destructive.

Key idea of the daimonic?

It becomes harmful only when it dominates the whole personality.

Why are myths important (May)?

They provide meaning, identity, and structure for understanding life.

Function of myth in psychology?

Helps people organize experience and connect to shared human meaning.

What was May’s critique of science?

Physical science alone cannot capture meaning, freedom, or subjective experience.

What kind of psychology did May support?

A human science focused on meaning, values, and lived experience.

What is Rollo May’s main idea?

Human beings face anxiety because they are free, and must create meaning through choice, myth, and integration of inner forces.

GEORGE KELLY (1905 - 1967)

Who was George Kelly?

Personality theorist who developed personal construct theory (humans as “scientists”).

What is constructive alternativism?

Reality can be interpreted in multiple ways; people choose among alternative meanings.

What are personal constructs?

Mental categories used to predict and interpret experience.

Key idea?

People constantly test and revise their interpretations like scientists.

Similarity between Kelly and Vaihinger?

Both argue people use ideas as useful “as if” constructions, not absolute truths.

Shared idea?

Meaning is provisional and revisable based on usefulness.

What is fixed-role therapy?

Client temporarily acts out a new identity to explore alternative ways of being.

Goal of therapy?

Show that personality is flexible and can be reconstructed.

Key method?

Self-characterization → assigned role → enactment → change in constructs.

Kelly’s core idea?

Humans are scientists who construct and revise meaning to predict life.

ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908 - 1970)

What is humanistic psychology?

A “third force” focusing on subjective experience, growth, meaning, and human potential.

Main critique of other schools?

Behaviorism ignores meaning; psychoanalysis overemphasizes pathology.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

1. Physiological 2. Safety 3. Love/belonging 4. Esteem 5. Self-actualization

What is self-actualization?

A: Full realization of personal potential and growth.

What are traits of self-actualizing people?

- Realistic perception - Autonomy - Creativity - Deep relationships - Acceptance of self/others - Peak experiences

What is transpersonal psychology?

Study of spiritual, mystical, and transcendent experiences beyond the self.

Maslow’s idea?

Psychology should study peak and transcendent states, not just self-actualization.

Maslow’s core idea?

Humans move upward through needs toward growth, meaning, and transcendence.

CARL ROGERS (1902 - 1987)

Who was Carl Rogers?

Founder of client-centered (person-centered) therapy.

Core idea?

Humans have an actualizing tendency toward growth.

What are conditions of worth?

When acceptance depends on meeting external expectations.

What is incongruence?

Mismatch between self-concept and lived experience → psychological distress.

What is congruence?

Alignment between real experience and self-concept → mental health.

What is unconditional positive regard?

Acceptance without conditions, essential for healthy development.

What are traits of fully functioning person?

- Open to experience - Self-trusting - Flexible - Creative - Emotionally aware

Core conditions of therapy?

- Congruence - Unconditional positive regard - Empathy

What is the Humanistic view?

Humans are basically good and growth-oriented.

What is the existential view?

Humans create meaning in a neutral, uncertain world.

What are the criticism of humanistic psychology?

- Too idealistic - Hard to test scientifically - Vague concepts

What are the contributions of humanistic psychology?

- Focus on healthy personality - Influence on therapy and education - Foundation for positive psychology

What was Rogers’ core idea?

People grow when they are accepted, understood, and free to align self with experience.