The main directions of humanistic psychology. Humanistic psychology: basic provisions and methods, representatives, interesting facts

The psychoanalytic direction, which for the first time raised the question of the need to study the motivation and structure of personality, has enriched psychology with many important discoveries. But this approach ignored the study of such important characteristics as the qualitative originality of the personality of each person, the ability to consciously and purposefully develop certain aspects of the “I-image” and build relationships with others. Scientists also objected to the idea of ​​psychoanalysis that the process of personality development ends in childhood, while experimental materials showed that the formation of personality occurs throughout life.

The approach to the study of personality, developed within the framework of the behavioral direction, could not be considered satisfactory either. Scientists who developed this approach, focusing on the study of role behavior, ignored the issues of internal motivation, personality experiences, as well as the study of those innate qualities that leave an imprint on a person's role behavior.

Awareness of these shortcomings of traditional psychological trends led to the emergence of a new psychological school, called humanistic psychology. This direction, which appeared in the United States in the 40s, was built on the basis of the philosophical school of existentialism, which studied the inner world, the existence of man.

Humanistic psychology is a psychological direction that recognizes the personality of a person as the main subject of study, considered as a unique holistic system, striving for self-actualization and constant personal growth.

The basic principles of humanistic psychology were as follows:

1) emphasizing the role of conscious experience;

2) belief in the holistic nature of human nature;

3) emphasis on free will, spontaneity and the creative power of the individual;

4) study of all factors and circumstances of human life.

Representatives: Maslow, Rogers, Frankl, Allport, Fromm (partial).

Gordon Allport is one of the founders of humanistic psychology. One of the main postulates of Allport's theory was the position that a person is an open and self-developing system. He proceeded from the fact that a person is primarily a social, and not a biological being, and therefore cannot develop without contacts with other people, with society. Hence his sharp rejection of the position of psychoanalysis about the antagonistic, hostile relationship between the individual and society. Arguing that "a personality is an open system", he emphasized the importance of the environment for its development, the openness of a person to contacts and the influence of the outside world. At the same time, Allport believed that the communication of an individual with society is not a desire to balance with the environment, but mutual communication, interaction. Allport sharply objected to the postulate generally accepted at that time that development is an adaptation, an adaptation of a person to the world around him. He argued that at the heart of the development of the human personality lies the need to blow up the balance, to reach new heights, i.e. the need for constant development and self-improvement.

Allport's important merit is that he was one of the first to talk about the uniqueness of each person. He argued that each person is unique and individual, because. is the bearer of a peculiar combination of qualities, needs, which Allport called trite - a trait. These needs, or personality traits, he divided into basic and instrumental. The main features stimulate behavior and are congenital, genotypic, while instrumental features shape behavior and are formed in the course of a person's life, i.e. are phenotypic formations. The set of these traits makes up the core of the personality, gives it uniqueness and originality.

Although the main features are innate, they can change and develop throughout life, in the process of communicating with other people. Society stimulates the development of some personality traits and inhibits the development of others. This is how that unique set of features that underlies the “I” of a person is gradually formed. Important for Allport is the provision on the autonomy of traits. The child does not yet have this autonomy, his features are unstable and not fully formed. Only in an adult who is aware of himself, his qualities and his individuality, the features become truly autonomous and do not depend on either biological needs or social pressure. This autonomy of human needs, being the most important characteristic of the formation of his personality, allows him, while remaining open to society, to maintain his individuality. So Allport solves the problem of identification - alienation - one of the most important for humanistic psychology.

Allport developed not only the theoretical concept of personality, but also his own methods of systematic research of the human psyche. He proceeded from the fact that certain traits exist in the personality of each person, the difference is only in the level of their development, degree of autonomy and place in the structure. Focusing on this position, he developed multifactorial questionnaires, with the help of which the features of the development of personality traits of a particular person are studied. The University of Minnesota MMPI questionnaire has gained the greatest popularity.

Abraham Maslow. Hierarchical theory of motivation. There are several levels of motivation, each builds on the previous one - the pyramid of needs.

1. basis - vital needs (physiological)

2. need for security

3. need for care (love and belonging)

4. need for respect and self-respect

5. creativity and self-actualization

If the 1st level (lower needs - hunger, thirst, etc.) is saturated, then the need for security is the need to protect oneself from outside intrusion. In a sense, autonomy, solitude.

The need for guardianship is family, love, friendship. Someone can support.

The need for respect - career, work provides.

These 4 levels are based on the principle of reduction of needs. This is called Type A needs.

Humanistic psychology opposes itself to depth psychology. In depth psychology, the subject of study is a sick, suffering person - a patient. Such a model of man.

In humanistic psychology, the term "client", an equal person. The human model is a mature personality. Maslow, in contrast to psychoanalysts, who studied mainly deviant behavior, believed that it was necessary to study human nature by studying its best representatives. Investigated outstanding mature personalities who have reached the heights. I studied biographies. I watched what provides the pinnacle of personal development.

Maslow coined the term self-actualization. Self-actualization - when all needs are saturated, may not think about the opinions of others, does not owe anything to anyone, knows his own worth, acts as he sees fit.

One of the weaknesses in Maslow's theory was his position that needs are in a rigid hierarchy once and for all, and higher "higher" needs arise only after more elementary ones are satisfied. Critics and followers of Maslow have shown that very often the need for self-actualization or self-respect dominates and determines a person's behavior, despite the fact that his physiological needs have remained unsatisfied.

Humanists took the concept of "becoming" from existentialism. Man is never static, he is always in the process of becoming.

Maslow: personality is a whole. A protest against behaviorism, which dealt with individual manifestations of behavior, and not with the individuality of a person. Maslow's holistic point of view.

The internal nature of a person from the point of view of humanists is internally good (as opposed to deep ones). The destructive forces in people are the result of frustration, not innate. By nature, a person has opportunities for growth and self-improvement. Man has the ability to be creative. Everyone has.

Subsequently, Maslow abandoned a rigid hierarchy, combining all existing needs into two classes - the needs of need (deficit) and the need for development (self-actualization). Thus, he singled out two levels of human existence - existential, focused on personal growth and self-actualization, and deficient, focused on satisfying frustrated needs. Metamotivation is an existential motivation leading to personal growth.

Maslow gave 11 main characteristics of self-actualized people: an objective perception of reality; full acceptance of one's own nature; passion and devotion to any business; simplicity and naturalness of behavior; the need for independence, independence and the opportunity to retire somewhere, to be alone; intense mystical and religious experience, the presence of higher experiences (especially joyful and intense experiences); benevolent and sympathetic attitude towards people; non-conformism (resistance to external pressures); democratic personality type; creative approach to life; high level of social interest.

Maslow's theory includes the concepts of identification and alienation, although these mechanisms of mental development have not been fully disclosed by him.

Each person is born with a certain set of qualities, abilities that make up the essence of his "I", his Self and which a person needs to realize and manifest in his life and activity. Neurotics are people with an undeveloped or unconscious need for self-actualization.

According to Maslow, society, the environment, on the one hand, is necessary for a person, since he can self-actualize, manifest himself only among other people, only in society. On the other hand, society, by its very nature, cannot but impede self-actualization, since any society strives to make a person a template representative of the environment, it alienates the personality from its essence, its individuality, makes it conformal.

At the same time, alienation, preserving the Self, the individuality of the individual, puts it in opposition to the environment and also deprives it of the opportunity to self-actualize. Therefore, in its development, a person needs to maintain a balance between these two mechanisms. Optimal is identification in the external plan, in the communication of a person with the outside world and alienation in the internal plan, in terms of his personal development, the development of his self-consciousness.

The goal of personal development, according to Maslow, is the desire for growth, self-actualization, while stopping personal growth is death for the individual, the Self. Psychoanalysts - psychological protection - a boon for the individual, a way to avoid neurosis. Maslow - psychological defense is an evil that stops personal growth.

As for other representatives of humanistic psychology, the idea of ​​the value and uniqueness of the human person is central to Carl Rogers. He believed that the experience that a person acquires during his life and which he calls the "phenomenal field" is unique and individual. This world, created by a person, may or may not coincide with reality, since not all objects in a person's environment are perceived by him. The degree of identity of this field of reality Rogers called congruence. With a high degree of congruence, what a person communicates to others, what is happening around, and what he is aware of in what is happening, more or less coincide with each other. A violation of congruence leads to the fact that a person is either not aware of reality, or does not express what he really wants to do or what he thinks. This leads to an increase in tension, anxiety and, ultimately, to a neurotic personality.

Neuroticism is also facilitated by the departure from one's individuality, the rejection of self-actualization, which Rogers, like Maslow, considered one of the most important needs of the individual. Developing the foundations of his therapy, the scientist combined in it the idea of ​​congruence with self-actualization, since their violation leads to neurosis and deviations in personality development.

Speaking about the structure of the "I", Rogers came to the conclusion that the inner essence of a person, his Self is expressed in self-esteem, which is a reflection of the true essence of this person, his "I". In the event that behavior is built precisely on the basis of self-esteem, it expresses the true essence of the individual, his abilities and skills, and therefore brings the greatest success to a person. The results of activity bring satisfaction to a person, increase his status in the eyes of others, such a person does not need to displace his experience into the unconscious, since his opinion of himself, the opinion of others about him and his real Self correspond to each other, create complete congruence.

Rogers' ideas about what the true relationship between a child and an adult should be formed the basis for the works of the famous scientist B. Spock, who wrote about how parents should take care of children without violating their true self-esteem and helping them socialize.

However, parents, according to both scientists, do not often follow these rules and do not listen to their child. Therefore, already in early childhood, a child can be alienated from his true self-esteem, from his Self. Most often this happens under the pressure of adults who have their own idea of ​​the child, his abilities and purpose. They impose their assessment on the child, striving for him to accept it and make it his self-assessment. Some children begin to protest against the actions imposed on them. However, most often children do not try to confront their parents, agreeing with their opinion about themselves. This is because the child needs affection and acceptance from an adult. Rogers called this desire to earn the love and affection of others "the condition of value." The "condition of value" becomes a serious obstacle to personal growth, as it interferes with the realization of the true "I" of a person, his true vocation, replacing it with an image that is pleasing to others. Man renounces himself, his self-actualization. But when carrying out activities imposed by others, a person cannot be completely successful. The need to constantly ignore signals of one's own insolvency is associated with the fear of changing self-esteem, which a person already considers really his own. This leads to the fact that a person displaces his fears and aspirations into the unconscious, alienating his experience from consciousness. At the same time, a very limited and rigid scheme of the world and oneself is being built, which does not correspond much to reality. This inadequacy is not recognized, but causes tension, leading to neurosis. The task of the psychotherapist, together with the subject, is to destroy this scheme, to help the person realize his true "I" and rebuild his communication with others.

Rogers insisted that self-assessment should be not only adequate, but also flexible, i.e. should change depending on the environment. He said that self-esteem is a connected image, a gestalt, which is constantly in the process of formation and changes, restructures when the situation changes. At the same time, Rogers not only talks about the influence of experience on self-esteem, but also emphasizes the need for a person to be open to experience. Rogers emphasized the importance of the present, saying that people should learn to live in the present, realize and appreciate every moment of their lives. Only then will life reveal itself in its true meaning, and only then can one speak of full realization.

Rogers proceeded from the fact that the psychotherapist should not impose his opinion on the patient, but lead him to the right decision, which the patient makes on his own. In the process of therapy, the patient learns to trust himself, his intuition more, to better understand himself, and then others. As a result, “insight” (insight) occurs, which helps to rebuild one’s self-esteem. This increases congruence and enables a person to accept himself and others. This therapy takes place as a therapist-client meeting or in group therapy (encounter groups).

The term "I-concept" was introduced in the 50s. in humanistic psychology. This concept meant a return to the classical psychology of consciousness. The main ideas are borrowed from the works of James. James shares 2 concepts of personality:

1) Personality as an acting agent (subject of activity).

2) Personality as a set of ideas about oneself (empirical personality).

Separates the term "I" (acting agent) and "Mine" - what I know about myself, what I attribute to myself. James studied "Mine".

"Mine" consists of 3 parts:

1. Knowing about yourself is a cognitive component

2. Self-attitude is an affective component

3. Behavior - behavioral component

These 3 components define the "I-concept" (the image of "I"). These are phenomenal. In domestic psychology, a broader term is “self-consciousness”.

1. Cognitive component. 3 parts of personality according to James, which are defined as knowledge about oneself:

A. Physical personality - body, clothes, house in the broadest sense of the word.

B. Social personality - how we are perceived by others. This is determined by our social roles. What is expected of us influences our behavior.

B. Spiritual personality - "image I". The inner world of a person, that which belongs to the consciousness of the subject. What am I? What I will answer. Everything that provides a holistic view of oneself (thoughts, feelings, experiences, abilities).

2. Self-attitude, self-acceptance, self-esteem - the affective component of the "I-concept". From the point of view of a concrete I, all ideas about oneself can be both positive and negative. Not oriented to social norms. "I'm an alcoholic and I love it." Our attitude towards ourselves is connected with what goals a person sets and what he can achieve. Self-respect is the result of the relationship between success and ambition.

Carl Rogers introduces the concept of "real" and "ideal" I. Ideal I - an idea of ​​what a person would like to be. The real self is a person's idea of ​​who he really is. According to Rogers, a person strives to comprehend his own Self, to comprehend the self, he wants to feel the true Self.

The true self can be identical (congruent) to the ideal self. Congruence = positive self-concept when the ideal and real self coincide. An incongruent self-concept is negative when they don't match.

2. Behavior. Everyone strives to ensure that the real I coincides with the ideal (according to James).

According to Rogers, the self-concept can be conditionally positive and unconditionally positive. Conditionally positive self-concept, when we follow some standard in order to get approval. Unconditionally positive - a person accepts himself as he is.

Problems of personality development can occur when an outwardly successful person feels the conventionality of the self-concept. Rejection of the conditionally positive I from my self. The way out is unconditional self-acceptance. Personal development - liberation from the system of psychological protection (protection does not allow a person to penetrate into the depths of his "I", to experience his self). This can be achieved by the openness of experience, i.e. everything that is available to a person, he must experience.

Method - training groups (meeting groups). Everyone talks about himself. The rest accept it as it is. Or individual therapy (client-centered therapy). Rogers is an indirect method. The therapist is like a mirror. Repeats the last phrase. It does not press, but accepts a person as he is.

The main thing is self-actualization, personal growth, self-development. The goal of the psychotherapist is to provide conditions for the client's self-development.

The directive method works through empathy. Empathy – client and therapist are attuned to each other's experiences.

ROGERS CLIENT CENTERED THERAPY

In 1951, Rogers published the book Client Centered Therapy. He called the patronage model. The client largely relies on the therapist, but the choice of actions, actions always remains with the client. The therapist is a gardener, he can only create conditions for growth and development. The therapist only creates conditions, does not change, does not remake. customer care model. The main goal is to contribute to the growth and development of the client. The ideal is a self-actualizing personality. This process is initiated by the therapist. The need for self-actualization is inherent in a person, but may not be relevant. Self-actualizing personality = healthy. Rogers coined the term "client". This is a fundamentally important point. The patient is not responsible, relies on the doctor. The result largely depends on the experience, education, level of knowledge of the psychoanalyst. For Rogers, the central figure is the client. The therapist follows the client. The client has the right to withdraw from therapy at any time. The client initiates a psychoanalytic interaction. The client explores his inner world, and the therapist walks beside him. Equal position. The therapist does not direct, does not push. He is a facilitator - one who supports. The meaning of therapy is to change the inner world, but this change is made by the client himself.

Rogers understood symptoms very broadly. It does not answer the question why such a symptomatology arose in a particular person. He says where the symptomatology comes from: when a split into “I” and “not me” occurs in the client’s personality. “I” is realized, “not I” is that which is not realized. Cleavage produces symptoms. There is an experience that a person has experienced, accumulated. It can completely coincide, be congruent with the self-concept. But the self-concept may not be congruent to experience - splitting occurs. The ideal "I" is what a person thinks he should be. A split may occur - the ideal may not coincide with experience, the Self-concept. There are 3 splitting options. The more 3 peaks coincide, the healthier the person. The more breaks, the more severe the symptoms.

I-concept I-ideal

For Freud, the therapist is the standard. For Rogers, the most important thing for the therapist is authenticity (authenticity), conformity to oneself, does not play a role.

Every effort should be made to reduce the conditioning in self-acceptance. The therapist accepts the client unconditionally, as he is. Encourages the client to treat himself unconditionally. The client's anxieties, fears are reduced, defenses are removed. The client begins to open up, it is easier for him to tell problems. The main thing is to accept and not condemn, emotionally support.

The main thing is to be there, but not to invade the client's world. Respect his decisions, values, views. The therapist must be able to listen and hear. But the therapist has the right to express his opinion. He has the right to make mistakes, he must tell the client about it and apologize. Due to the non-judgmental attitude, the client is not afraid to show emotions. The therapist can also show his emotions, positive and negative: anger, aggression, etc.

Rogers didn't have much experience with psychotics. Short-term therapy for people whose "I" is not destroyed.

Many provisions of existential theory Viktor Frankl make it related to humanistic psychology. Frankl's theory consists of three parts - the doctrine of the pursuit of meaning, the doctrine of the meaning of life and the doctrine of free will. Frankl considered the desire to understand the meaning of life to be innate, and this motive was the leading force in the development of the individual. Meanings are not universal, they are unique for each person at every moment of his life. The meaning of life is always associated with the realization of a person's capabilities and in this regard is close to Maslow's concept of self-actualization. However, an essential feature of Frankl's theory is the idea that the acquisition and realization of meaning is always associated with the external world, with the creative activity of a person in it and his productive achievements. At the same time, he, like other existentialists, emphasized that the lack of meaning in life or the inability to realize it leads to neurosis, giving rise to a state of existential vacuum and existential frustration in a person.

At the center of Frankl's concept is the doctrine of values, i.e. concepts that carry the generalized experience of mankind about the meaning of typical situations. He identifies three classes of values ​​that make it possible to make a person's life meaningful: the values ​​of creativity (for example, work), the values ​​of experience (for example, love) and the values ​​of an attitude consciously formed in relation to those critical life circumstances that we are not able to change.

The meaning of life can be found in any of these values ​​and any action generated by them. It follows from this that there are no such circumstances and situations in which human life would lose its meaning. Finding meaning in a particular situation Frankl calls awareness of the possibilities of action in relation to a given situation. It is precisely this awareness that logotherapy developed by Frankl aims to help a person see the full range of potential meanings contained in a situation and choose the one that is consistent with his conscience. At the same time, the meaning must not only be found, but also realized, since its realization is connected with the realization of the person himself.

In this realization of meaning, human activity must be absolutely free. Disagreeing with the idea of ​​universal determinism, Frankl seeks to remove a person from the biological laws that postulate this determinism. Frankl introduces the concept of the noetic level of human existence.

Recognizing that heredity and external circumstances set certain boundaries for the possibilities of behavior, he emphasizes the existence of three levels of human existence: biological, psychological and noetic, or spiritual. It is in the spiritual existence that the meanings and values ​​that play a determining role in relation to the lower levels are contained. Thus, Frankl forms the idea of ​​the possibility of self-determination, which is associated with the existence of man in the spiritual world.

Assessing the humanistic theories of personality, it should be noted that their developers for the first time paid attention not only to deviations, difficulties and negative aspects in human behavior, but also to the positive aspects of personal development. In the works of scientists of this school, the achievements of personal experience were studied, the mechanisms of personality formation and the ways for its self-development and self-improvement were revealed. This direction has become more widespread in Europe, and not in the USA, where the traditions of existentialism and phenomenology are not so strong.

Fromm. Personality - the sum of congenital and acquired crazy. St., characterization. individual and determine its uniqueness. Unlike animals, a person is deprived of the original connection with nature - we do not have powerful instincts that allow us to adapt to an ever-changing world, but we can think when we are in a state of human dilemma. On the one hand, it allows us to survive, and on the other hand, it pushes us to think about questions that have no answers - existentialism. dichotomies. Among them: 1) life and death (we know that we will die, but we deny it). 2) living under the sign of the ideal idea of ​​the full self-realization of the individual, we will never be able to achieve it 3) we are absolutely alone, but we cannot do without each other. existential needs. A healthy person differs from a sick person in that he is able to find answers to existential. questions - answers that are more in line with his existential. needs. Our behavior is motivated by physiological needs, but their satisfaction does not lead to a solution to the human dilemma. Exist only. needs can unite man with nature. Among them: 1) the need to establish connections (stepping over the boundaries of oneself, becoming a part of something greater. Submission and power are unproductive here. Only love as an union with someone, outside a person, provided that the isolation and integrity of one's Self is preserved (4 components - care, respect, responsibility and knowledge). in self-determination, the desire to rise above passive and accidental existence into purposefulness and freedom. Creation and destruction of life are two ways. 3) consum. in rootedness - the search for one's roots and the desire to literally take root in the world and feel it again as one's home. Unproductive - fixation (unwillingness to move far beyond the boundaries of one's safe world, originally determined by the mother. 4) self-identity - awareness of oneself as a separate entity (I am me and I am responsible for my actions) Unproductive - belonging to a group. 5) system of values. Unproductive - irrational goals. Character - a relatively constant set of aspirations of the individual, not yavl. instinctive, with pom. which a person relates himself to nature or culture. People relate to the world in 2 ways: assimilation (the acquisition and use of things) and socialization (knowledge of oneself and others). Unproductive types: receptive, exploitative, cumulative, market.

6) Domestic psychology. In the study of personality structure, the main characteristic is orientation. Rubinstein is a dynamic trend; Leontiev - meaning-forming motive; Myasishchev - dominant attitude; Ananiev is the main life orientation. Orientation is a capacious descriptive characteristic of the personality structure. A.N.Leontiev. Parameters (grounds) of personality: 1. The richness of the individual's connections with the world; 2. The degree of hierarchization of deeds, their motives. Hierarchies of motives form relatively independent units of life; 3. General type of personality structure.

The personality structure is a relatively stable configuration of the main motivational lines hierarchized within itself. The diverse relationships in which a person enters into reality give rise to conflicts, which, under certain conditions, are fixed and enter the structure of the personality. The structure of the personality does not come down to the richness of a person's connections with the world, nor to the degree of their hierarchization; its characteristic lies in the ratio of different systems of existing life relations, giving rise to a struggle between them. Psychological substructures of personality - temperament, needs, drives, emotional experiences, interests, attitudes, skills, habits - some in the form of conditions, others in changes in their place in the personality, in creations and transformations. Dual personality structure: 1. Socio-typical manifestations of personality are systemic social qualities of the first order; 2. Personal-semantic manifestations of personality are system-specific integrative social qualities of the second order. The personal-semantic manifestations of a personality represent a form of social qualities specifically transformed in the process of activity in the individual life of a person. System-social qualities express the general tendency of a developing personality to be preserved, system-specific personality-semantic qualities represent its tendency to change. To search for ways of its further development, in a world full of surprises.

Vygotsky: personality is a social concept, and it embraces the supranatural, historical in man. It is not born, but arises in the process of cultural development. The personality develops as a whole. Only when a person masters a certain form of behavior, then it rises to a higher level. The essence of cultural development is the mastery of the processes of one's own behavior, but a necessary prerequisite for this is the formation of personality and => the development of a function is a derivative and conditioned by the development of the personality as a whole. The newborn has no self and no personality. The decisive moment in the development of a child's personality is the awareness of one's self (a name and only then a personal pronoun). The child's concept of self develops from the concept of others. That. the concept of personality is socially reflected. Only at school age does a stable form of personality first appear, thanks to the formation of inner speech. In a teenager - the discovery of I and the formation of personality.

Rubinstein. When explaining any psycho. phenomena, the personality acts as a united set of internal conditions, through the cat. and all external influences are refracted. The history that determines the structure of personality incl. into itself and the evolution of living beings, the history of mankind and personal history. Personality traits are not limited to individual abilities. Personality is all the more significant, than the universal is represented in the individual refraction. The distance separating a historical person from an ordinary one is determined not by saints, but by the significance of the general history. the forces of which it is the bearer. As a person, a person acts as a unit in the system of social relations, as a bearer of these relations. The mental content of the personality is not only the motives of the conscious mind. activities, it incl. a variety of unfounded tendencies-motives. The first stage in the formation of personality as an independent subject is associated with the mastery of one's own body and voluntary movements. Next is the beginning of the walk. And here the child begins to understand that he really stands out from the environment. environment. Another important link is the development of speech.

Ananiev. The structure of the personality is a product of individual mental development, which appears in three plans: ontogenetic evolution, psychophysiological functions and the history of the development of a person as a subject of labor.

Characteristics of a person as an individual. Age-sex and individual-typical saints. Their interaction determines the dynamics of psychophysiological functions and the structure of organic needs. Main f. development of these saints - ontogenetic development, impl. according to the phylogenetic program.

As individuals. The starting point of the structural-dynamic properties in the individual is its status in society. Based on this status, systems are built: a) societies. functions-roles and b) goals and value aspirations. Main f. personal development here - the life path of a person and society-ve.

as a subject of activity. The initial ones here are consciousness (as a reflection of objective activity) and activity (as a transformation of reality)

Myasishchev. Personality is the highest integral concept. It is characterized as a system of relations between a person and the environment. reality. The most important thing that determines l is her attitude towards people. The first component of personality characteristics forms the dominant personality relationships. The second is the mental level (desires, achievements). Here again the psychologist comes into contact. and social aspects that are completely inconsistent. The level of development and selective orientation characterize the attitude of l. The third is the dynamics of districts l. or whatever is called. type of GNI, temperament. Fourth - the relationship of the main components, the overall structure of the personality

Humanistic psychology is a generally recognized direction that positions its main object not just a person, but an autonomous and unique system as a whole. She (this person, a person in the broad sense of understanding) is not a given, but only a prerequisite for development and self-actualization. And how this development will take place depends only on the will of the individual and his environment.

As a separate trend, the humanistic approach in psychology announced itself in the middle of the twentieth century as an alternative to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. The founders of humanistic psychology include Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, and the meters include Gordon Alporn, Rollo May and many other famous figures. By the way, under the editorship of the latter, the famous book-manifesto "Existential Psychology" (1959), which is the fundamental collection of the current, was published.

At the same time, the subjects of analysis are not only the mentioned self-actualization, creativity, responsibility, autonomy, but also the highest values, love, morality, morality. The psychology and psyche of a person and his experiences, according to the supporters of the direction, cannot be evaluated according to the principle that the natural sciences use.

Therefore, five main ideas of humanistic psychology were formulated:

• a person as a whole is much more significant than the sum of his parts; thus Homo sapiens cannot be explained by explaining the parts of his activity and functioning;
• the existence of a person is always associated with interactions with other personalities, that is, a person cannot be explained without taking into account interpersonal experience;
• a person is always aware, explains and analyzes himself, therefore, cannot be interpreted by psychology without taking into account his multi-stage awareness;
• a person always has a choice, therefore it cannot be considered outside his own process: active or deliberately passive, because he creates personal experience;
• the personality is always turned to the future (it is intentional), that is, it has a goal or a dream, value orientations and the meaning of existence.

Also, one of the most popular and relevant developments in the field of humanistic psychology is still the hierarchy of motivation model, invented by Abraham Maslow. He argued that a person, like a triangle, acquires seven levels of needs with development:

• the first (basic) is physiological: to quench thirst and hunger, to be able to sleep and multiply;
• the second is the need for security, as an opportunity for survival not only in the physiological, but also in the psychological sense;
• the third is the need for acceptance (love, friendship, belonging to a clan, community);
• fourth - the need for respect (recognition of merits and skills, recognition of the significance of a person);
• fifth - cognitive needs (to explore, understand, know);
• sixth - aesthetic needs (in harmony, order, beauty);
• the seventh is the need for self-actualization: setting and achieving goals, setting priorities, personal development.

Maslow argued that without the satisfaction of lower needs, higher needs are difficult to develop (or do not develop at all). For example, the lack of goods leads to the fact that a person spends all his energy on finding food. If the need for security is violated, then a person may not think about the need for harmony. There is also a "neurosis of existence."

This is when the basic needs are met without much human tension, and the next level is not relevant, like a spoiled child. Or a person is in an active search for the meaning of life.

Depending on the most significant and urgent needs, one can single out the level of personal development. And this is important for understanding and accepting the personality as it is.

Humanistic psychology, that is, Rogers' humanistic theory of personality, says that any organism strives to take care of its existence in order to preserve and improve it. A person has ideas about himself, which he makes on the basis of the attitude of other people. And this is the real me. There are also ideas about what he would like to be - the "ideal I". But, the more a person wants to get closer to the ideal, the more he strives to hide his sides, which are a counterbalance to this.

This is the manifestation of the need for respect. But, in this way, a discord between real desires and external manifestations accumulates. This leads to neuroses. The more "real I" is in agreement with feelings, thoughts and manifestations, the more harmonious it is, and the more close to the "ideal I".

Maximum personal growth occurs when a person does not have to pretend and lie; when he can freely express his thoughts, reason. And in return receive acceptance, without fear of being rudely condemned and suppressed. This is the basis of the session itself within the framework of the humanistic direction.

Client Centered Therapy

Carl Rogers introduced the concept of client-centered therapy. It is based on the belief that the client himself is able to find a way to solve his problems. And the one that suits him. But, any person can discover the potential only in an atmosphere of invaluable acceptance. As if we are dealing with maternal (comprehensive) acceptance of a person, without distributing evaluation of actions.

Empathy is the ability to perceive and understand the feelings of others, even if you yourself would act differently. And that is at the heart of therapy itself. Also, for the client, all conditions are created for the manifestation of congruence - that is, an open and honest expression of their feelings, feelings and emotions about something.

How is the session

The difference in client-centered therapy is the desire for minimal intervention by the therapist in the process of guiding the session. The client himself decides what topics and problems are relevant for him at the moment. However, this does not mean that the psychologist is completely eliminated. On the contrary, he listens attentively and is completely focused on the experiences and feelings of the client, his conclusions and aspirations. He is the most invaluable and respectful listener and interlocutor.

Getting the opportunity to calmly express their feelings, emotions, tell not only their problems, but dreams and projects, a person is internally liberated, his self-esteem rises, he begins to trust the world around him more and see more perspectives. Carl Roger generally believed that in this case the client mostly helps himself, because he understands his situation much better.

As a result, the person who came for help becomes less vulnerable, more realistic. If we rethink the approach, then we can say that the therapist allows him to feel a kind of “non-judgmental and accepting rear”, which makes the client more confident.

Main proponents of humanistic psychology

From the point of view of psychologists who worked in such a direction as humanistic psychology, the main supporters of this psychology, of course, are the mentioned A. Maslow, K, Rogers, Rollo May, Erich From.

If we consider the issue from the side of the client, then we can say that the main supporters of humanistic psychology are those people who experience a lack of sympathy, human warmth and trusting relationships. In addition, it has proven itself for developing potential, solving problems of personal growth. The conflict-free basis of the method for some people is a more acceptable method of resolving family conflicts.

Also, a humanistic approach, as understanding and not pressing, is often chosen by adolescents and children when psychological counseling is needed.

An interesting feature is the fact that, in the classic version, the client himself chooses the number of visits and their frequency. Therefore, such techniques are always convenient for him.

Criticism of such psychology

One of the most famous critics of humanistic psychology is K. Benson. He shows that the concept of self-actualization in many non-Western cultures can be regarded as inappropriate and unacceptable selfishness. In addition, the acceptance of any statements and ideas of the client may lead, in this case, to the development of immorality. In addition, he believes that the humanistic approach is fixated on the personal self as the highest value. Whereas exactly interaction with other personalities is often a meaning-forming factor.

Many other authors have noted that the humanistic session is not suitable for authoritarian individuals, as well as clients who already have problems with their selfishness and inactivity.

Currently, James Hillman, in his critique of modern humanistic psychology, warns of the danger of instilling a moment of omnipotence in an insecure person. Because these attitudes fit too well with all sorts of modern religious concepts.

As a result, a person does not receive support to independently develop and act. And he receives the installation of actually equating himself with God, and he begins to choose a very convenient position for himself: everyone owes me everything. Thus, egoistic inclinations can significantly affect the future life of the individual, leading to not quite adequate results from the point of view of law and society.

In addition, the results of observations do not lend themselves to strict evaluation criteria; it is difficult to assess how much something really develops or does not develop during work.

Humanistic psychology today

At the moment, various conclusions and concepts of humanistic psychology are actively used, and not only in direct work with clients, but also in other industries and disciplines.

For example, the famous hierarchy of needs has been redefined in terms of highly practical applications of the organization of the workplace: without the satisfaction of lower needs, it is impossible to require workers to fulfill higher ones. That is, without a well-organized opportunity to eat, go to the toilet and without respect and recognition of merit, it will be difficult for an employee to carry out his cognitive processes and learn. Therefore, in many offices and supermarkets, there are special and well-organized eating rooms, warm toilets, and management personnel are trained to organize the right approach to people.

Maureen O'Hara, a popular author of the humanistic trend, argues that in fact all people of the entire planet strive for freedom and self-determination, they simply understand it in their own way. And the mentioned approach recognizes both these rights and the opportunity to have a personal interpretation of concepts. Well, the empathic approach to the client has become an absolute dogma for many practicing psychologists and psychotherapists.

One of the leading directions of modern foreign psychology is humanistic psychology, which designates itself as a "third force" in psychology, opposed to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. The emergence of the name and the formulation of the basic principles are associated with the name of the American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970); it took place in the 60s of our century. At the center of humanistic psychology is the concept of personality formation, the idea of ​​the need for maximum creative self-realization, which means true mental health.

Let us designate the main differences between humanistic psychology and the first two "forces".

Individuality in humanistic psychology is seen as an integrative whole; as opposed to behaviorism, focused on the analysis of individual events.

Humanistic psychology emphasizes the irrelevance (unsuitability) of animal research for understanding man; this thesis is also opposed to behaviorism.

In contrast to classical psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology asserts that a person is inherently good or at most neutral; aggression". violence, etc. arise in connection with the influence of the environment.

The most universal human characteristic in Maslow's concept is creativity, that is, a creative orientation that is innate "by everyone, but lost by the majority in connection with" the influence of the environment, although some manage to maintain a naive, "childish" view of the world.

Finally, Maslow emphasizes the interest of humanistic psychology in the psychologically healthy individual;

Before analyzing illness, one must understand what health is (in Freud's psychoanalysis, the path is reversed).

These principles generally apply to other humanistic concepts, although in general humanistic psychology does not present a unified theory;

It is united by some general provisions and "personal" orientation in the practice of psychotherapy and pedagogy.

We will consider humanistic psychology on the example of the views of A. Maslow and K. Rogers.

The "heart" of Maslow's concept is his idea of ​​human needs. Maslow believed that human needs are "given" and hierarchically organized by levels. If this hierarchy is presented as a pyramid or ladder, then the following levels are distinguished (from bottom to top):

1. Basic physiological needs (for food, water, oxygen, optimal temperature, sexual need, etc.).

2. Needs related to security (confidence, structure, order, predictability of the environment).

3. Needs related to love and acceptance (the need for affective relationships with others, for being included in a group, for loving and being loved).

4. Needs related to respect for others and self-respect.

5. The needs associated with self-actualization, or the needs of personal "consistency".

The general principle proposed by Maslow for the interpretation of personality development is that lower needs must be satisfied to some extent before a person can proceed to the realization of higher ones. Without this, a person may not be aware of the existence of higher-level needs. In general, Maslow believed, the higher a person can climb the ladder of needs, the more health, humanity he will show, the more individual he will be.

At the “top” of the pyramid are the needs associated with self-actualization. Maslow defined self-actualization as the desire to become everything that is possible; it is the need for self-improvement, in the realization of one's potential. This path is difficult; it is associated with the experience of fear of the unknown and responsibility, but it is also the path to a full, internally rich life; By the way, self-actualization does not necessarily imply an artistic form of embodiment: communication, work, love, and also forms of creativity.

Although all people are looking for inner consistency, they reach the level of self-actualization (which is not a state, but a process!) a little less than 1%. The majority, according to Maslow, are simply blind to their potential, do not know about its existence and do not know the joy of moving towards its disclosure. The environment contributes to this: a bureaucratic society tends to level the individual (remember the similar ideas of "humanistic psychoanalysis" by E. Fromm). The same applies to the family environment: children who grow up in a friendly environment, when the need for security is satisfied, are more likely to self-actualize.

In general, if a person does not reach the level of self-actualization, this means a “blocking” of a need of a lower level.

A person who has reached the level of self-actualization (“self-actualizing personality”) turns out to be a special person, not burdened with many small vices such as envy, anger, bad taste, cynicism;

He will not be prone to depression and pessimism, egoism, etc. (By the way, one of the examples of self-actualizing personality A, Maslow considered the already known to you Gesttelt psychologist Max Wertheimer, whom he met after his emigration to the USA). Such a person is distinguished by high self-esteem, he accepts OTHERS, accepts nature, is unconventional (i.e., independent of conventions), simple and democratic, has a sense of humor (moreover, of a philosophical nature), is prone to experiencing “peak feelings” such as inspiration, etc. ;

So, the task of a person, according to Maslow, is to become what is possible - and therefore to be himself - in a society where conditions do not contribute to this. A person turns out to be the highest value and is ultimately responsible only for being successful.

The concept of self-actualization is at the center of the concept of one of the most popular psychologists of the 20th century (mainly among practicing therapists and educators), Carl Rogers (1902-1987). For him, however, the concept of self-actualization turns out to be a designation of the force that makes a person develop at various levels, determining both his mastery of motor skills and the highest creative ups.

Man, like other living organisms, Rogers believes, has an innate tendency to live, grow, develop. All biological needs are subject to this tendency - they must be satisfied in order to develop positively, and the development process proceeds despite the fact that many obstacles stand in its way - there are many examples of how people living in harsh conditions not only survive, but continue to progress.

According to Rogers, a person is not what appears in psychoanalysis. He believes that a person is inherently good and does not need to be controlled by society; moreover, it is control that makes a person do bad things. Behavior that leads a person down the path to misfortune is not in accordance with human nature. Cruelty, antisociality, immaturity, etc., are the result of fear and psychological defense; the task of a psychologist is to help a person discover his positive tendencies, which are present at deep levels in everyone.

Actualizing tendency (in other words, the need for self-actualization in the dynamics of its manifestation) is the reason that a person becomes more complex, independent, socially responsible.

Initially, all experiences, all experience are evaluated (not necessarily consciously) through the tendency to actualization. Satisfaction is brought by those experiences which correspond to this tendency; opposite experiences are avoided. Such an orientation is characteristic of a person as a leading one until the structure of the “I”, i.e., self-consciousness, is formed.

The problem, according to Rogers, is that along with the formation of the “I”, the child develops a sense of positive attitude towards himself on the part of others and a need for a positive self-attitude; however, the only way to develop a positive self-image is to learn behaviors that evoke a positive attitude from others. In other words, the child will now be guided not by what corresponds to the actualizing trend, but by how likely it is to receive approval. This means that in the mind of the child, as life values, not those that correspond to his nature will arise, and that which contradicts the acquired system of values ​​will not be allowed into the self-image; the child will reject, not allow into knowledge about himself those experiences, manifestations, that experience that do not correspond to ideals “coming from outside”. The "I-concept" (i.e., self-image) of the child begins to include false elements that are not based on what the child really is.

This situation of abandoning one's own assessments in favor of someone else creates an alienation between a person's experience and his self-image, their inconsistency with each other, which Rogers calls the term "incongruence"; this means, at the level of manifestations, anxiety, vulnerability, lack of integrity of the personality. This is exacerbated by the unreliability of "external reference points" - they are unstable; from here Rogers deduces a tendency to adjoin relatively conservative groups in this respect - religious, social, small groups of close friends, etc., since incongruence is characteristic of a person of any age and social status. However, the ultimate goal, according to Rogers, is not the stabilization of external assessments, but fidelity to one's own feelings.

Is it possible to develop on the basis of self-actualization, and not on the basis of external evaluation? The only way of non-interference in the child's self-actualization, Rogers believes, is an unconditional positive attitude towards the child, "unconditional acceptance"; the child must know. that he is loved no matter what he does; then s the need for a positive attitude and self-attitude will not be in conflict with the need for self-actualization; only under this condition will the individual be psychologically whole, "fully functioning".

As a practitioner, Rogers proposed a series of procedures to mitigate incongruity; they are reflected primarily in individual and group psychotherapy. Initially, Rogers labeled his psychotherapy as "non-directive", which meant the rejection of the recommendations of the prescriptive plan (and most often the psychologist is expected to do just that) and the belief in the client's ability to solve his own problems, if the appropriate atmosphere is created - an atmosphere of unconditional acceptance. Rogers went on to refer to his therapy as "client-centered therapy"; now the therapist's task was not only to create an atmosphere, but also the openness of the therapist himself, his movement towards understanding the client's problems and the manifestation of this understanding, i.e. both the client's feelings and the therapist's feelings turn out to be important. Finally, Rogers developed "person-centered" therapy, the principles of which (the main focus is on the individual as such, not on social roles or identity) extended beyond the boundaries of psychotherapy in the traditional sense of the word and formed the basis of meeting groups, covering the problems of learning, family development, interethnic relations, etc. In all cases, the main thing for Rogers is an appeal to self-actualization and emphasizing the role of an unconditional positive attitude as what allows a person to become a “fully functioning personality”. The properties of a fully functioning personality in the understanding of Rogers in many respects resemble the properties of a child, which is natural - a person, as it were, returns to an independent assessment of the world, which is characteristic of a child before reorientation to the conditions for obtaining approval.

Close to humanistic psychology (although largely based on psychoanalysis) is the position of Viktor Frankl (born in 1905), the founder of the 3rd Vienna School of Psychotherapy (after the schools of Freud and Adler). His approach is called "logotherapy", i.e. therapy focused on finding the meaning of life. Frankl bases his approach on three basic concepts: free will, the will to meaning, and the meaning of life. Thus, Frankl indicates disagreement with behaviorism and psychoanalysis: behaviorism essentially rejects the idea of ​​human free will, psychoanalysis puts forward ideas about the pursuit of pleasure (Freud) or the will to power (early Adler); As for the meaning of life, Freud believed that a person who asks this question, thereby manifests mental unwellness. According to Frankl, this question is natural for a modern person, and it is precisely the fact that a person does not strive to acquire it, does not see the ways leading to this, that is the main cause of psychological difficulties and negative experiences such as a sense of meaninglessness, worthlessness of life. The main obstacle is the centering of a person on himself, the inability to go “beyond himself” - to another person or to meaning; meaning, according to Frankl, exists objectively in every moment of life, including the most tragic ones; a psychotherapist cannot give a person this meaning (it is different for everyone), but he can help to see it. Frankl refers to “going beyond one's own limits” by the concept of “self-transcendence” and considers self-actualization to be only one of the moments of self-transcendence.

In order to help a person in his problems, Frankl uses two basic principles (they are also methods of therapy): the principle of dereflection and the principle of paradoxical intention. The principle of dereflection means the removal of excessive self-control, reflection on one's own difficulties, what is commonly called "self-digging". (Thus, a number of studies have shown that today's youth suffer more from thoughts about what carries "complexes" than from the complexes themselves). The principle of paradoxical intention suggests that the therapist inspires the client to do exactly what he is trying to avoid; at the same time, various forms of humor are actively used (although this is not necessary); Frankl considers humor to be a form of freedom, similar to how heroic behavior is a form of freedom in an extreme situation.

Direction developed. V. Frankl, like humanistic psychology or Gestalt therapy, can hardly be called a theory in the strict sense of the word. Frankl's statement is characteristic that the main argument confirming the legitimacy of his position is his own experience of being a prisoner in fascist concentration camps. It was there that Frankl became convinced that even in inhuman conditions it is possible not only to remain human, but also to rise, sometimes to holiness, if the meaning of life is preserved.

Humanistic psychology

The direction that calls itself humanistic psychology includes Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Charlotte Buhler, Gordon Allport and others. Humanistic psychologists themselves believe that many other psychologists, even of completely different orientations, can be called humanistic if they adhere to certain postulates to one degree or another.

Adler's ideas about the importance of social context led psychoanalysis away from the study of individual developmental factors (primarily associated with early childhood) towards a sociocultural explanation of personality. The American psychiatrist K. Horney argued that it was culture that was responsible for the emergence of neuroses. Another American psychiatrist H. Sullivan believed that not only neuroses, but also psychoses originate in society. The founder of humanistic psychology, E. Fromm, argued that a person has special needs that animals do not have and that must be satisfied in order for a person to be mentally healthy.

Humanistic psychology arose as a natural development of the views of Adler, Horney and Sullivan on the role of sociocultural factors in mental activity. By the 1960s, among the representatives of this school were such influential psychologists as K. Rogers, E. Maslow and G. Allport. Humanistic psychology insists, first of all, on the importance of self-actualization (ie, satisfaction of the individual's inherent need to identify and develop proper human personality traits) as a condition for the formation of a personality. Another important principle is the need to analyze the personality as a whole (holism). Humanistic psychologists reject reductionism, i.e. description of proper human properties in the language of the natural sciences (the example they use is the reduction of love to “sexual chemistry” or biological instincts).

Here are three signs of humanistic psychology:

1. Humanistic psychology is an anti-experimental psychology, its representatives are united by the denial of experiments - any, behavioral, cognitivist, etc.

2. It is a psychology that grows and feeds on a certain direction of psychotherapy - not related to the ideas of behavior modification.

3. Humanistic psychology focuses on man, on his capabilities, and in this sense opposes itself to religion. Religion sees the main factor regulating behavior in God, and the humanistic psychologist sees in the person himself. A person must do everything herself, but it is important to help her.

Humanistic is the psychologist who considers himself humanistic, that is, at the core - a characteristic of his self-consciousness. There are no clear boundaries, but there are basic ideas - focus on a whole person, on his development, the disclosure of his potential, on assistance and removal of barriers in this development.

Individuality in humanistic psychology is seen as an integrative whole;

The irrelevance (unsuitability) of animal research for human understanding (as opposed to behaviorism) is emphasized;

Humanistic psychology maintains that man is inherently good, or at most neutral; aggression, violence, etc. arise in connection with the influence of the environment.

The development of humanistic psychology was facilitated by the situation that developed in society after the Second World War. She showed that many people in extreme situations are resilient and maintain dignity in the most difficult conditions.

This desire of a person to preserve and develop his spiritual uniqueness could not be explained in terms of the old psychology and only naturally - scientific determination. Ignoring philosophical postulates.

That is why the leaders of humanistic psychology turned to the achievements of the philosophy of the 20th century, primarily to existentialism, which studied the inner world, the existence of man.

Thus, a new determination appeared - a psychological one, which explains the development of a person by his desire for self-actualization, the creative realization of his potentialities.

The relationship of the individual with society is also partially revised, since the social environment can not only enrich a person, but also stereotype him. Proceeding from this, representatives of humanistic psychology tried to study various mechanisms of communication, to describe the complexity of the relationship between the individual and society in its entirety.

neobehaviorism

Back in 1913, W. Hunter, in experiments with delayed reactions, showed that the animal reacts not only directly to the stimulus: behavior involves the processing of a stimulus in the body. This posed a new problem for behaviorists. An attempt to overcome the simplified interpretation of behavior according to the "stimulus-response" scheme by introducing internal processes that unfold in the body under the influence of a stimulus and affect the response, constituted various variants of neobehaviorism. It also develops new models of conditioning, and the results of research are widely disseminated in various areas of social practice.

Neobehaviorism was founded by Edward Chase Tolman (1886-1959). In the book "Target Behavior of Animals and Man" (1932), he showed that experimental observations on animal behavior do not correspond to Watson's understanding of behavior according to the "stimulus-response" scheme.

He proposed a variant of behaviorism called target behaviorism. According to Tolman, all behavior is aimed at achieving some goal. And despite the fact that attributing the expediency of behavior involves an appeal to consciousness, nevertheless, Tolman believed that in this case, too, references to consciousness could be dispensed with, remaining within the framework of objective behaviorism. Behavior, according to Tolman, is a holistic act, which is characterized by its own properties: focus on the goal, comprehension, plasticity, selectivity, expressed in the willingness to choose means leading to the goal in shorter ways.

Tolman distinguished five main independent causes of behavior: environmental stimuli, psychological urges, heredity, prior learning, age.. Behavior is a function of these variables. Tolman introduced a set of unobservable factors, which he labeled as intermediate variables. It is they who connect the stimulating situation and the observed reaction. Thus, the formula of classical behaviorism had to be transformed from S - R (stimulus - reaction), into the formula S-O-R, where "O" includes everything related to the body. By defining independent and dependent variables, Tolman was able to give operationalized descriptions of unobservable, internal states. He called his doctrine operant behaviorism.. And another important concept was introduced by Tolman - latent learning, i.e. learning that is not observable at the time it occurs. Since intermediate variables are a way of operationally describing unobservable internal states (for example, hunger), these states could already be studied from scientific positions.

Tolman extended the conclusions drawn from animal observations to humans, thereby sharing Watson's biologizing positions.

A major contribution to the development of neobehaviorism was made by Clark Hull (1884-1952). According to Hull, the motives of behavior are the needs of the organism, resulting from deviations from optimal biological conditions. At the same time, Hull introduces such a variable as motivation, suppression or satisfaction of which is the only basis for reinforcement. In other words, motivation does not determine behavior, but only energizes it. They identified two types of motivation - primary and secondary. Primary urges are associated with the biological needs of the organism and relate to its survival (needs for food, water, air, urination, thermal regulation, sexual intercourse, etc.), while secondary urges are associated with the learning process and correlate with the environment. Eliminating primary urges, they can themselves act as urgent needs.

Using logical and mathematical analysis, Hull tried to identify the relationship between motivation, incentives and behavior. Hull believed that the main reason for any behavior was need. The need causes the activity of the organism, determines its behavior. The reaction force (reaction potential) depends on the strength of the need. The need determines the nature of behavior, different in response to different needs. The most important condition for the formation of a new connection, according to Hull, is the adjacency of the stimulus, reactions and reinforcement, which reduces the need. The strength of the connection (reaction potential) depends on the number of reinforcements.

A variant of operant behaviorism was developed by B.F. Skinner. Like most behaviorists, Skinner believed that recourse to physiology was useless for studying the mechanisms of behavior. Meanwhile, his own concept of "operant conditioning" was formed under the influence of the teachings of IP Pavlov. Recognizing this, Skinner distinguished between two types of conditioned reflexes. He proposed to classify the conditioned reflexes studied by the Pavlovian school as type S. This designation indicated that in the classical Pavlovian scheme, the reaction occurs only in response to the impact of some stimulus (S), i.e. unconditioned or conditioned stimulus. Behavior in the "Skinner box" was classified as type R and called operant. Here the animal first produces a response (R), say a rat presses a lever, and then the response is reinforced. During the experiments, significant differences were established between the dynamics of the type K reaction and the development of the salivary reflex according to the Pavlovian method. Thus, Skinner made an attempt to take into account (from behavioral positions) the activity (arbitrariness) of adaptive reactions. R-S.

Practical application of behaviorism

The practical application of behavioral schemes has demonstrated exceptionally high efficiency - primarily in the field of correcting "undesirable" behavior. Behavioral psychotherapists have chosen to discard the internal anguish and view psychological discomfort as the result of misbehavior. In fact, if a person does not know how to behave adequately to emerging life situations, does not know how to establish and maintain relationships with loved ones, with colleagues, with the opposite sex, cannot defend his interests, solve problems that arise, then this is one step away from all kinds of depressions, complexes and neuroses, which in fact are only consequences, symptoms. It is necessary to treat not a symptom, but a disease, that is, to solve the problem underlying psychological discomfort - a behavioral problem. In other words, a person must be taught to behave correctly. If you think about it - isn't the ideology of the entire training work based on that? Although, of course, a rare modern coach will agree to recognize himself as a behaviorist, on the contrary, he will still say a bunch of beautiful words about the existential-humanistic ideals of his activity. But he would try to carry out this activity without relying on behavior!

One of the applied aspects of behavioral psychology we all constantly experience ourselves, being subjected to the relentless and, admittedly, very effective influence of advertising. As you know, the founder of behaviorism, Watson, who lost all academic positions due to a scandalous divorce, found himself in the advertising business and succeeded a lot in it. Today, the heroes of commercials who persuade us to buy this or that product are, in fact, soldiers of Watson's army, stimulating our buying reactions according to his precepts. You can scold stupid annoying advertising as much as you like, but its creators would not invest big money in it if it were useless.

Criticism of behaviorism

So, behaviorism is highly vulnerable to criticism due to the fact that it:

- forced psychology to abandon what is most exciting and attractive in it - the inner world, that is, consciousness, sensory states, emotional experiences;

- interprets behavior as a set of responses to certain stimuli, thereby reducing a person to the level of an automaton, robot, puppet;

- relying on the argument that all behavior is built in the course of lifetime history, neglects innate abilities and inclinations;

- does not pay attention to the study of the motives, intentions and goals of a person;

- unable to explain the bright creative achievements in science and art;

- relies on the experience of studying animals, not humans, so the picture of human behavior it presents is limited to those features that humans share with animals;

- unethical, as it uses cruel methods in experiments, including pain exposure;

- insufficient attention is paid to individual psychological characteristics, trying to reduce them to an individual repertoire of behavior;

- anti-human and anti-democratic, because it aims to manipulate behavior, so that its results are good for a concentration camp, and not for a civilized society.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis emerged in the early 1990s. 19th century from the medical practice of treating patients with functional mental disorders.

Dealing with neurosis, mainly hysteria, Z. Freud studied the experience of the famous French neurologists J. Charcot and I. Bernheim. The latter's use of hypnotic suggestion for therapeutic purposes, the fact of post-hypnotic suggestion made a great impression on Freud and contributed to such an understanding of the etiology of neuroses, their treatment, which formed the core of the future concept. It was set forth in the book An Investigation of Hysteria (1895), written jointly with the famous Viennese physician J. Breuer (1842-1925), with whom Freud was collaborating at that time.

Consciousness and the unconscious.

Freud described consciousness, preconsciousness and the unconscious by analogy with an iceberg.

1. Consciousness. 1/7 part is consciousness in the waking state. It includes everything that remembers, hears, perceives while it is in a state of wakefulness.

2. Preconscious - (border part) - stores memories of dreams, reservations, etc. Thoughts and actions arising from the Preconscious give guesses about the Unconscious. If you remember a dream, it does not mean that you are bringing out unconscious thoughts. This means that you are remembering the coded ideas of the Unconscious. The Preconscious mind protects the Consciousness from the influence of the Unconscious. It works on the principle of a one-way valve: it passes information from the Consciousness to the Unconscious, but not back.

3. Unconscious. 6/7 - contains our fears, secret desires, traumatic memories of the past. These thoughts are completely hidden and inaccessible to the waking Consciousness. This is necessary for protection: we forget past negative experiences in order to free ourselves from them. But it is impossible to DIRECTLY look into the unconscious. Even dreams are coded images, according to Freud.

DRIVERS OF BEHAVIOR

These forces Freud considered instincts, mental images of bodily needs, expressed in the form of desires. Using the well-known law of nature - the conservation of energy, he formulated that the source of mental energy is the neurophysiological state of excitation. According to Freud's theory, each person has a limited amount of this energy, and the goal of any form of behavior is to relieve tension caused by the accumulation of this energy in one place. Thus, human motivation is entirely based on the energy of excitation produced by bodily needs. And although the number of instincts is unlimited, Freud divided two groups: Life and Death.

The first group, under the general name of Eros, includes all the forces that serve the purpose of maintaining vital processes and ensuring the reproduction of the species. It is well known that Freud considered the sexual instinct to be one of the leading ones; the energy of this instinct is called libido, or libido energy, a term used to designate the energy of the vital instincts in general. The libido can only find release in sexual behavior.

Since there are many sexual instincts, Freud suggested that each of them is associated with a specific area of ​​the body, i.e. erogenous zone, and identified four areas: mouth, anus and genitals.

The second group - the instincts of Death or Tonatos - underlies all manifestations of aggressiveness, cruelty, murder and suicide. True, there is an opinion that Freud created a theory about these instincts under the influence of the death of his daughter and fear for his two sons, who were at the front at that time. This is probably why it is the most and least considered question in modern psychology.

Any instinct has four characteristics: source, target, object and stimulus.

Source - the state of the organism or the need that causes this state.

The goal of instinct is always to eliminate or reduce excitation.

Object - means any person, object in the environment or in the body of the individual himself, providing the goal of the instinct. The paths leading to the goal are not always the same, but neither are the objects. In addition to flexibility in the choice of object, individuals have the ability to delay discharge for long periods of time.

The stimulus is the amount of energy needed to achieve the goal, to satisfy the instinct.

To understand the dynamics of the energy of instincts and its expression in the choice of objects is the concept of displacement activity. According to this concept, the release of energy occurs due to a change in behavioral activity. Manifestations of displaced activity can be observed if the choice of an object according to

for any reason is not possible. This shift is at the heart of creativity, or, more commonly, domestic conflicts over problems at work. Not being able to enjoy directly and immediately, people have learned to shift instinctive energy.

Theory of personality.

Freud introduced three basic structures into the anatomy of the personality: the id (it), the ego and the superego.. This has been called the structural model of personality, although Freud himself tended to regard them as processes rather than structures.

Let's take a closer look at all three structures.

ID. - corresponds to the unconscious. “The division of the psyche into the conscious and the unconscious is the main premise of psychoanalysis, and only it gives him the opportunity to understand and attach to science the often observed and very important pathological processes in mental life” (S. Freud “I and It”).

Freud gave great importance to this division: "here begins psychoanalytic theory."

The word "ID" comes from the Latin "IT", in Freud's theory, it means primitive, instinctive and innate aspects of personality, such as sleep, food and fills our behavior with energy. The id has its central meaning for the individual throughout life, it has no limits, it is chaotic. Being the initial structure of the psyche, the id expresses the primary principle of all human life - the immediate discharge of psychic energy produced by primary biological impulses, the containment of which leads to tension in personal functioning. This release is called the pleasure principle.. Obeying this principle and not knowing fear or anxiety, the id, in its purest manifestation, can be a danger to the individual and

society. IT obeys its desires, in other words. The id strives for pleasure and also avoids unpleasant sensations. It can be designated

It also plays the role of an intermediary between somatic and mental processes. Freud also described two processes by which the id relieves tension in the personality: reflex actions and primary processes. An example of a reflex action is a cough to irritate the airways. But these actions do not always lead to stress relief. Then the primary processes come into action, which form a mental image, directly related to the satisfaction of the main

needs.

Primary processes are an illogical, irrational form of human ideas. It is characterized by an inability to suppress impulses and to distinguish between the real and the unreal. The manifestation of behavior as a primary process can lead to the death of an individual if external sources of satisfaction of needs do not appear. So babies, according to Freud, cannot postpone the satisfaction of their primary needs. And only after they realize the existence of the external world, the ability to delay the satisfaction of these needs appears. Since the advent of this knowledge

the next structure is the ego.

EGO. (Latin "ego" - "I") - preconsciousness. A component of the mental apparatus responsible for decision making. The ego is a separation from the id, draws part of the energy from it, for the transformation and realization of needs in a socially acceptable context, thus ensuring the safety and self-preservation of the organism.

The ego in its manifestations is guided by the reality principle, the purpose of which is to preserve the integrity of the organism by postponing satisfaction until finding the possibility of its discharge and / or appropriate environmental conditions. Because of this, the ego often opposes the id. The ego was called by Freud a secondary process, the "executive organ" of the personality, the area of ​​intellectual problem-solving processes.

SUPER-EGO. - corresponds to consciousness. Or Super-I.

The superego is the last component of the developing personality, functionally meaning a system of values, norms and ethics reasonably compatible with those accepted in the environment of the individual.

Being the moral and ethical force of the individual, the super-ego is the result of prolonged dependence on parents. “The role that the Superego later assumes is first played by an external force, the parental authority... The Superego, which thus takes over the power, work, and even the methods of the parental authority, is not only its successor, but actually rightful direct heir.

Further, the function of development is taken by the society (school, peers, etc.). One can also consider the super-ego as an individual reflection of the "collective conscience", the "moral watchman" of society, although the values ​​of society can be distorted by the perception of the child.

The super-ego is subdivided into two subsystems: conscience and ego-ideal.

Conscience is acquired through parental discipline. It includes the ability for critical self-assessment, the presence of moral prohibitions and the emergence of feelings of guilt in the child. The rewarding aspect of the superego is the ego-ideal. It is formed from the positive evaluations of parents and leads the individual to set high standards for himself. The superego is considered fully formed when parental control is replaced by self-control. However, the principle of self-control does not serve the principle

reality. The superego directs a person to absolute perfection in thoughts, words and deeds. It tries to convince the ego of the superiority of idealistic ideas over realistic ones.

Due to such differences, the id and the superego conflict with each other, giving rise to neuroses. And the task of the Ego, in this case, is to resolve conflicts.

Freud believed that all three facets of a person's inner world are constantly interacting with each other: the "Id" perceives the environment, the "Ego" analyzes the situation and chooses the optimal plan of action, the "Super-Ego" corrects these decisions in terms of the moral convictions of the individual. But these areas do not always operate smoothly. Internal conflicts between “should”, “can” and “want” are inevitable. How does the internal conflict manifest itself? Let's look at the simplest life example: a person finds a wallet with money and a countryman's passport in a foreign country. The first thing that comes to his mind is the realization of the fact of the presence of a large number of banknotes and a personal document of another person (the “Eid” worked here). Next comes the analysis of the information received, because you can keep the money for yourself, throw away the documents and enjoy the unexpectedly received material resources. But! The “Super-Ego” intervenes in the matter, because in the depths of his personality he is a well-mannered and honest person. He understands that someone has suffered from this loss and needs to find his wallet. Here an internal conflict arises: on the one hand, to receive a rather large amount of money, on the other hand, to help a stranger. The example is the simplest, but it successfully demonstrates the interaction of "It", "I" and "Super-I".

Defense mechanisms of the ego.

The main function of anxiety is to help avoid unacceptable manifestations of instinctive impulses in oneself and to encourage their satisfaction in the proper form and at the right time. Defense mechanisms assist in this function. According to Freud, the ego reacts to the threat of a breakthrough of id impulses.

two ways:

1. Blocking the expression of impulses in conscious behavior

2. Or distorting them to such an extent that the initial intensity has decreased or deviated to the side.

Let's look at some basic defensive strategies.

crowding out. Repression is considered the ego's primary defense because it provides the most direct way to escape from anxiety, as well as being the basis for building more complex mechanisms. Repression or "motivated forgetting" is the process of removing from consciousness thoughts or feelings that cause suffering.. Example. With the same wallet: in order not to solve the problem, a person will lose interest in money: “why do I need them? I'll manage mine."

Projection. Projection is the process by which an individual attributes their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to other people. Projection explains social prejudices and the scapegoat phenomenon, since ethnic and racial stereotypes are a convenient target for its manifestation. Example.

substitution. In this defense mechanism, the manifestation of the instinctive impulse is redirected from a more threatening object to a less threatening one. (boss at work - wife). A less common form of substitution is directing at oneself: hostile impulses directed at others are redirected to oneself, which causes a feeling of depression and condemnation of oneself.

Rationalization. Another way to deal with frustration and anxiety is to distort reality. Rationalization has to do with false reasoning, by which irrational behavior is presented in such a way as to appear perfectly reasonable. The most commonly used type is the rationalization of the "green grapes" type, taking its name from the fable "The Fox and the Grapes"

Jet formation. This mechanism operates in two stages: the unacceptable impulse is suppressed; the opposite is manifested in consciousness. Freud wrote that many men who make fun of homosexuals are actually defending themselves against their own homosexual urges.

Regression. Regression is characterized by a return to childish, childish patterns of behavior. It is a way of alleviating anxiety by returning to an earlier period of life that is safer and more enjoyable.

Sublimation. This defense mechanism enables a person, for the purpose of adaptation, to change his impulses in such a way that they can be expressed through socially acceptable thoughts and actions. Sublimation is seen as the only constructive strategy for curbing unwanted instincts. For example, creativity instead of aggression.

Negation. Denial is activated as a defense mechanism when a person refuses to admit that an unpleasant event has occurred. For example, a child experiencing the death of a beloved cat believes that she is still alive. Denial is most common in young children and older individuals with reduced intelligence.

So, we have considered the mechanisms of protection of the psyche in the face of external and internal threats. From the foregoing, it can be seen that all of them, except for sublimation, distort the picture of our needs in the process of use, as a result, our ego loses energy and flexibility. Freud said that the seeds of serious psychological problems only fall on fertile ground when our defenses lead to a distortion of reality.

Freud's theory of personality provided the basis for the psychoanalytic therapy that is being successfully used today.

Humanistic psychology

In the 60s of the 20th century, a new direction arose in American psychology, called humanistic psychology, or "third force". This direction was not an attempt to revise or adapt any of the already existing schools to new conditions. On the contrary, humanistic psychology intended to go beyond the dilemma of behaviorism-psychoanalysis, to open a new perspective on the nature of the human psyche.

The basic principles of humanistic psychology are as follows:

1) emphasizing the role of conscious experience;

2) belief in the holistic nature of human nature;

3) emphasis on free will, spontaneity and the creative power of the individual;

4) study of all factors and circumstances of human life.

Origins of humanistic psychology

Like any other theoretical direction, humanistic psychology had certain prerequisites in earlier psychological concepts.

Oswald Külpe in his works clearly showed that not all the content of consciousness can be reduced to its elementary forms and explained in terms of "stimulus-response". Other psychologists also insisted on the need to address the realm of consciousness and take into account the holistic nature of the human psyche.

The roots of humanistic psychology can be traced back to psychoanalysis. Adler, Horney, Erickson, and Allport argued against Freud's position that Man is primarily a conscious being and endowed with free will. These "apostates" of orthodox psychoanalysis saw the essence of man in his freedom, spontaneity and ability to be the cause of his own behavior. A person is characterized not only by the events of past years, but also by his goals and hopes for the future. These theorists noted in the personality of a person, first of all, the creative ability of a person to form his own self.

The nature of humanistic psychology

From the point of view of humanistic psychology, behaviorism is a narrow, artificially created and extremely impoverished view of human nature. The emphasis of behaviorism on external behavior, in their opinion, deprives the image of a person of true meaning and depth, putting it on the same level as an animal or a machine. Humanistic psychology rejected the idea of ​​a person as a creature whose behavior is based only on the basis of any reasons and is completely determined by the stimuli of the external environment.. We are not laboratory rats and not robots, a person cannot be completely objectified, calculated and reduced to a set of elementary acts of the "stimulus-response" type.

Behaviorism was not the only opponent of humanistic psychology . She also criticized elements of rigid determinism in Freudian psychoanalysis: an exaggeration of the role of the unconscious and, accordingly, insufficient attention to the conscious sphere, as well as a predominant interest in neurotics and psychotics, and not in people with a normal psyche.

If before psychologists were most interested in the problem of mental disorders, then humanistic psychology is aimed primarily at the task of studying mental health, positive mental qualities. Focusing only on the dark side of the human psyche and leaving aside such feelings as joy, satisfaction, and the like, psychology ignored precisely those aspects of the psyche that in many ways make up the human being. That is why, in response to the apparent limitations of both behaviorism and psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology from the very beginning created itself as a new view of human nature, a third force in psychology. It is precisely designed to study those aspects of the psyche that were not noticed or ignored before. An example of this kind of approach is the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.

Self-actualization

According to Maslow, every person has an innate desire for self-actualization.. Self-actualization (from Latin actualis - real, real) - a person's desire for the fullest possible identification and development of his personal capabilities. Often used as a motivation for any accomplishments. Moreover, such an active desire to reveal one's abilities and inclinations, the development of personality and the potential hidden in a person is, according to Maslow, the highest human need. True, in order for this need to manifest itself, a person must satisfy the entire hierarchy of underlying needs. Before the need of each higher level begins to "work", the needs of the lower levels must already be satisfied. The whole hierarchy of needs looks like this:

1) physiological needs - the need for food, drink, breath, sleep and sex;

2) the need for security - feelings of stability, order, security, lack of fear and anxiety;

3) the need for love and a sense of community, belonging to a particular group;

4) the need for respect from others and for self-respect;

5) the need for self-actualization.

Most of Maslow's work is devoted to the study of people who have achieved self-actualization in life, those who can be considered psychologically healthy. As he found, such people have the following characteristics: (self-actualized)

objective perception of reality;

full acceptance of one's own nature;

passion and devotion to any business;

simplicity and naturalness of behavior;

the need for independence, independence and the opportunity to retire somewhere, to be alone;

intense mystical and religious experience, the presence of higher experiences**;

benevolent and sympathetic attitude towards people;

non-conformism (resistance to external pressures);

democratic personality type;

creative approach to life;

high level of social interest (this idea was borrowed from Adler).

Maslow included Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Adams, William James, Albert Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley, and Baruch Spinoza among these self-actualized people.

Usually these are middle-aged and older people; as a rule, they are not subject to neuroses. According to Maslow, such people make up no more than one percent of the population.

True, Maslow later abandoned his pyramid, as well as the theory of needs.Due to the fact that not everyone corresponded to the theory, for some individuals, higher needs turned out to be more important than satisfaction of the lower ones “in full”.Maslow moves away from a rigidly set hierarchy of needs and divides all motives into two groups: scarce and existential. The first group is aimed at filling the deficit, such as the need for food or sleep. These are unavoidable needs that ensure human survival. The second group of motives serves development, these are existential motives - activity that does not arise to satisfy needs, but is associated with obtaining pleasure, satisfaction, with the search for a higher goal and its achievement.

Carl Rogers. Rogers' concept, like Maslow's theory, is based on the dominance of one main motivating factor. True, unlike Maslow, who based his conclusions on the study of emotionally balanced, healthy people, Rogers based mainly on experience in a psychological counseling office on a university campus.

Person-centered therapy is an approach to psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers. It differs primarily in that the responsibility for the changes that take place lies not with the therapist, but with the client himself.

The very name of the method quite clearly reflects his view of the nature and tasks of humanistic psychology. Rogers thus expresses the view that a person, thanks to his mind, is able to independently change the nature of his behavior, replacing undesirable actions and deeds with more desirable ones. In his opinion, we are not at all doomed to be forever dominated by the unconscious or our own childhood experiences. The personality of a person is determined by the present, it is formed under the influence of our conscious assessments of what is happening.

Self-actualization

The main motive of human activity is the desire for self-actualization.. Although this drive is innate, it can be helped (or hindered) by childhood experiences and learning. Rogers emphasized the importance of the mother-child relationship, as it significantly affects the growth of the child's self-awareness. If the mother adequately satisfies the child's needs for love and affection - Rogers called this positive attention - then the child is much more likely to grow up psychologically healthy. If the mother makes manifestations of love dependent on the good or bad behavior of the child (conditionally positive attention in Rogers' terminology), then such an approach is likely to be internalized in the child's psyche, and the latter will feel worthy of attention and love only in certain situations. In this case, the child will try to avoid situations and actions that cause disapproval of the mother. As a result, the personality of the child will not receive full development. He will not be able to fully manifest all aspects of his Self, since some of them are rejected by the mother.

Thus, the first and indispensable condition for the healthy development of the personality is unconditional positive attention to the child. The mother must show her love for the child and his complete acceptance, regardless of one or another of his behavior, especially in early childhood. Only in this case, the child's personality develops fully, and is not made dependent on certain external conditions. This is the only way that allows a person to eventually achieve self-actualization.

Self-actualization is the highest level of a person's mental health. Rogers' concept is very similar to Maslow's concept of self-actualization. The differences between these two authors relate to a different understanding of the mental health of the individual. For Rogers, mental health, or full disclosure of personality, is characterized by the following traits:

openness to experience of any type;

the intention to live a full life at any moment of life;

the ability to listen more to one's own instincts and intuition than to the mind and opinions of others;

feeling of freedom in thoughts and actions;

high level of creativity.

Rogers emphasizes that it is impossible to achieve a state of self-actualization. This is a process, it lasts in time. He strongly emphasizes the constant growth of a person, which is already reflected in the very title of his most famous book, “Becoming a Personality.”

cognitive psychology

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