Humanistic Psychology: Fromm, Maslow, and Rogers

These flashcards cover the key concepts, biographies, and theories of Erich Fromm, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers as presented in the lecture notes on Humanistic psychology.

Humanistic Psychoanalysis

Erich Fromm's view that modern-day people have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature and one another, yet possess the power of reasoning, foresight, and imagination.

Basic Anxiety

A condition produced by humanity's separation from the natural world, leading to feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Naphtali Fromm and Rosa Krause Fromm

The middle-class Orthodox Jewish parents of Erich Fromm.

Freida Reichmann

Erich Fromm's first wife and his analyst.

Human Dilemma

The state where humans have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature and lack powerful instincts to adapt, instead relying on the facility to reason.

Existential Dichotomies

Unsolvable contradictions of life that reason forces humans to solve, such as the dichotomy between life and death.

Relatedness

The existential drive for union with another person or persons through submission, domination, or love.

Transcendence

The urge to rise above a passive and accidental existence and into the realm of purposefulness and freedom.

Malignant Aggression

The uniquely human tendency to kill others for reasons other than survival.

Rootedness

The existential need to establish roots or to feel at home again in the world.

Sense of Identity

The capacity to be aware of ourselves as a separate entity, without which people could not retain their sanity.

Frame of Orientation

A road map or framework that humans need to make their way through the world and make sense of events.

Authoritarianism

A mechanism of escape involving a symbiotic relationship where an individual finds security by becoming part of a larger, more powerful whole.

Sadism

A destructive tendency to make others dependent, exploit them, or see them suffer to gain power over the weak.

Destructiveness

A mechanism of escape where an individual tries to eliminate the world that causes them anxiety rather than merging with it.

Conformity

A mechanism of escape where an individual stops being themselves and adopts the personality of their culture, becoming a social robot.

Positive Freedom

The ability to be free and independent and connect with the world through spontaneous activity without feeling lonely or anxious.

Receptive Orientation

A nonproductive orientation where people believe the source of all good lies outside themselves and relate to the world by receiving rather than creating.

Exploitative Orientation

A nonproductive orientation where people believe good comes from the outside but take what they want through force, manipulation, or deception.

Hoarding Orientation

A nonproductive orientation where people seek security by saving and preserving what they have, resisting change and fearing loss of control.

Marketing Orientation

A nonproductive orientation where people see themselves as commodities and base their identity on exchange value and social demand.

Biophilia

A productive orientation characterized by a passionate love of life and the desire to help growth in oneself and others.

Necrophilia

A personality disorder characterized by a psychological orientation toward destruction, decay, and a preference for order over growth.

Malignant Narcissism

An extreme form of narcissism that distorts reality, where everything about the self is highly valued and everything about others is considered worthless.

Incestuous Symbiosis

An extreme psychological dependence on a mother or mother figure, resulting in a lack of independence and a fear of being alone.

Syndrome of Decay

Fromm's term for the combination of necrophilia, malignant narcissism, and incestuous symbiosis, which he used to describe Adolf Hitler.

Holistic-Dynamic Theory

Abraham Maslow's theory that a person is always motivated by different needs that must be met step by step.

Third Force

A movement in psychology, including humanism, that disagrees with the limited views of psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Prepotency

The principle that lower-level needs, like physiological and safety needs, must be satisfied before higher-level needs can become motivators.

Self-Actualization

The highest level of Maslow's hierarchy, involving self-fulfillment, the realization of one's full potential, and creativity.

Aesthetic Needs

The need for beauty, order, structure, and the appreciation of art and nature.

Cognitive Needs

The need to know, understand, explore, and satisfy curiosity.

Neurotic Needs

Pathological desires, such as a craving for power or hoarding, that block growth and lead to unhappiness.

Expressive Behavior

Behavior that has no purpose other than just to express who a person is, such as a person's walking style or smiling.

Coping Behavior

Goal-directed and reactive behavior performed specifically to satisfy a need.

Instinctoid Needs

Needs that are innate and instinct-like but weak, meaning they can be easily overridden by learning or culture.

B-values

Being values, such as truth, goodness, beauty, and justice, which motivate self-actualizing people.

Metapathology

The sickness of the soul that occurs when a person's B-values are not met.

Peak Experience

A mystical or transcendent moment of heightened awareness and emotion characterized by a feeling of unity and wholeness.

Gemeinschaftsgefühl

A sense of social interest and unity with all of humanity.

B-love

Being-love; a type of unconditional love that is non-deficiency-based and centered on the growth of the other person.

Desacralization

The process of stripping away the sacred or meaningful qualities of things, often as a defense mechanism.

Client-Centered Theory

The humanistic theory developed by Carl Rogers based on his clinical experiences, prioritizing the helping of people over theoretical explanation.

Tender-minded studies

Research focused on feelings and subjective experiences, as described by Carl Rogers.

Hard-headed studies

Scientific and objective research used to test personality and therapy approaches.