Erich Fromm's Humanistic Psychoanalysis Flashcards

Flashcards based on Erich Fromm's Humanistic Psychoanalysis lecture notes.

What events influenced Erich Fromm's thinking?

War, interpersonal hate, a neighbor's suicide, and learning from Talmudic teachers influenced by compassion and redemption.

What is Erich Fromm's basic thesis regarding modern humans?

Modern humans are torn from unity with nature and each other but possess reasoning, foresight, and imagination.

How does Fromm view human's self-awareness?

Human self-awareness leads to feelings of loneliness, isolation, and homelessness, which people try to overcome by reuniting with nature and others.

What factors influence Erich Fromm's theory of personality?

Sociobiological factors, history, economics, and the class structure of society influence personality.

What is 'basic anxiety' in Fromm's psychoanalysis?

The feeling of loneliness and alienation resulting from human's separation from nature.

How did Fromm's childhood influence his views?

His exposure to traditional Orthodox Judaism and modern capitalism created tensions, leading him to see events from multiple perspectives.

What experiences during Fromm's adolescence influenced his intellectual development?

His observations of German nationalism during World War I and his interest in the writings of Freud and Karl Marx shaped his thinking.

What did Fromm study at the University of Heidelberg?

Psychology, philosophy, and sociology.

Who was Frieda Reichmann?

Erich Fromm's first wife and psychoanalyst, known for her work with schizophrenia patients.

What was Fromm's opinion on studying the history of mankind?

According to Fromm, we cannot understand human personality without knowing of human history since prehistoric times.

What is Fromm's 'human dilemma'?

The dilemma arises because humans lack strong animal instincts and have the ability to reason, leading to self-awareness and feelings of isolation.

According to Fromm, why is the human ability to reason both a 'blessing and a curse'?

It allows for self-awareness but also creates feelings of isolation.

What are the components of Fromm's existential needs?

Relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, a sense of identity, and a frame of orientation.

What are the three basic ways someone can relate to the world, according to Fromm?

Submission, power, and love.

How does Erich Fromm define love regarding relatedness?

Unification with someone, or something, outside oneself while maintaining separateness and integrity.

What are the four basic elements of true love according to Fromm?

Care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.

How does Fromm define 'transcendence'?

The drive to rise above a passive and accidental existence into a realm of purpose and freedom.

How can people seek transcendence?

People can seek transcendence through creating or destroying.

What is 'rootedness', according to Fromm?

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

In what two ways can rootedness be sought?

Rootedness can be sought in productive and non-productive strategies.

What is Fromm's concept of sense of identity?

The capacity to be aware of ourselves as a separate entity.

What is Fromm's concept 'frame of orientation'?

The need for humans to have a road map to their environment so that humans are not confused.

What is the central thesis concerning freedom?

Humans are torn from nature but remain a part of it, with self-awareness causing feelings of isolation.

What is Fromm's 'burden of freedom'?

As people gain more economic and political freedom, they feel more isolated.

What are the mechanisms of escape from freedom according to Fromm?

Authoritarianism, destructiveness, and conformity.

What is Fromm's interpretation of authoritarianism?

The tendency to give up independence and fuse oneself with someone or something outside oneself to gain strength.

What is Fromm's interpretation of destructiveness?

Destructiveness is rooted in feelings of loneliness, isolation, and powerlessness.

How does Fromm view conformity as an escape mechanism?

Conformity is the relinquishing of one's individual personality to become whatever others desire.

How did Fromm think one could attain true freedom?

Through love and work.

What is 'positive freedom' according to Fromm?

A successful solution to the human dilemma of being part of nature yet separate from it.

How is personality reflected, according to Fromm?

In a person's character orientation, the way one relates to people and things.

What are the two ways people relate to the world?

Through acquiring and using things (assimilation) and through relating to oneself and others (socialization).

What are examples of nonproductive and productive orientations?

Nonproductive: receptive, exploitative, hoarding, marketing. Productive: working, exploiting, hoarding, and bartering of goods.

What is the 'receptive' orientation?

Feeling sources of goodness lie outside oneself and relating to the world by receiving things.

What is Fromm's 'exploitative' orientation?

Believing sources of goodness lie outside oneself, but aggressively taking what one wants rather than receiving it passively.

What is Fromm's 'hoarding' orientation?

Seeking to save what one has already obtained and withholding everything.

What is the 'marketing' orientation?

Seeing oneself as a commodity, with personal value depending on exchange value.

What makes people 'productive'?

People working towards positive freedom and ongoing realizations of their potential.

What is 'necrophilia' in Fromm's terms?

An attraction to death, destruction, decay, and the purely mechanical.

What does Fromm call 'malignant narcissism'?

Narcissism that impedes the perception of reality and results in devaluation of everything that someone else prizes.

What is 'incestuous symbiosis'?

Extreme dependence on a mother or a maternal substitute.

What is 'syndrome of decay'?

When an individual possesses all three destructive personality disorders of necrophilia, malignant narcissism, and incestuous symbiosis.

What is 'psichoanalisis humanistik'?

The goal of therapy for the patient to know themselves.

What are the key aspects of Fromm's humanistic psychoanalysis approach to psychotherapy?

Focus on interpersonal aspects, accurate communication, and the therapist engaging as one human with another.