The main humanist psychologists and their concepts. Humanistic direction in psychology

Humanistic psychology- a number of directions in modern psychology, which are focused primarily on the study of the semantic structures of a person. In humanistic psychology, the main subjects of analysis are: the highest values, self-actualization of the individual, creativity, love, freedom, responsibility, autonomy, mental health, interpersonal communication.

Humanistic psychology, which appeared as an alternative to the psychological schools of the middle of the century, primarily behaviorism and psychoanalysis, has formed its own concept of personality and its development.

The United States became the center of this direction, and the leading figures were K. Rogers, R. May, A. Maslow, G. Allport. American psychology, Allport noted, has few original theories of its own. But it did a great service by helping to disseminate and clarify the scientific contributions that had been made. The influence of existentialist philosophy on the new direction in psychology does not mean that the latter was only its psychological counterpart. As a specific scientific discipline, psychology solves its own theoretical and practical problems, in the context of which the circumstances of the emergence of a new psychological school should be considered.

Each new direction in science determines its program by opposing the attitudes of already established schools. In this case, humanistic psychology saw the inferiority of other psychological trends in that they avoided confrontation with reality in the form in which a person experiences it, ignored such constitutive features of the personality as its integrity, unity, originality. As a result, the picture of personality appears fragmentary and is constructed either as a "system of reactions" (Skinner) or as a set of "dimensions" (Gilford), agents such as the Self, It and Superego (Freud), role stereotypes. In addition, the personality is deprived of its most important characteristic - free will - and acts only as something determined from the outside: stimuli, forces of the "field", unconscious aspirations, role prescriptions. Her own aspirations come down to attempts to defuse (reduce) internal tension, to achieve balance with the environment; her consciousness and self-awareness are either completely ignored or seen as a disguise for "the rumblings of the unconscious."

Humanistic psychology has come out with a call to understand human existence in all its immediacy at a level below the gulf between subject and object that was created by modern philosophy and science. As a result, humanist psychologists assert, on one side of this abyss there was a subject reduced to "ration", to the ability to operate with abstract concepts, on the other - an object given in these concepts. Man disappeared in the fullness of his existence, and the world as it is given in the experiences of man also disappeared. With the views of the "behavioral" sciences on the personality as an object that does not differ either in nature or in cognizability from other objects in the world of things, animals, mechanisms, psychological "technology" also correlates: various kinds of manipulations related to learning and eliminating anomalies in behavior ( psychotherapy).

The main provisions of the new direction - the humanistic school of personality psychology, which is currently one of the most significant psychological schools, were formulated by Gordon Allport.

G. Allport (1897-1967) considered the concept of personality he created as an alternative to the mechanism of the behavioral approach and the biological, instinctive approach of psychoanalysts. Allport also objected to the transfer of facts related to sick people, neurotics, to the psyche of a healthy person. Although he began his career as a psychotherapist, he very quickly moved away from medical practice, focusing on experimental studies of healthy people. Allport considered it necessary not only to collect and describe the observed facts, as was practiced in behaviorism, but to systematize and explain them. "The collection of" bare facts "makes psychology a headless horseman," he wrote, and he saw his task not only in developing methods for studying personality, but in creating new explanatory principles of personal development.

One of the main postulates of Allport's theory was the position that the personality is open and self-developing. Man is primarily a social being and therefore cannot develop without contacts with the people around him, with society. Hence Allport's rejection of the position of psychoanalysis on antagonistic, hostile relations between the individual and society. At the same time, Allport argued that communication between the individual and society is not a desire to balance with the environment, but mutual communication, interaction. Thus, he 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, proving that it is precisely the need to explode the balance and reach new and new peaks that is characteristic of a person.

Allport was one of the first to talk about the uniqueness of each person. Each person is unique and individual, as it 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 innate, genotypic, while instrumental features shape behavior and are formed in the process of life, that is, they are phenotypic formations. The set of these traits is the core of the personality.

Important for Allport is the provision on the autonomy of these traits, which develops over time. The child does not yet have this autonomy, since his features are still unstable and not fully formed. Only in an adult who is aware of himself, his qualities and his individuality, features become truly autonomous and do not depend either on biological needs or on the pressure of society. This autonomy of a person's traits, being the most important characteristic of his personality, gives him the opportunity, while remaining open to society, to maintain his individuality. Thus, Allport solves the problem of identification-alienation, which is one of the most important for all humanistic psychology.

Allport developed not only his own theoretical concept of personality, but also his methods of systematic research of the human psyche. For this purpose, he creates multi-factor questionnaires. The questionnaire of the University of Minnesota (MMPI), which is currently used (with a number of modifications) for the analysis of capacity, professional suitability, etc., has become most famous. Over time, Allport came to the conclusion that the interview provides more information and is a more reliable method than the questionnaire, because it allows you to change questions during the conversation, observe the state and reaction of the subject. The clarity of the criteria, the availability of objective keys for deciphering, the consistency favorably distinguish all the methods of personality research developed by Allport from the subjective projective methods of the psychoanalytic school.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a PhD in psychology in 1934. His own theory, which the scientist developed by the 1950s, appeared on the basis of a detailed acquaintance with the main psychological concepts that existed at that time (as well as the very idea of ​​the need to form a third way, a third psychological direction, alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviorism).

In 1951, Maslow was invited to Branden University, where he held the post of chairman of the psychology department almost until his death. In the last years of his life, he was also president of the American Psychological Association.

Speaking about the need to form a new approach to understanding the psyche, Maslow emphasized that he does not reject old approaches and old schools, is not an anti-behaviorist or anti-psychoanalyst, but is an anti-doctriner, i.e. opposes the absolutization of their experience.

One of the biggest shortcomings of psychoanalysis, from his point of view, is not so much the desire to belittle the role of consciousness, but the tendency to consider mental development from the point of view of the adaptation of the organism to the environment, the desire for balance with the environment. Like Allport, he believed that such a balance is death for the individual. Balance, rootedness in the environment negatively affect the desire for self-actualization, which makes a person a personality.

No less actively Maslow opposed the reduction of all mental life to behavior, which was characteristic of behaviorism. The most valuable thing in the psyche - its self, its desire for self-development - cannot be described and understood from the standpoint of behavioral psychology, and therefore the psychology of behavior should not be excluded, but supplemented by the psychology of consciousness, a psychology that would explore the "I-concept" of the individual.

Maslow almost did not conduct global, large-scale experiments that are characteristic of American psychology, especially behaviorism. His small, pilot studies did not so much grope for new paths as they confirmed what he came to in his theoretical reasoning. This is how he approached the study of "self-actualization" - one of the central concepts of his concept of humanistic psychology.

Unlike psychoanalysts, who were mainly interested in deviant behavior, Maslow believed that it was necessary to study human nature by "studying its best representatives, and not cataloging the difficulties and mistakes of average or neurotic individuals." Only in this way can we understand the limits of human capabilities, the true nature of man, which is not fully and clearly represented in other, less gifted people. The group he chose for the study consisted of eighteen people, nine of them were his contemporaries, and nine were historical figures (A. Lincoln, A. Einstein, W. James, B. Spinoza, etc.).

These studies led him to the idea that there is a certain hierarchy of human needs, which looks like this:

physiological needs - food, water, sleep, etc.;

the need for security - stability, order;

the need for love and belonging - family, friendship;

need for respect - self-respect, recognition;

the need for self-actualization - the development of abilities.

One of the weaknesses of Maslow's theory was that he argued that these needs are in a rigid hierarchy once and for all, and higher needs (for self-esteem or self-actualization) arise only after more elementary ones are satisfied. Not only critics, but also followers of Maslow showed that very often the need for self-actualization or self-respect was dominant and determined human behavior despite the fact that his physiological needs were not satisfied, and sometimes prevented the satisfaction of these needs. Subsequently, Maslow himself abandoned such a rigid hierarchy, combining all needs into two classes: the needs of need (deficiency) and the needs of development (self-actualization).

At the same time, most representatives of humanistic psychology accepted the term "self-actualization" introduced by Maslow, as well as his description of the "self-actualizing personality".

Self-actualization is associated with the ability to understand oneself, one's inner nature and learn to "attune" in accordance with this nature, to build one's behavior based on it. This is not a one-time act, but a process that has no end, it is a way of "living, working and relating to the world, and not a single achievement." Maslow singled out the most significant moments in this process that change a person's attitude to himself and to the world and stimulate personal growth. It can be a momentary experience - a "peak experience" or a long-term one - a "plateau experience".

Describing a self-actualizing personality, Maslow said that such a person is inherent in the acceptance of himself and the world, including other people. These are, as a rule, people who adequately and effectively perceive the situation, centered on the task, and not on themselves. At the same time, they also tend to strive for solitude, for autonomy and independence from the environment and culture.

So Maslow's theory includes the concepts of identification and alienation, although these mechanisms have not been fully disclosed. However, the general direction of his reasoning and experimental research gives us the opportunity to understand his approach to the mental development of the individual, his understanding of the relationship between the individual and society.

The scientist believed that it was conscious aspirations and motives, and not unconscious instincts, that constituted the essence of the human personality. However, the desire for self-actualization, for the realization of one's abilities, encounters obstacles, misunderstandings of others and one's own weaknesses. Many people retreat before difficulties, which does not pass without a trace for the individual, stops its growth. Neurotics are people with an undeveloped or unconscious need for self-actualization. Society, by its very nature, cannot but impede a person's desire for self-actualization. After all, any society strives to make a person its stereotyped representative, alienates the personality from its essence, makes it conformal.

At the same time, alienation, preserving the "selfhood", the individuality of the individual, puts him in opposition to the environment and also deprives him of the opportunity to self-actualize. Therefore, a person needs to maintain a balance between these two mechanisms, which, like Scylla and Charybdis, guard him and seek to destroy him. Optimal, according to Maslow, are identification in the external plan, in communication with the outside world, and alienation in the internal plan, in terms of the development of self-consciousness. It is this approach that gives a person the opportunity to effectively communicate with others and at the same time remain himself. This position of Maslow made him popular among intellectuals, as it largely reflected the views of this social group on the relationship between the individual and society.

Assessing Maslow's theory, it should be noted that he was perhaps the first psychologist who paid attention not only to deviations, difficulties and negative aspects of the personality. One of the first, he explored the achievements of personal experience, revealed the ways for self-development and self-improvement of any person.

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) graduated from the University of Wisconsin, abandoning a career in the priesthood for which he had trained since youth. He became interested in psychology, and working as a practicing psychologist at the Children's Help Center provided him with interesting material, which he summarized in his first book, Clinical Work with Problem Children (1939). The book was a success, and Rogers was invited to a professorship at Ohio University. Thus began his academic career. In 1945, the University of Chicago gave him the opportunity to open a counseling center where Rogers developed the foundations of his non-directive "client-centered therapy." In 1957, he moved to the University of Wisconsin, where he taught courses in psychiatry and psychology. He writes the book "Freedom to Learn", in which he defends the right of students to be independent in their educational activities. However, the conflict with the administration, who believed that the professor gave too much freedom to his students, led to the fact that Rogers left the public universities and organized the Center for the Study of Personality, a loose association of representatives of the therapeutic professions, in which he worked until the end of his life.

In his theory of personality, Rogers developed a certain system of concepts in which people can create and change their ideas about themselves, about their loved ones. In the same system, therapy is also deployed to help a person change himself and his relationships with others. As with other representatives of humanistic psychology, the idea of ​​the value and uniqueness of the human person is central to Rogers. He believes that the experience that a person has in the process of life, and which he called the "phenomenal field", is individual and unique. This world, created by man, may or may not coincide with reality, since not all objects included in the environment are perceived by the subject. The degree of identity of this field of reality Rogers called congruence. A high degree of congruence means that 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. Violation of congruence leads to an increase in tension, anxiety and, ultimately, to neurotic personality. The withdrawal from one's individuality, the rejection of self-actualization, which Rogers, like Maslow, considered one of the most important needs of the individual, also leads to neuroticism. Developing the foundations of his therapy, the scientist combines in it the idea of ​​congruence with self-actualization.

Speaking about the structure of the Self, Rogers attached special importance to self-esteem, which expresses the essence of a person, his self.

Rogers insisted that self-esteem should not only be adequate, but also flexible, changing depending on the situation. This constant change, selectivity in relation to the environment and a creative approach to it when selecting facts for awareness, which Rogers wrote about, proves the connection of his theory not only with the views of Maslow, but also with Adler's concept of the "creative self", which influenced many personality theories. second half of the XX century. At the same time, Rogers not only spoke about the influence of experience on self-esteem, but also emphasized the need for openness to experience. Unlike most other conceptions of personality, which insist on the value of the future (Adler) or the influence of the past (Jung, Freud), Rogers emphasized the importance of the present. People must learn to live in the present, to 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, or, as Rogers called it, full functioning of the personality.

Rogers, accordingly, had his own special approach to psychocorrection. He proceeded from the fact that the psychotherapist should not impose his opinion on the patient, but lead him to the right decision, which the latter makes on his own. In the process of therapy, the patient learns to trust himself, his intuition, his feelings and impulses more. As he begins to understand himself better, he understands others better. As a result, that "insight" occurs, which helps to rebuild one's self-assessment, "restructure the gestalt", as Rogers says. This increases congruence and makes it possible to accept yourself and others, reduces anxiety and tension. Therapy occurs as a meeting between a therapist and a client or, in group therapy, as a meeting between a therapist and several clients. The “encounter groups”, or meeting groups, created by Rogers, are one of the most widespread technologies of psycho-correction and training at the present time.

Principles of humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology is a direction that arose in the early 60s. XX century in the United States and positioned by its founders as a "third force" in psychology, an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It is based on the philosophy of existentialism, which opposed itself to the impersonal "objective" method of scientific knowledge. On its basis, A. Maslow formulated a number of basic principles of humanistic psychology.

The first of them - the principle of becoming - suggests that the development potential remains inexhaustible throughout human life - each time a certain goal is achieved, new opportunities open up, implicitly embedded in the personality itself. By virtue of this, a person is by and large independent of external conditions and is free to choose these opportunities, while at the same time bearing full responsibility for their implementation.

The second principle - the principle of the uniqueness of each individual and human nature - emphasizes the paramount importance of studying the subjective experience of a particular individual as an alternative to the search for general patterns and theoretical generalizations of analytical approaches in psychology. In this aspect, humanistic psychology merges with the ideas of G. Allport. In addition, in the same logic, a person is a very special kind of living beings, radically different from animals. Therefore, using data obtained from experiments with animals to explain human behavior, as is the case in behaviorism, is completely wrong.

The third principle - the principle of holism - proclaims an approach to a person as a whole. From this point of view, the differentiation of the human body and psyche and the study of the individual components of the latter (mental processes, behavioral acts, etc.) are unjustified and distort reality.

According to the fourth principle - the principle of a positive attitude towards human nature - all people by nature are predisposed to virtue and every person has a creative beginning. It is precisely this, from the point of view of humanistic psychology, that is the main driving force of the personality, and not unconscious and destructive impulses, as Z. Freud believed.

The fifth principle - the psychology of mental health - justifies the need for psychologists to focus on the study of a healthy person, since, according to A. Maslow, the study of exclusively mental pathology, which was limited to representatives of other schools, can only give one-sided, "crippled" psychology. Moreover, without clear and concise ideas about mental health, there can be no truly effective therapy for mental disorders.

While the principles outlined certainly correspond to the idea of ​​humanism and really make it possible to overcome the mechanistic nature of behaviorism and the excessive focus on the unconscious processes of orthodox Freudianism, in their pure form they seem to be too idealistic and abstract. It is no coincidence that, declaring his commitment to these principles, A. Maslow concentrated on motivation research, as a result of which he developed the concept of a hierarchy of needs.

The approach in psychology, which includes the problems of love, inner inclusion and spontaneity, instead of their systematic and fundamental exclusion, is defined as humanistic.

Humanistic psychology puts on the main place a person and his self-improvement. Her main subjects are: higher values, self-actualization, creativity, freedom, love, responsibility, autonomy, mental health, interpersonal relationships.

The object of humanistic psychology is not the prediction and control of human behavior, but the liberation of a person from the fetters of neurotic control that arose as a result of his "deviations" from social norms or from the psychological conditions of the individual.

Humanistic psychology as an independent direction emerged in the USA in the 1960s of the XX century as an alternative to behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Its philosophical basis was existentialism.

In 1963, the first president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, James Bugenthal, formulated five main provisions of this approach:

1. Man, as an integral being, surpasses the sum of his constituents (i.e., man cannot be explained as a result of a scientific study of his particular functions).
2. Human existence unfolds in the context of human relations (i.e., a person cannot be explained by his private functions, in which interpersonal experience is not taken into account).
3. A person is aware of himself and cannot be understood by psychology, which does not take into account his continuous, multi-level self-consciousness.
4. A person has a choice (is not a passive observer of his existence, but creates his own experience).
5. A person is intentional (turned to the future, his life has a purpose, values ​​and meaning).

It is believed that humanistic psychology was formed under the influence of ten directions:

1. Group dynamics in particular T-groups.
2. Doctrine of self-actualization (Maslow, 1968).
3. Personality-centered direction of psychology (client-centered therapy Rogers 1961).
4. Theory Reicha with his insistence on the release of clamps and the release of the internal energy of the body (body).
5. Existentialism, in particular, theoretically interpreted Jung(1967) and practically experimentally - Perls(also Fagan and shepherd, 1972).
6. The results of using expanding drag, in particular LSD (Stanford and golightly, 1967).
7. Zen Buddhism and its Idea of ​​Liberation (letting, 1980).
8. Taoism and its ideas of the unity of opposites "Yin - Yang".
9. Tantra and its ideas of the importance of the body as an energy system.
10. Peak experiments as revelation and enlightenment (Rowan, 1976).

Humanistic psychology is not an ordered area of ​​scientific knowledge. It is not a science, but rather a set of metaphysical concepts that point the way for unraveling human problems through existential experience. Wherein:

1. A deep and intense group of studies culminates in a general realistic attitude towards oneself and others.
2. An ecstatic and apex experiment in which the sense of the unity and patterns of the human and natural worlds is achieved.
3. The existential experience of being is entirely responsible for certain thoughts and actions.

All the leading figures in humanistic psychology have gone through this kind of experience. This led to the idea of ​​a subject of knowledge that could only be explored or appreciated by such steps.

The humanistic approach in psychology is clearly aimed at practical problems. Its central concepts are personal growth(becoming) and human capabilities. She argues that people can change by working on themselves.

Within the framework of this direction, a large number of self-intervention techniques (“self-penetration”) have been created, which can be systematized as follows:

1. Corporal methods:

• therapy Reicha, focused on bioenergy, revival;
• methods Rolfing's, Feldenkreis's;
• Technics Alexander;
• "Sensual Consciousness";
• holistic health, etc.

2. Thinking methods:

• transactional analysis;
• creation of personal constructs (“repertoire grids” Kelly);
• family therapy;
• NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming, etc.

3. Sensual methods:

• encounter, psychodrama;
• awareness of integrity;
• initial integration;
• empathic interaction Rogers and etc.

4. Spiritual methods:

• transpersonal counseling,
• psychoanalysis,
• intensive seminars on education (enlightenment intensive workshops),
• dynamic meditation,
• sand games (send play),
• interpretation of dreams (dream work), etc.

Most of these methods can be adapted to work in many industries. Humanist practitioners are engaged in personal growth through psychotherapy, holistic health, education, social work, organizational theory and counseling, business training, general development training, self-help groups, creative training and social research. (Rowan, 1976).

Human existence is studied by humanistic psychology as a co-exploratory one, when the subject himself also plans his own study, participates in the execution and comprehension of the results. It is believed that this process gives more different kinds of knowledge about a person than the classical research paradigm. This knowledge is one that can be used immediately.

On this basis, several concepts arose:

The real self (real self). This concept is key in humanistic psychology. It is inherent in conceptual constructions Rogers (1961), Maslow (1968), cabin boy(1967) and many others. The real self implies that we can go beyond the surface of our roles and disguise them to contain and emphasize the self. (Shaw, 1974). A number of studies that built on this interacted with Hampdun-Turner (1971). Simpson(1971) argues that here we have the political aspect of the idea of ​​"real-self" (real self). From this point of view, gender roles, for example, can be seen as hiding the "real self" and therefore oppressive. These links have been carefully considered. Carney and McMahon (1977).

subpersonal (sub-personalities). This concept was brought to the fore Assagioli and other researchers (Ferucci, 1982). It indicates that we have a number of subpersonalities that come from different sources:

• collective unconscious;
• cultural unconscious;
• personal unconscious;
• troubling conflicts and issues, roles and social issues (Frames);
• fantasy ideas about what we want to be.

Abundance motivation (validity, richness of motivation). Most psychologists base their views on the homeostatic model. Action is thought initiated by needs or desires. Human existence, however, strives for creative tension and situations that support it, as well as, accordingly, for the reduction of tension. achievement motivation (McClelland, 1953), the need for diversity of experience (Fisk and Moddi, 1961) can be considered in connection with the concept of motivational wealth, allow us to explain various kinds of actions. Motivation cannot be driven by performance. It can only be "removed" for an actor.

Finally, humanistic psychologists argue that attention to one's own states and motives makes it possible to avoid self-deception and facilitates the discovery of the real self. This is a kind of motto of humanistic psychology in its theoretical and applied expression.

Romenets V.A., Manokha I.P. History of psychology of the XX century. - Kyiv, Lybid, 2003.

The humanistic approach in psychology has not lost its relevance for more than fifty years. Probably the main reason for this is the special perception of each individual as a unique system that provides excellent opportunities for self-realization. But first things first.

A general description of humanistic psychology, a brief history of its emergence and the main representatives, as well as the method of psychotherapy that was born thanks to this direction, are the main aspects of our today's conversation.

General information

Personality in humanistic psychology is not only a subject of research, but also a special value, which must be treated with attention and respect. Self-realization, the desire for knowledge, mental health, duty, personal choice and responsibility for it are the most important elements of a full-fledged personality in humanistic psychology.

Humanistic psychology considers unacceptable the attitude to the subject of research, characteristic of the natural sciences, which was shared by some psychological schools. In such sciences, objects are studied that are devoid of reason and their own vision of the world, incapable of forming connections with other people and filling space and time with their own content.

A person, on the other hand, is able to evaluate each new situation, choose a model of behavior that suits her - in general, actively create and transform his own life. If a researcher does not take into account these fundamental differences between a person and other living organisms, then he significantly limits himself and cannot present a complete picture of the functioning of the human psyche.

Such a system of views places certain demands on the methods of science, which must be able to demonstrate the uniqueness of human beings. The most adequate methods of humanistic psychology were defined in different ways by the followers of this direction. Someone, for example, spoke about the admissibility of the methods of cognitive psychology, someone suggested developing their own methods of cognition. In general, this problem remains one of the weak points of this scientific school.

Of course, humanistic psychology has been and is being criticized. First of all, the subjectivity of the direction raises questions, because, putting at the forefront the individual experience and individual judgment of the individual about himself, it is difficult to give an objective assessment of the mental processes of a person, and it is completely impossible to measure them quantitatively. Nevertheless, as a basis for a highly demanded method of psychotherapy, humanistic psychology still retains its importance.

"Third Force"

In the West (and above all in the United States, which was the main center of influence in the world of psychology at that time) after the Second World War, two psychological schools dominated: and (more precisely, later versions of these schools - neobehaviorism and neo-Freudianism). Humanistic psychology developed as a response to these trends, which it considered to be too simplistic in its approach to man. What was this approach?

The first concept argued that the subject of psychology research is human behavior, and not his consciousness, and this behavior is built according to the "stimulus - reaction" formula. "Stimulus", "reaction" and "reinforcement" are the basic concepts of behaviorism. By setting a certain stimulus (that is, the impact from the environment), it is possible to achieve the desired reaction (human actions), which means that it is possible to predict behavior and even control it. The connection between these two components becomes especially strong if there is a third element of the chain - reinforcement.

In most cases, behavior is determined by the expectation of positive reinforcement (gratitude, material incentives, positive reactions from others), but it can also be dictated by the desire to avoid negative ones. Neobehaviorists have complicated this three-component structure and introduced intermediate factors into it that slow down, increase or block reinforcement. Thus, not only the observed manifestations of behavior, but also the mechanisms that regulate it, began to be analyzed.

Neo-Freudianism is a complex of currents that developed on the basis of the ideas of Freud and his psychoanalytic theory. As you know, in the classical driving force of human actions unconscious drives were considered, while the main role was assigned to sexual energy. Neo-Freudians did not deny the influence of the unconscious, however, they considered the main source of conflicts of the individual not its confrontation with consciousness, but the influence of society.

And in the 1950s and 1960s, as a counterbalance to these two currents, a humanistic school of psychology arose that wanted (and was able) to become the third force in the American psychological community. This scientific approach took shape thanks to the famous American psychologist, the creator of the hierarchical model of needs; he became the founder of the direction, he also owns the expression "third force".

The basic principles of humanistic psychology were formulated in 1963 by the first president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, James Bugenthal:

• A person is not a passive observer, but an active transformer of his life, having the freedom of choice. The potential for development is inherent in the personality.
• The experience of the individual is unique and valuable and cannot be analyzed by mere description of behavior and generalizations.
• The study of individual mental processes does not give a complete picture. Man must be studied as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
• A person is naturally endowed with positive qualities, and shows negative ones because he has not revealed his true essence.

Client Centered Therapy

The humanistic direction in psychology was originally focused more on practice than on theoretical research. This proximity to everyday life, to the needs of people, as well as a special attitude towards a person, became the main reasons for the popularity of the direction among a large number of people.

Indeed, specialists, representatives of the humanistic direction, in their work are guided by the principle of unconditional acceptance of each client and empathy for him. If a person is placed in certain conditions, she will be able to independently realize the potential inherent in her by nature and achieve complete recovery. To create these conditions is the task of the humanistic psychologist.

This attitude follows from the basic principles proclaimed by Bugental, but its active implementation in the actual practice of counseling began with another specialist. Carl Rogers is the name with which humanistic psychology and humanistic psychotherapy acquired those fundamental features that form its basis to this day.

Back in 1951, when humanistic psychology was just beginning to assert itself, the book by the American psychologist Carl Rogers, Client-Focused Therapy, was published. In it, Rogers expressed ideas that were seditious for that time: the directive approach in psychotherapy is ineffective, it is not the psychologist who acts as an expert and mentor for a person, but a person for himself.

What is a "directive approach"? This is just such an attitude towards the client, which was considered the only correct one: the psychotherapist leads the conversation, takes responsibility for the outcome of the treatment, in general, takes the position of leader and guide, assigning the client the role of a follower. Rogers, on the other hand, acted as the founder of the reverse, non-directive method of counseling, which he called.

What does such therapy involve? As already noted, humanistic psychology proceeds from the fact that man is a being by nature good, not evil. However, all his positive qualities become visible in a special atmosphere of support and attention, which helps him to reveal his positive essence. The psychotherapist must provide such an atmosphere, but the client helps himself, he finds answers and makes decisions himself.

How is the session

A session of humanistic psychotherapy is built as a dialogue, and an understanding, non-judgmental and non-critical interlocutor becomes the main condition for the rehabilitation of a person who needs psychological help. The client understands that he can freely and openly express his feelings, as a result of which he gains a clearer understanding of himself and the world around him, sees ways out of a personal crisis. Ideally, the client should form and consolidate a positive self-esteem, develop a more objective attitude towards others.

What principles, in accordance with the ideas of Rogers, should form the basis of the work of a psychotherapist?

• Most importantly, non-judgmental acceptance, in which the therapist allows the person to be himself, responds emotionally to what the client says, but does not give him any evaluation.
• , that is, the ability to recognize what the client feels, to put oneself in his place.
• The therapist and the client are equal participants in the dialogue, and a strong psychological contact is established between them.
• - openness and spontaneity, honesty and sincerity, self-expression without fear. Such a manner of behavior should be characteristic of both the consultant and (after some time) the person being consulted.

Psychotherapy, which arose on the basis of the humanistic trend in psychology, still remains one of the most popular and sought-after areas of psychological counseling. It is especially shown to people suffering from loneliness, who feel an acute lack of understanding and sympathy.

A client-centered approach helps in solving both internal and interpersonal problems. Its important feature is that the person himself makes a conclusion about whether he has achieved the desired goal, and, accordingly, he determines the duration of treatment. Author: Evgenia Bessonova

Conclusion

List of used literature

1. Basic provisions of humanistic psychology

Humanistic psychology, which is often called the "third force in psychology" (after psychoanalysis and behaviorism), was formed as an independent direction in the 50s of the XX century. Humanistic psychology is based on the philosophy of European existentialism and the phenomenological approach. Existentialism brought to humanistic psychology an interest in the manifestations of human existence and the formation of a person, phenomenology - a descriptive approach to a person, without preliminary theoretical constructions, an interest in subjective (personal) reality, in subjective experience, the experience of direct experience ("here and now") as the main phenomenon in the study and understanding of man. Here you can also find some influence of Eastern philosophy, which strives to unite the soul and body into a single human spiritual principle.

Humanistic psychology has largely developed as an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. One of the most prominent representatives of this approach, R. May, wrote that "the understanding of a person as a bundle of instincts or a collection of reflex patterns leads to the loss of human essence." The reduction of human motivation to the level of primary, and even animal, instincts, insufficient attention to the conscious sphere and exaggeration of the significance of unconscious processes, ignoring the features of the functioning of a healthy personality, considering anxiety only as a negative phenomenon - it was these psychoanalytic views that caused criticism from representatives of humanistic psychology. Behaviorism, from their point of view, dehumanized a person, focusing only on external behavior and depriving him of depth and spiritual, internal meaning, thereby turning a person into a machine, robot or laboratory rat. Humanistic psychology proclaimed its approach to the problem of man. It considers the personality as a unique, integral system, which is simply impossible to understand through the analysis of individual manifestations and components. It is a holistic approach to man that has become one of the fundamental provisions of humanistic psychology. The main motives, driving forces and determinants of personal development are specifically human properties - the desire to develop and realize one's potential, the desire for self-realization, self-expression, self-actualization, the implementation of certain life goals, the disclosure of the meaning of one's own existence.

Humanistic psychology does not share psychoanalytic views on anxiety as a negative factor, which human behavior is aimed at eliminating. Anxiety can also exist as a constructive form that promotes personal change and development. For a healthy personality, the driving force of behavior and its goal is self-actualization, which is considered a “humanoid need”, biologically inherent in man as a species. The basic principles of humanistic psychology are formulated as follows: recognition of the holistic nature of human nature, the role of conscious experience, free will, spontaneity and creativity of a person, the ability to grow.

The key concepts in humanistic psychology are: self-actualization, experience, organism and congruence. Let's consider in more detail each of them separately.

Self-actualization- a process, the essence of which is the most complete development, disclosure and realization of the abilities and capabilities of a person, the actualization of his personal potential. Self-actualization helps a person to become what he can become in reality, and, therefore, to live meaningfully, fully and completely. The need for self-actualization is the highest human need, the main motivational factor. However, this need manifests itself and determines human behavior only if other, underlying needs are satisfied.

One of the founders of humanistic psychology A. Maslow developed a hierarchical model of needs:

1st level - physiological needs (needs for food, sleep, sex, etc.);

2nd level - the need for security (the need for security, stability, order, security, absence of fear and anxiety);

3rd level - the need for love and belonging (the need for love and a sense of community, belonging to a certain community, family, friendship);

4th level - the need for self-respect (the need for self-respect and recognition by other people);

Level 5 - the need for self-actualization (the need for the development and realization of one's own abilities, capabilities and personal potential, personal improvement).

According to this concept, progress towards the highest goal - self-actualization, psychological growth - is not feasible until the individual satisfies the underlying needs, gets rid of their dominance, which may be due to the early frustration of a particular need and fixing a person at a certain level corresponding to this unsatisfied need. functioning. Maslow also emphasized that the need for security can have a fairly significant negative impact on self-actualization. Self-actualization, psychological growth are associated with the development of new things, with the expansion of the spheres of human functioning, with risk, the possibility of errors and their negative consequences. All this can increase anxiety and fear, leading to an increased need for security and a return to old, safe stereotypes.

K. Rogers also considered the desire for self-actualization as the main motivational factor, which he understood as the process of a person realizing his potential in order to become a fully functioning personality. Full disclosure of personality, "full functioning" (and mental health), in Rogers's view, is characterized by the following: openness to experience, the desire to live life to the fullest at any given moment, the ability to listen more to one's own intuitions and needs than to reason and opinion of others, a sense of freedom, a high level of creativity. The life experience of a person is considered by him from the point of view of the extent to which it contributes to self-actualization. If this experience helps actualization, a person evaluates it as positive, if not, then as negative, which should be avoided. Rogers emphasized the importance of subjective experience (the personal world of a person's experiences) and believed that another person can be understood only by directly addressing and, to his subjective experience.

Experience is understood as the world of personal experiences of a person, as a combination of internal and external experience, as something that a person experiences and “lives”. Experience is a set of experiences (phenomenal field), it includes everything that is potentially available to consciousness and is happening in the body and with the body at any given moment. Consciousness is considered as a symbol of some experience of experiences. The phenomenal night contains both conscious (symbolized) experiences and unconscious (non-symbolized) experiences. The experience of the past is also important, but the actual management is due precisely to the actual perception and interpretation of events (actual experience).

organism- concentration of all experience of experiences (locus of all experience of experiences). This concept includes the entire social experience of a person. In the body finds expression of the integrity of man. Self-concept - a more or less conscious, stable system of an individual's ideas about himself, including physical, emotional, cognitive, social and behavioral characteristics, which is a differentiated part of the phenomenal field, Self-concept is self-perception, a person's concept of what he is , it includes those characteristics that a person perceives as a real part of himself. Along with the I-real, I-concept also contains the I-ideal (ideas about what a person would like to become). A necessary condition for self-actualization is the presence of an adequate self-concept, a complete and holistic view of a person about himself, including a wide variety of his own manifestations, qualities and aspirations. Only such complete knowledge of oneself can become the basis for the process of self-actualization.

Term congruence(incongruence) also determines the possibilities of self-realization. First, it is the correspondence between the perceived Self and actual experience. If experiences are presented in the Self-concept that accurately reflect the “experiences of the organism” (in this case, the organism is understood as the concentration of all the experience of experiences), if a person admits various types of his experience into consciousness, if he is aware of himself as who he is in experience, if he is “open to experience”, then his image of the Self will be adequate and holistic, his behavior will be constructive, and the person himself will be mature, adapted and capable of “full functioning”. The incongruity between the self-concept and the body, the discrepancy or contradiction between experience and self-image causes a feeling of threat and anxiety, as a result of which the experience is distorted by defense mechanisms, which, in turn, leads to a limitation of human capabilities. In this sense, the concept of "openness to experience" is opposed to the concept of "protection". Secondly, the term "congruence" refers to the correspondence between a person's subjective reality and external reality. And finally, thirdly, congruence or incongruity is the degree of correspondence between the I-real and I-ideal. A certain discrepancy between the real and ideal images of the Self plays a positive role, as it creates a perspective for the development of the human personality and self-improvement. However, an excessive increase in distance poses a threat to the ego, leads to a pronounced feeling of dissatisfaction and insecurity, to an exacerbation of defensive reactions and poor adaptation.

2. The concept of neurosis in the humanistic direction

The main human need in the framework of the humanistic approach is the need for self-actualization. At the same time, neurosis is considered as the result of the impossibility of self-actualization, as a result of a person's alienation from himself and from the world. Maslow writes about this: “Pathology is human humiliation, loss or failure to actualize human abilities and capabilities. The ideal of complete health is a man who is conscious, aware of reality at every moment, a man who is alive, immediate and spontaneous. In his concept, Maslow distinguished two types of motivation:

Scarce motivation (deficit motives)

Growth motivation (growth motives).

The purpose of the first is the satisfaction of deficient states (hunger, danger). Growth motives have distant goals associated with the desire for self-actualization. Maslow referred to these needs as metaneeds. Metamotivation is impossible until a person satisfies scarce needs. The deprivation of metaneeds, according to Maslow, can cause mental illness.

Rogers also sees the blocking of the need for self-actualization as a source of possible disturbances. Motivation for self-actualization is realizable if a person has an adequate and holistic image of the Self, which is formed and constantly develops on the basis of awareness of the entire experience of one's own experiences. In other words, the condition for the formation of an adequate self-concept is openness to experience. However, often a person's own experiences, his experience may, to a greater or lesser extent, diverge from the idea of ​​himself. The discrepancy, the discrepancy between the self-concept and experience is a threat to his self-concept. An emotional reaction to a situation perceived as a threat is anxiety. As a counter to this mismatch and the anxiety caused by it, a person uses protection. Rogers, in particular, pointed out two main defense mechanisms:

Perceptual distortion

Negation.

Perceptual distortion is a type of defense that is the process of transforming threatening experiences into a form that corresponds to or is consistent with the self-concept.

Denial is the process of complete exclusion from consciousness of threatening experiences and unpleasant aspects of reality. When experiences are not entirely consistent with the image of the Self, then the level of internal discomfort and anxiety is too high for a person to cope with it. In this case, either increased psychological vulnerability develops, or various mental disorders, in particular, neurotic disorders. In this regard, the question arises: why in some people the I-concentration is quite adequate and the person is able to process new experience and interpret it, while in others this experience poses a threat to the I? As already mentioned, the self-concept is formed in the process of upbringing and socialization, and in many ways, from the point of view of Rogers, it is determined by the need for positive acceptance (attention). In the process of upbringing and socialization, parents and others can demonstrate conditional and unconditional acceptance to the child. If by their behavior they make the child feel that they accept and love him, no matter how he behaves now (“I love you, but I don’t like your behavior now,” - unconditional acceptance), then the child will be confident in love and acceptance and will subsequently be less vulnerable to experiences that are inconsistent with the Self. If parents make love and acceptance dependent on specific behavior (“I don’t love you because you behave badly”, which means: “I will love you only if you behave well”, - conditional acceptance), then the child is not sure of his value and significance to his parents. He is looking for something in himself, in his behavior, that deprives him of parental love and acceptance. Manifestations that do not receive approval and cause negative experiences can be excluded from the self-concept, which hinders its development. The person avoids situations that are potentially fraught with disapproval and negative evaluation. He begins to be guided in his behavior and life by other people's assessments and values, other people's needs, and goes further and further away from himself. As a result, the personality does not receive full development. Thus, the lack of unconditional acceptance forms a distorted self-concept that does not correspond to what is in the experience of a person. An unstable and inadequate image of the Self makes a person psychologically vulnerable to an extremely wide range of their own manifestations, which are also not recognized (distorted or denied), which exacerbates the inadequacy of the Self-concept and creates the basis for the growth of internal discomfort and anxiety that can cause the manifestation of neurotic disorders.

V. Frankl, the founder of the "third Viennese direction of psychotherapy" (after Freud and Adler), believes that each time has its own neurosis and should have its own psychotherapy. The modern neurotic patient suffers not from the suppression of sexual desire and not from a sense of his own inferiority, but from existential frustration, which arises as a result of a person experiencing a sense of the meaninglessness of his own existence. Frankl called one of his books “Suffering in a Meaningless Life”. According to Frankl, the will to meaning is a basic human need, and the impossibility of satisfying this need leads to "noogenic" (spiritual) neurosis.

Thus, the humanistic or "experimental" approach considers mental disorders, in particular, neurotic disorders, the result of the impossibility of self-actualization, a person's alienation from himself and from the world, the impossibility of revealing the meaning of his own existence.

3. Existential-humanistic psychotherapy

The humanistic direction in psychotherapy includes a variety of approaches, schools and methods, which in the most general form are united by the idea of ​​personal integration, personal growth, and restoration of the integrity of the human personality. This can be achieved by experiencing, understanding, accepting and integrating the experience that already exists and received during the psychotherapeutic process. But the ideas of what this path should be, due to which the patient in the course of psychotherapy can get a new, unique experience that promotes personal integration, differ among representatives of this direction. Usually in the "experimental" direction there are three main approaches:

Philosophical approach

Somatic approach

Spiritual Approach

philosophical approach. Its theoretical basis is existential views and humanistic psychology. The main goal of psychotherapy is to help a person in becoming himself as a self-actualizing personality, help in finding ways of self-actualization, in revealing the meaning of one's own life, in achieving an authentic existence. This can be achieved through the development in the process of psychotherapy of an adequate image of the Self, an adequate self-understanding and new values. Personal integration, the growth of authenticity and spontaneity, the acceptance and awareness of oneself in all its diversity, the reduction of the discrepancy between the self-concept and experience are considered as the most significant factors in the psychotherapeutic process.

This approach is most fully expressed in the client-centered psychotherapy developed by Rogers, which has become widespread and has had a significant impact on the development of group methods. For Rogers, the tasks of psychotherapy are to create conditions conducive to new experiences (experiences), on the basis of which the patient changes his self-esteem in a positive, internally acceptable direction. There is a convergence of the real and ideal "images of I", new forms of behavior are acquired, based on their own system of values, and not on the assessment of others. The psychotherapist consistently implements three main variables of the psychotherapeutic process in the course of working with the patient.

The first - empathy - is the ability of the psychotherapist to take the place of the patient, to feel his inner world, understanding his statements as he himself understands it.

The second - unconditional positive attitude towards the patient, or unconditional positive acceptance - involves treating the patient as a person with unconditional value, regardless of what behavior he demonstrates, how it can be assessed, what qualities he has, whether he is sick or healthy. .

The third - the psychotherapist's own congruence, or authenticity - means the truth of the psychotherapist's behavior, conformity to what he really is.

All three parameters included in the literature under the name "Rogers triad" directly follow from the views on the problem of personality and the occurrence of disorders. These are, in fact, "methodological techniques" that contribute to the study of the patient and achieve the necessary changes. The patient perceives the relationship with the psychotherapist that has developed in this way as safe, the feeling of threat is reduced, the protection gradually disappears, as a result of which the patient begins to speak openly about his feelings and experiences. The previously distorted experience by the mechanism of protection is now perceived more accurately, the patient becomes more “open to experience”, which is assimilated and integrated into the “I”, and this contributes to an increase in congruence between experience and the “I-concept”. The patient develops a positive attitude towards himself and others, he becomes more mature, responsible and psychologically adjusted. As a result of these changes, the ability to self-actualize is restored and acquires the possibility of further development, the personality begins to approach its “full functioning”.

In psychotherapeutic theory and practice, within the framework of the philosophical approach, Rogers' client-centered psychotherapy, Frankl's logotherapy, Binswager's Dasein analysis, A.M. Taush, as well as R. May's psychotherapeutic technologies.

somatic approach. With this approach, the patient acquires new experiences that contribute to personal integration through communication with himself, with various aspects of his personality and his current state. Both verbal and non-verbal methods are used, the use of which contributes to the integration of the "I" due to the concentration of attention and awareness of various aspects (parts) of one's own personality, one's own emotions, subjective bodily stimuli and sensory responses. Emphasis is also placed on moving techniques that contribute to the release of repressed feelings and their further awareness and acceptance. An example of this approach is Perls' Gestalt Therapy.

spiritual approach. With this approach, the patient acquires a new experience that contributes to personal integration due to familiarization with a higher principle. The focus is on the affirmation of the "I" as a transcendental or transpersonal bath, the expansion of human experience to the cosmic level, which, according to the representatives of this approach, leads to the unification of man with the Universe (Cosmos). This is achieved through meditation (for example, transcendental meditation) or spiritual synthesis, which can be carried out by various methods of self-discipline, training of the will and practice of de-identification.

Thus, the experiential approach combines ideas about the goals of psychotherapy as personal integration, restoration of the integrity of the human personality, which can be achieved through experiencing, understanding, accepting and integrating new experience gained during the psychotherapeutic process. The patient can get a new, unique experience that promotes personal integration in various ways: this experience can be facilitated by other people (therapist, group), direct appeal to her closed aspects of her own "I" (in particular, the body) and connection with the higher principle.

Conclusion

Thus, the humanistic direction considers the personality of a person as a unique holistic system, striving for self-actualization and constant personal growth. The humanistic approach is based on the recognition of the human in each person and the initial respect for his uniqueness and autonomy. The main goal of psychotherapy in the context of the humanistic direction is personal integration and restoration of the integrity of the human personality, which can be achieved through the experience of awareness, acceptance and integration of new experience gained during the psychotherapeutic process.

List of used literature

1. Bratchenko S.L. “Existential psychology of deep communication. Lessons from James Bugenthal.

2. Handbook of a practical psychologist / Comp. S.T. Posokhova, S.L. Solovyov. - St. Petersburg: Owl, 2008

It developed as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. The emphasis was on the self-actuality of the individual, self-actualization. I turned to a specific person and emphasized his uniqueness. This direction was founded in 1962. This is not a single school. In 1962 The Society for Humanistic Psychology was founded in San Francisco. Founders - Charlotte Buhler, Durt Goldstein, Robert Hartman. Stern - the founder of personological theory, James - existential psychology. The President is James Bugenthal. He outlined the characteristic features of humanistic psychology:

1. The goal of humanitarian psychology is a comprehensive description of the existence of man as a human being

2. Emphasis on the person as a whole

3. Emphasis on the subjective aspect

4. characteristics of the basic concepts - the values ​​of the individual, the concept of personality (main concepts), intentions, purpose, decision making

5. The study of self-actualization and the formation of higher human qualities

6. Emphasizing the positive in a person

7. Emphasis on psychotherapy. Caring for a healthy person.

8. Interest in the transcendental

9. Rejection of determinants

10. Flexibility of methods and techniques, protest against laboratory experiments, because they are not environmentally friendly. (biography analysis method, questionnaire method, document analysis method, conversation, interview, observation)

For the subjectivity of methods

Unrelated to the development of society

Outside of work

Humanistic psychology combines Frankl's logotherapy, Stern's personology and existential direction.

Maslow. Each person must be studied as a single, unique whole, and not as a set of differential parts. What happens in a particular part affects the whole organism. He focused on a mentally healthy person. We cannot understand mental illness until we understand mental health (“crippled” psychology).

A) The concept of a hierarchy of needs. Man is a "desiring being" who rarely reaches the state of complete consummatory satisfaction.

All needs are innate and they are organized into a hierarchical system of priorities.

Physiological needs (for food, drink, oxygen, physical activity, sleep, etc.)

Safety and security needs (for stability, law and order, etc.)

Needs of belonging and love (affection relationship with others)

Self-esteem needs (self-respect - competence, confidence of achievement, independence and freedom and respect by others - prestige, recognition, reputation, status)

Self-actualization needs (the desire of a person to become what he can become)

B) Deficit and existential psychology. Two global categories of motives:

Deficient motives (D-motives) - the goal is the satisfaction of deficient states (hunger, cold, danger, sex, etc.)

Existential motives (growth motives, meta-needs, B-motives) have distant goals associated with the desire to actualize the potential. Metapathologies - appear as a result of unsatisfied metaneeds - mistrust, cynicism, hatred, shifting responsibility, etc.

D-life - the desire to satisfy the existing deficit or requirement of the environment (routine and monotony).

G-life is an effort or a jerk when a person uses all his abilities to the fullest.

C) the concept of self-actualization - Maslow divided self-actualizing people into 3 groups:

Very specific cases

highly probable cases

Potential or Possible Cases

D) An obstacle to self-actualization - the characteristics of self-actualizing people: acceptance of oneself, others and nature, focus on the problem, public interest, etc.) The study of "peak experiences" - moments of awe, admiration and ecstasy in self-actualized people.

E) Methods for the study of self-actualization - the development of the "Questionnaire of Personal Orientation" - a self-report questionnaire designed to assess various characteristics of self-actualization in accordance with Maslow's concept.

Disadvantages of the concept:

Few empirical studies

Insufficient rigor of theoretical formulations

Many exceptions to his hierarchical scheme of human motivation

Lack of clear evidence that various metaneeds arise or become dominant if the underlying needs are satisfied.

Rogers Karl. Phenomenological theory - human behavior can be understood in terms of his subjective perception and knowledge of reality, people are able to determine their fate; people are basically good and have a striving for perfection, i.e. each of us reacts to events in accordance with how we subjectively perceive them. Personality should be studied in the context of "present-future".

I-concept. Self or Self-concept - an organized, coherent conceptual gestalt, composed of perceptions of the forms of "I" or "me" and perceptions of the relationship of "I" or "me" with other people and with various aspects of life, as well as the values ​​associated with this perception . The development of the Self-concept - initially, the newborn perceives all experiences in an indivisible way. The infant is not aware of himself as a separate entity. For a newborn, the self does not exist. But as a result of general differentiation, the child gradually begins to distinguish himself from the rest of the world.

Threat experience and defense process. The threat exists when people become aware of inconsistencies between the self-concept and some aspect of the actual experience. Protection is a behavioral reaction of the body to a threat, the main purpose of which is to preserve the integrity of the self-structure. 2 defense mechanisms: perceptual distortion and denial.

Mental disorders and psychopathology. When experiences are not at all consistent with the I-structure, a person experiences severe anxiety, which can greatly change the daily routine of life - a neurotic. A fully functioning person - openness to experience, an existential way of life, organismic trust, empirical freedom, creativity. He came up with the idea of ​​encounter groups (encounter groups), Q-sorting is a tool for collecting data on therapeutic improvement.

Allport's psychology of individuality.Definition of personality. In his first book, Personality: A Psychological Interpretation, Allport described and classified over 50 different definitions of personality. “Personality is a dynamic organization of those psychophysical systems within an individual that determine his characteristic behavior and thinking”

Personality trait concept. A trait is a predisposition to behave in a similar way in a wide range of situations. Allport's theory states that human behavior is relatively stable over time and in a variety of situations.

Allport proposed eight main criteria for defining a trait.

1. A personality trait is not just a nominal designation.

2. A personality trait is a more general quality than a habit.

3. A personality trait is a driving or at least defining element of behavior

4. The existence of personality traits can be established empirically.

5. A personality trait is only relatively independent of other traits.

6. Personality trait is not synonymous with moral or social evaluation

7. A trait can be considered either in the context of the person in whom it is found, or by its prevalence in society.

8. The fact that actions or even habits are not consistent with a personality trait is not proof of the absence of this trait.

Types of individual dispositions. General dispositions \u003d individual traits - such characteristics of an individual that do not allow comparison with other people. 3 types of dispositions: cardinal (permeates a person so much that almost all his actions can be reduced to its influence), central (they are tendencies in a person’s behavior that others can easily detect) and secondary (less noticeable, less generalized, less stable and thus less suitable for characterization of personality).

Proprium: development of the self. Proprium is a positive, creative, growth-seeking and evolving property of human nature. In short, it is nothing but the self. Allport believed that proprium encompasses all aspects of the personality that contribute to the formation of a sense of inner unity. Allport identified seven different aspects of the "self" involved in the development of the proprium from childhood to adulthood: the sense of one's body; a sense of self-identity; a sense of self-respect; expansion of the self; self-image; rational self-management; propriative desire + self-knowledge.

functional autonomy. The main idea in Allport's theory is that the individual is a dynamic (motivated) developing system. Allport offered his own analysis of motivation, listing four requirements that an adequate theory of motivation must meet. 1. It must recognize the coherence of motives over time. 2. It must recognize the existence of different kinds of motives. 3. It must recognize the dynamic power of cognitive processes. 4. She must recognize the real uniqueness of motives.

Mature personality. Human maturation is a continuous, lifelong process of becoming. The behavior of mature subjects is functionally autonomous and motivated by conscious processes. Allport concluded that a psychologically mature person is characterized by six features. 1. A mature person has wide boundaries of "I". 2. A mature person is capable of warm, cordial social relationships. 3. A mature person demonstrates emotional unconcern and self-acceptance. 4. A mature person demonstrates realistic perceptions, experiences and claims. 5. A mature person demonstrates the ability for self-knowledge and a sense of humor. 6. A mature person has a solid philosophy of life.