Humanistic And Existential Psychology

  1a) Humanistic psychology has a rich history and tradition of arguing for the human experience as the essence of understanding human behavior. This basis for understanding is divergent from the views in cognitive psychology, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Based on your readings, what do you believe is the place of humanistic psychology as a movement within the discipline of psychology? Explain. What observations can you offer about the movement’s credibility among members of the psychological community? What has contributed to how humanistic psychology is perceived within the larger discipline? Explain.

1b) What were the most significant theoretical understandings of the human condition identified by the humanistic movement of psychology in the United States? Who were the primary standard bearers of these theories? Why were these theories significant in the advancement of the humanistic movement?

RESOURCES
1. The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice
Chapters 1 and 2.
Kriz, J., & Langle, A. (2012). A European perspective on the position papers. Psychotherapy, 49(4), 475–479.

2. A Reconceptualization of the Self in Humanistic Psychology: Heidegger, Foucault and the Sociocultural Turn
McDonald, M., & Wearing, S. (2013). A reconceptualization of the self in humanistic psychology: Heidegger, Foucault and the sociocultural turn. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 44(1), 37–59

3. Mindfulness at the Heart of Existential-Phenomenology and Humanistic Psychology: A Century of Contemplation and Elaboration
Felder, A. J., Aten, H. M., Neudeck, J. A., Shiomi-Chen, J., & Robbins, B. D. (2014). Mindfulness at the heart of existential-phenomenology and humanistic psychology: A century of contemplation and elaboration. Humanistic Psychologist, 42(1), 6–23.

2a) What were the main tenets that leaders of the Humanistic Psychology Movement presented to the American Psychological Association in order to justify becoming its own Division? Why might these tenets have been chosen as significant to the justification of a separate division?

2b) The First Old Saybrook Conference (1964) was a significant event in the history of psychology. Attendees such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Gordon Allport represented several major schools of thought in the budding humanistic psychology movement. What did Maslow, Rogers, May, and Allport express as necessary components of the Humanistic Psychology Movement? In what ways did the schools of thought expressed by these conference attendees contribute to humanistic psychology’s place in America? Explain.

RESOURCES
1. The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice
Chapters 5-8.

3a) Humanistic psychology emphasizes the importance of the individual experience in the understanding of human behavior. Which theorists do you believe were most instrumental in establishing this tenet of the movement? Why?

3b) It could be argued that to understand both death and afterlife presence, one must first be mindful of physical presence in the world. Briefly contrast a Christian worldview perspective on both mindfulness of physical presence in the world and afterlife presence with the perspective of another worldview on these topics. Which of these resonates most closely with you? Why?

RESOURCES

2. The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice Read Chapters 35 and 42.

e-Library Resource

1. Spirituality: A Glowing and Useful Term in Search of a Meaning

Bregman, L. (2006). Spirituality: A glowing and useful term in search of a meaning. Omega, 53(1/2), 5–26.

2. The Psychology of Life Stories

McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100–122.

4a) Phenomenology is a qualitative approach to understanding the lived experience of the individual. Consider who you understand to be the primary contributors to phenomenological psychology (as opposed to philosophy). What do you see as the primary differences and similarities among those theorists? Explain. What do you believe are the most significant challenges and benefits of employing a phenomenological approach in psychological research? Explain.

4b) Quantitative research methods in psychology are based on the research methods used in the natural sciences disciplines to produce empirical research. Dr. Amedeo Giorgi, the founder of the descriptive phenomenological psychology method, asserts that this qualitative method can be used to arrive at empirical results related to understanding human experience. How does Dr. Giorgi’s method compare to quantitative research methodologies? Explain. From your vantage point, does his approach to qualitative research yield empirical evidence in understanding the human condition? Why or why not?

RESOURCES

Textbook

1. The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice

Read Chapters 19 and 20.

Electronic Resource

1. Phenomenology

View:
Flipp, C. (2014, February 12). Phenomenology [Video].

2. Qualitative Analysis of Interview Data: A Step-By-Step Guide

View:

Lofgren, K. (2013, May 19). Qualitative analysis of interview data: A step-by-step guide [Video].

e-Library Resource

1. A Phenomenological Research Design Illustrated

Groenewald, T. (2004). A phenomenological research design illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(1), 1-26.

2. The Interview: Data Collection in Descriptive Phenomenological Human Scientific Research

Englander, M. (2012). The interview: Data collection in descriptive phenomenological human scientific research. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 43(1), 13–35.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.