Psych Discussion Response

Original Question:

Humanistic and Existential Perspectives

Forum Assignment for the Week:

Contrast the Humanistic and Existential perspectives as they pertain to the concept of personality. Which philosophical assumptions were most important to Rogers? Using the Existential framework, how do times of change and crisis lead us to reconsider our values?

Reply t the following response with 200 words minimum.  (please make response as if having a conversation, respond directly to some of the statements in below post.)

A humanistic perspective to me is more of human ethics and personal value of the human being. Existential perspective on the other hand is more based on human existence rather than the actual human’s personality. The difference between the two is quite simple, one I believe is more based on fact and previous studies, the other is based on the actual person and how they act and their mannerisms. Both humanistic and existential have in common that they both value free will and humans thinking for themselves.

Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist that believed in working towards becoming the best that someone could be. He believed that people grow into their own maturity and personality. He also believed that we make our own choices so it is up to us as humans to choose the right chose rather then the wrong one. I agree with Carl Rogers on this thinking. Too many times people think that they inherent such traits that automatically make them a bad person but in reality we all have free will to make the choices that affect our lives. Carl Rogers was very big on the term responsibility and believed that in turn with free will that means that we have to take responsibility for our own actions, even if they are the wrong decisions.

Existential frameworks is a frame of mind that one gets unto with under stress or duress. This causes feelings of anxiety, depression, and even helplessness. When people experience this frame of mind they are unsure of what to do so they try to create different ways of coping such as, isolating themselves, and turning to other methods to make them happy. This causes them to lose their true self and cause them to think that they have no purpose in life. This is a rather sad state of mind and they really don’t know what to do or who to turn to. They start questioning what is really important and if they really have anyone that cares about them or anyone to lean on. During this time I feel that this could really cause someone to reconsider their values and what is important to them in life. Honestly when you are sad or in this state that is all you can think about.