Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Personality - Research Paper Example

?Assignment What is Positive Psychology Understanding and facilitating happiness and ive well being is the central objective of positive psychology. Happiness and well being, in this context refer to both positive feelings such as joy or serenity, and to positive states such as those involving flow or absorption. Postive emotions facilitate both tolerant thinking and productivity. Positive psychology is a science of positive aspects of human life, such as happiness, well being and flourishing. It can be defined as the scientific study of optimal human functioning that aims to discover and promote the factors that allow the individuals and communities to thrive. According to (Snyder,2011,pg. 48) “Positive Psychology offers a look at the other side – that which is good and strong in human kind and in our environs, along with ways to nurture and sustain these assets and resources”. This particular approach focuses on the potentials of the human beings. Its aspiration is to bring solid empirical research in to areas such as well being, flow, personal strengths, wisdom, creativity, psychological health and characteristics of positive groups and institutions. The science of positive psychology operates on three different levels – the subjective level, the individual level and the group level. On subjective level, it focuses on experiences such as joy, well- being satisfaction, happiness and contentment. On Individual level, the aim is to identify the constituents of the ‘good life’ and the personal qualities needed to be a good person. On group level, the emphasis is on civic virtues, social responsiblities, nurturance, altruism, civility, tolerance and work ethics. Difference of Positive psychology from other approaches Positive psychology is a process which focuses on hope and it different from other approaches like cognitive approach and socio – cognitive approach, behaviorism and humanism. Cognitive approach is one which emphasis on the working process of the mind of others whereas positive psychology completely revolves around self.Postive psychology does not concentrate on human process of information but on motivating people to upgrade positive thoughts and feelings to flourish their life. It concentrates on virtues and talents of human beings and not on behavior and working of the mind of other people. In approach like humanism ,the uniqueness of individuals are given importance but in positive psychology examination is done on how to make ordinary people happy and fulfilled in life.Postiive psychology does not study human nature and behavioral conditions but their signature strengths are enhanced to build their self – confidence. In humanistic psychology, the environment a person living is taken into o consideration whereas in positive psychology it only relies on the inner feeling of a human being. Self actualization is one of the motives of humanistic psychology and positive psychology is about empowering the life of an individual by growing his self esteem. When compared to socio – cognitive approach, positive psychology does not rely on learning through observation but to cultivate the best qualities in oneself to lead a better life. As per (Seligman,2000)“The aim of positive psychology is to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities”. Understanding the positive traits in oneself is the main objective of positive psychology Assignment 2 Humanistic /existential approach and freewill The humanistic approaches to psychology focus on people as being god – directed and driven. According to humanistic psychology, humans are driven to achieve all the t they can achieve to work toward the goal of self actualization in all that they do. The essentials issue of humanistic approach always had been free will and motivation. Humanistic theories believe that there is free will rather our environment control us. Humanistic psychologist believes that we are totally in control and some argues that what really matters is subjective reality. People create their own view o f the world and this view shapes the interaction with others. In his book, (Brain,2000,pg.20)writes that “For the humanist, free will is important and, although it can sometimes be destructive, we must use it if we are to achieve mental health and positive mental growth”. The existential – humanist s saw humans as irreducibly unique and individual and therefore, not fully understandable in terms of general laws. They saw humans as creative, possessing free will, striving for goals and the fulfillment of potentials and strongly craving meaning and significance. Existential approach focuses on the individual’s subjective experiences, free will and ability to responsible for his own existence. It believes in free will and the ability of man to choose the way he wants to live the life. It believes that the meaning of the life can be understood by means of free will and personal responsibility. For example a student passing out of high school has complete choice to choose what he wants to learn further. He has the free will to choose the subject he wants to study and there are no hurdles in his path in the matter of subject. Conflict of humanistic /existentialism idea of free will with behaviorist concept Humanistic approach emphasizes on unique qualities of human; especially there free will and their potential for personal growth. Behaviorist approach focuses on animal behaviorism and believes that animalistic drives dominate our behavior. Humanistic psychologist does not believe that humans can learn anything from animals.Behavorist believe that humans have no freedom to choose their own course of action an d fail to accept the unique qualities of human nature. Behaviorism believes in determinism rather than free will. It argues that humans and animals are indistinguishable.Behavorist believes that human actions are influenced by conditioning from outside environment and there is no internal influence from a person. It does not believe that moods, feelings an d thoughts have influence on a person’s life.Behavourist believe that human and animals have capability to adapt when new information is introduced to them.Behavorist believe that free will is an illusionary concept. They believe in stimuli and responses and argue that mental events cause behavior. In the website(The Learning,2009)it is mentioned that “Behaviorists believe that all behavior is trained, conditioned, reinforced, and essentially reflexive. Hence, free will is basically impossible if looked at through the lenses of an extreme behaviorist “It claims that the environment in which people live determine their behavior. For example when a person is driving a car he stops at the red traffic light thinking that he will get a ticket if he proceeds further. Here a mental event of accident formed in the mind force the person to stop the car. Here it is the stimuli and response which create a behavior in a person and not his free will. Assignment 3 Humanistic approach and its relevance to the life of Barrack Osama Humanistic approach is an optimistic approach which believes in the personal growth of a person and human capacity to overcome despair and hardship. It believes in spontaneous, creative and active nature of human begins and his ability to create productive outcomes in the world. The key element here is the self actualization and its relevance to life of American president Barrack Obama.If we consider the life and personality traits of Barrack Osama we can observe that he is a enthusiastic person who has brought about hope to American citizens. He has analyzed self and understood that his main aim is to protect the American citizens from outside threat. He realized that at present the most important threat to the country is from Muslim extremist and did the best to eradicate them. He is the one who wiped out the most wanted terrorist from the face of earth giving a new life to American citizen. His tendency to grow and optimistic nature brought about new turning point in American political arena. As per (Nita,2009) “Obama has a broad and liberal outlook on life and is generous and compassionate, a man who seeks freedom not just for himself but also for others”. The best part of Osama‘s personality is that he do not promote war and violence. He believes in self fulfillment and fought for his country to satisfy himself in order to be patriotic. He had this higher purpose of destroying terrorist network operating abroad and committed toward achieving this goal. Perception of self and self concept s of Osama is clear to him and he knows what he needs to do as a citizen of America and a president of a country. He is employing his full capacity to achieve betterment of the American citizen and experience satisfaction and –pleasure in doing so. He has also maintains a balance on life and work both and carry on things perfectly as a president and a family man.Obama has self awareness, creativity, decision making power and responsibility. He had actively taken part in the agenda of eradicating radical elements and in the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. He made the least expected thing possible and all the credit can be given to his self assuring nature and confidence. According to (Bernstein,2011,pg 445)“Those who adopt the humanistic approach view human behavior as motivated mainly by an innate drive towards growth that prompts us all to fulfill our own unique potential and thus to achieve an ideal condition known as self actualization”.Obama viewed world in a different manner and unlike other American president he wanted to extend a hand of universal brother hood and peace to other countries. He also motivates the American citizens to grow and increase their potential to achieve economical and social development.Obama is inherently of good nature, compassionate, generous and kind to people References Bernstein, D. A. (2011). Essentials of Psychology (2ndnd ed., p. 445). Belmont: Cengage Learning Brain, C. (2002). Advanced psychology (p. 20). Cheltenham: Nelson Thomes Ltd. Nita.Barack Obama’s personality characteristics through hand analysis (2009, April 14). In nita writer. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/barack-obamas-personality-characteristics-through-hand-analysis/ Snyder, C. R. (2011). Positive psychology ; the scientific and practical exploration of human strengths (2ndnd ed., p. 48). California, CA: Sage Publications. Seligman, M. E. (2000, January). Positive Psychology. In bdp- gus. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from http:/www.bdp-gus.de/gus/Positive-Psychologie-Aufruf-2000.pdf The Learning Perspective ." International Counselor. N.p., Mar. 2009. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. . Read More