Experimental and Existential Models in Psychology - Essay Example

?"Compare And Contrast The Models Of The Person Implied By The Experimental And Existential Approaches. Explaining Your Reasons, Say Which of These You Consider To Be the More Accurate" Table of Contents Introduction 3 Existentialism 3 Experimental Approach 5 Models of the Person Implied By the Experimental and Existential Approaches 6 Comparison between Experimental and Existential Approach 7 Criticisms of Experimental and Existential Approach 9 Accuracy of Experimental and Existential Approach 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction From the perspective of human psychology, the concepts of experimental and existential are considered as ‘oxymoronic’. In the human model, experimental thinking has prospered for in excess of one decade and existential thinking has made its paths into the models of clinically based philosophers and psychoanalysts in the 20th century. These two approaches have traditionally been believed as contradictory trimmings of psychology. Experimental psychologists undertake severe research approaches to reasonably simple occurrences, typically with the aim of learning most elementary characteristics of human behaviour. On the other hand, existential psychologists wonder about the human conflict with very intellectual interrogations regarding the characteristics of survival and significance of life. These thoughts are usually considered far too complex and inflexible to be effectively addressed by scientific approach. The discussion will cover the two approaches from broad perspective. The objective is to compare and contrast the models of the person implied by the experimental and existential approaches and understand the most accurate one (Greenberg & et. al., 2004). Existentialism Existentialism is a subject of philosophy which describes the human state of affairs in its totality. It is usually believed to be the logical and social drive, which grasps the fact that beginning point of philosophical assumption must be distinct. Existential philosophy is believed to be embedded in ‘Freudian Psychodynamics’ because it discovers the motivational outcomes of human conflicts. In other words, existential psychology tries to clarify how normal human beings come to know about the fundamental truths of life with which people must struggle. Existentialism started during 19th century and it became widespread during the Second World War (Zelta & et. al., 2010). Existentialism is affected by a range of subjects such as religion, psychology and literature among other disciplines. Existentialists usually regard conventional structure which is quite intellectual in nature and isolated from real human experience. Thus, the opinions of existentialist theorists are extremely dissimilar from other theorists. The central thought of existentialism is that human presence heralds in ‘essence’. Therefore, human beings by their individual perception develop their own standards and express the significance of life. Several existentialists believe that human awareness can constitute a counterfeit existence (MacMillan, 2009). Existential approach is concerned with recognising people’s place in the world, with the explanation of significance of existence. It is also committed to discovering existence with sympathetic approach, rather than assertive one. The aim of existential approach is to search the truth from open mind viewpoint. This approach considers that human characteristics are liberal and flexible. There are no crucial solid identity and no particular description of one’s behaviour and aptitudes. Existential philosophers ignore restrictive models of the person which classify or tag individuals. Instead they try to find the universals which can be perceived transculturally. There is no existential behaviour model which divides humankind; instead there is an explanation of different levels of knowledge and existence which people are unavoidably confronted with in life (New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 2012). Existentialism thinking believes a person should develop his/her own essence by propelling in the real world and by suffering in it. Yalom had depicted that there are four truths which must be endured by a person which are death, freedom, existential isolation and meaninglessness. Existential analysis starts with the thought that humans are essentially alone in the world and they desire to get meaning of their life. Every person at times understands that they cannot rely on others for support, and through this understanding, people admit the fact that they are essentially on their own in life (Webb, 2012). Experimental Approach Unlike existential approach, experimental psychology denotes learning the truth about human perception in general. The scientific accomplishment during the 17th and 18th century allowed philosophical questions to be examined in new and more detailed manners. As human beings learnt many aspects about physical world, it was time to govern scientific approach towards the learning of mechanisms by which people come to understand about the world. Every aspect of the world, i.e. from human awareness to mechanical reaction was studied deeply. This kind of study ultimately gives birth to the experimental thinking (Hergenhahn, 2008). It was the astrophysicists who first recognised that experimental thinking would be beneficial for all study disciplines in future. Traditionally, experimental psychologists were concerned with learning about the reality regarding human perception. Thus, distinct variances had been found among experimental topics, which were commonly recognised as disordered procedure. In later stages, the study of variances has become of utmost importance (Hergenhahn, 2008). Experimental psychology appeared as a contemporary study discipline of 19th century. During 20th century, behaviourism became the foremost model in psychology which resulted in certain abandonment of rational phenomena in experimental psychology. In the later part of the 20th century, experimental psychology had enlarged in meaning because of extension of psychology as a discipline. Experimental psychologists apply a variety of approaches, partially due to development in values of science which have had significant influence on limited status of experimentation. Presently, experimental method is extensively applied in fields such as progressive and collective psychology which were not formerly a part of experimental psychology. Experimental psychologists undertake research related to human behaviour which is different than existential approaches. In this method, often, the human respondents are taught to perform certain activities in experimental structure. In experimental method, psychologists frequently use investigations during and after experimental interpolation and reflection (Benjamin & et. al., 1998). Models of the Person Implied By the Experimental and Existential Approaches The struggles of the human beings are extremely personal in nature. These struggles play out in the background of social association and racial situations. Existential psychology attempts to recognise how individuals deal with the facts of life. It focuses on the independent facet of human experience. Experimental and existential psychology builds on two revered traditions. Experimental psychology is committed to investigational examination of human functioning. The rationality of experimental method has become extensive in typical academic psychology. The major strength of experimental psychology is that it focuses on procedural consistency and accuracy. Yet, there is nothing intrinsic regarding experimental approach that can recommend about the psychological issues worth for studying and need to be resolved. This is considered as a significant weakness of experimental approach. Practical consistency of experimental approach can conclude in itself and when this happens, researchers might undertake their research exclusively for the intention of meeting the demands of the other researchers. Experimental psychology requires a meta-theoretical source which can help to express which type of queries is worthy of being a part of rational research. Existential philosophy on the other hand, signifies a comprehensive meta-theoretical viewpoint which encompasses problems of essential significance to the human race. Existential thinking can therefore assist in determining new and expressive methods in which experimental practices can be used in academic subjects. Experimental psychology is plagued by disintegration and lack of notional incorporation. Without notional integration, experimental findings will become mere evidences which provide no deeper knowledge on the psychological queries. In this circumstance, existential psychology can be useful for developing long-run benefits of experimental psychology (Greenberg & et. al., 2004). Comparison between Experimental and Existential Approach Existential approach is a part of psychology which describes fundamental principles of human existence. It has significant origins in philosophy. Traditionally, existential psychologists had ignored the application of experimental methods which resulted in departure of existential psychology from mainstream psychology. During the 20th century, the mainstream psychology had become gradually experimental and oriented towards natural sciences (Koole, 2008). It can be observed that existential psychology considers the existential struggles of people. It is a fusion of philosophy and psychology. On the other hand, experimental psychology is a scientific method of recognising human behaviour. Unlike existential approach, in experimental approach the researchers follow a scientific method to gain understanding about a certain problem. The experimental approach is based on scientific evidence, where existential approach is based on certain beliefs. The experimental photospheres believe that human behaviour follows certain natural sequence thus it can be forecasted. Conversely, existential researchers view human behaviour as uncertain and it is based on several principles (Myers & Hansen, 2011). Existential researchers vary from experimental researchers and are often categorised as humanistic in their comparatively impartial opinion of human characteristic. They focus on humanistic subjects of death, free will and significance, signifying that meaning of life can be formed by mythologies or descriptive outlines. Existential researcher focuses on individual facets of human experience while experimental researcher focuses on general facets. The central feature of experimental aspect is decent thinking. This approach is systematic, objective and rational in nature. The experimental researcher evades allowing individual principles or prospects effect actual observations or assumptions. Experimental researchers are exposed towards new opinions and follow the directive of logic (Myers & Hansen, 2011). On the other hand, existential approach does not rely on rationality; instead it relies on different levels of experience of people. Existential researchers believe that there are four kinds of extents related to human existence which are physical, psychological, social and spiritual. Physical dimension or extent is related with the environment. It comprises attitude of human with respect to the environments i.e. climate as well as weather conditions. The struggle of human existence in physical extent is known as controlling over the components of nature. The social extent deals with the society and public. It comprises responses of people to the culture they live in or social class they belong to. The psychological extent comprises opinions of people regarding their personal nature, historical experiences and future opportunities which can impact on their behaviour. Finally, the spiritual extent signifies thoughts and logical viewpoints of people. For certain individuals this is acquired by adhering to religion or other perceptions of the world (Center for Existential Psychotherapy, n.d.). Criticisms of Experimental and Existential Approach The existential approach is being criticised on the ground that this method can hinder usual human behaviour. The outcomes of existential approach might not simplify to the real world situation, i.e. existential approach has low natural rationality. The potential drawbacks of existential approach are selection unfairness, palliative effect and investigational prejudice. It is being believed that the existential philosophy is contradictory, because the existential researchers at times make abstract opinions and ignore the metaphysics. Furthermore, existentialism hypostatises particular past circumstances of human existence into ontological and theoretical features. On the other hand, experimental philosophy is also criticised as it considers human as an object. In experimental philosophy, the cultural, economic and social backgrounds where human beings live are ignored, while in reality, these aspects can impact on the intellectual procedures as well as behaviours of human beings. Therefore, at times experimental psychologists can draw inaccurate representation of human behaviour. Accuracy of Experimental and Existential Approach Both the approaches have certain critics which make them less accurate in recognising human behaviour. These two approaches are contradictory culminations of very comprehensive and typically established grounds of psychology. While experimental approach uses severe research methods to reasonable occurrences, usually with the aim of determining human behaviour, existential approach presumes about human opposition. The existential psychology is developed from experimental philosophy to focus on the particular facet of human experience. Existential philosophy was started because there are certain aspects of human behaviour which cannot be measured by experimental psychology. However, the psychologists of new generation are unwilling to accept the impossibility of scientific enquiry through experimental approach which has resulted in appearance of experimental existential approach. This approach shapes the custom of existential thinking. This new approach has made substantial progress in the field of psychology. In present days, experimental existential approach is considered as a centre of scientific activity which can provide better accuracy on human behaviour than any other approaches. Thus, from this point of view, it can be stated that neither experimental nor existential approach can be considered as accurate; rather it is the experimental existential approach which can be considered as more accurate than these two in terms of understanding the models of the person (Pyszczynski, 2010). Conclusion The notion of human psychology has undergone numerous trends and developed significantly over the years. Nowadays, experimental existential psychology is mostly applied in the study of human personality. It is expected that this new approach in psychology would ultimately become the best method by establishing its own individuality. The ultimate objective of this new approach is to influence psychology to a large extent, across its different divisions, sub-divisions, scientific and applied investigation fields. The above discussion clearly implies that both experimental and existential psychology would always be the major driving force in the mainstream psychology and will significantly encourage further incorporation between science and existentialist philosophy. The increasing significance of these two approaches will shape the thinking on human behaviour in future. References Benjamin, M. N. & et. al., 1998. Effects of Divided Attention on Encoding and Retrieval Processes in Human Memory: Further Support for an Aymmetry. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 1091-1104. Center for Existential Psychotherapy, No Date. The Four Dimensions of Existence. Contemplations. [Online] Available at: http://www.humanaction.us/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Dimensions.pdf [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Greenberg, J. & et. al., 2004. Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology. Guilford Press. Hergenhahn, B. R., 2008. An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Cengage Learning. Koole, S. L., 2008. Existential Psychology. VU University Amsterdam. [Online] Available at: http://sanderkoole.com/K2010.pdf [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Myers, A. & Hansen, C. H., 2011. Experimental Psychology. Cengage Learning. MacMillan, S., 2009. Towards an Existential Approach to the Meaning of Work. Saint Marys University. [Online] Available at: http://www.spiritualityandtheworkplace.ca/documents/MacMillanThesis.pdf [Accessed August 20, 2012]. New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, 2012. What is the Existential Approach? About NSPC. [Online] Available at: http://www.nspc.org.uk/about-nspc/what-is-the-existential-approach.html [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Pyszczynski, T., 2010. Experimental Existential Psychology: Coping with the Facts of Life. University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. [Online] Available at: http://www.sanderkoole.com/PGSS2010.pdf [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Webb, J., 2012. Dabrowski’s Theory and Existential Depression in Gifted Children and Adults. Davidson Institute. [Online] Available at: http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10554.aspx [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Zelta, E. N. & et. al., 2010. Existentialism. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. [Online] Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ [Accessed August 20, 2012]. Read More