RAYMOND CATTELL (1905-1998)
PERSONALITY IS THAT WHICH PERMITS A
PREDICTION OF WHAT A PERSON WILL DO IN A
GIVEN SITUATION. —RAYMOND CATTELL
 Raymond Bernard Cattell was born on
March 20, 1905 in Birmingham before
moving to the seaside town of Torquay,
South Devonshire.
 He was the second of the three sons of
Alfred Cattell and Mary Field.
 His parents had high exacting behavior
for their children but were also
permissive about how the children
spent their spare time
 Cattell's life changed dramatically at the
age of 9, when England entered World
War 1
 He also felt highly competitive with his
older brother and wrote the problems
of maintaining his own freedom of
development while confronted with this
brother who could not be “overcome”.
PSYCHOLOGY: A BAD CHOICE
 At age 16, Cattell enrolled at the
University of London to study physics
and chemistry, graduating with honors,
His time in London intensified his
interest in social problems, and he
came to realize that the physical
sciences did not equip him to deal with
social ills.
 He decided to take the field of
psychology which at that time offered
few opportunities. Cattell began
graduate studies at the University of
London, working with the eminent
psychologist statistician Charles E.
Spearman, who had developed the
technique of factor analysis.
 Spearman had used factor analysis to
measure mental abilities, Cattell
resolved to apply the method to the
structure of personality
A TIME OF HARDSHIP
 Cattell developed chronic digestive
disorders from overwork, a deficient
diet, and being forced to live in a cold
basement apartment. His wife left him
due to his poor economic prospects and
total absorption in his work.
 The experience forced him to focus on
practical problems rather than
theoretical or experimental issues,
which he might have done given more
secure and comfortable circumstances.
“Those years made me as canny and
distrustful as a squirrel who has known
a long winter. It bred asceticism and
impatience with irrelevance, to the
point of ruthlessness”
SUCCESS IN AMERICA
 The prominent American psychologist
Edward L. Thorndike invited Cattell to
spend a year at Thorndike’s laboratory
at Columbia University in New York. The
following year, Cattell accepted a
professorship at Clark University in
Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1941
moved to Harvard, where, he said, the
“sap of creativity” rose (1974a, p. 71).
 His colleagues included Gordon Allport
and William Sheldon, who was then
developing his theory of personality and
body type. Cattell married a
mathematician who shared his research
interests, and at the age of 40 settled at
the University of Illinois as a research
professor. He published more than 500
articles, as well as 43 books,
 For the next twenty years, my life was
that of a humming dynamo smooth but
powerful. I was generally the last out of
 the parking lot at midnight. There is a
story that I arrived at the laboratory
one day to find, to my amazement, not
a soul there. I phoned [home] and was
told, “We are just sitting down to
Thanksgiving dinner.” All days were the
same to me. (Cattell, 1993, p. 105)
 He died In Honolulu at the age of 92,
one year after he had been awarded
the Gold Medal Award for Life
Achievement in Psychological Science
from the American Psychological
Association, for his “prodigious,
landmark contributions to psychology,
including factor analytic mappings of
the domains of personality” (Gold
Medal Award, 1997, p. 797).
CATTELL’S APPROACH TO PERSONALITY TRAITS
 Cattell defined traits as relatively
permanent reaction tendencies that are
the basic structural units of the
personality. He classified traits in
several ways
 Traits can be bipolar or unipolar
WAYS OF CLASSFYING TRAITS
COMMON TRAITS AND UNIQUE TRAITS
A common trait is one that is possessed by
everyone to some degree. Intelligence,
extraversion, and gregariousness are examples
of common traits.
Unique traits are particularly apparent in Our
interests and attitudes. For example, one
person may have a consuming interest In
genealogy, whereas another may be
passionately interested in Civil War battles or
Baseball or Chinese martial arts.
ABILITY, TEMPERAMENT, AND DYNAMIC
TRAITS
Ability traits determine how efficiently we will
be able to work toward a goal. Intelligence is an
ability trait;
Temperament traits describe the general style
and emotional tone of our behavior, for
example, how assertive, easy-going, or irritable
we are.
Dynamic traits are the driving forces of
behavior. They define our motivations,
interests, and ambitions. Cattell proposed two
kinds of dynamic, motivating traits: ergs and
sentiments.
DYNAMIC
Ergs the word erg derives from the Greek word
ergon, which means work or energy. Cattell
used erg to denote the concept of instinct or
drive the basic units of motivation that direct us
toward specific goals.
Cattell’s factor-analytic research identified 11
ergs. These are:.
Anger, appeal, curiosity, disgust gregariousness,
hunger, protection, security, self-assertion, self-
submission, sex.
Sentiment is a pattern of learned attitudes that
focuses on an important aspect of life, such as a
person’s community, spouse, occupation,
religion, or hobby. Cattell later Called these
learned traits SEMS, which stands for Socially
Shaped Ergic Manifolds,
SURFACE TRAITS AND SOURCE TRAITS
Surface traits are personality characteristics
that correlate with one another but do not
constitute a factor because they are not
determined by a single source, also they are less
stable and permanent For example, several
behavioral elements such as anxiety, indecision,
and irrational fear combine to form the surface
trait labeled neuroticism
Source traits, are unitary personality factors
that are much more stable and permanent.
Each source trait gives rise to some aspect Of
behavior also source traits are those individual
factors derived from factor analysis That
combine to account for surface traits.
CONSTITUTIONAL TRAITS AND
ENVIRONMENTAL-MOLD TRAITS
Constitutional traits originate in biological
conditions but are not necessarily innate. For
example, alcohol intake can lead to behaviors
such as carelessness, talkativeness, and slurred
speech. Factor analysis would indicate that
these characteristics are source traits.
Environmental-mold traits derive from
influences in our social and physical
Environments. These traits are learned
characteristics and behaviors that impose a
pattern on the personality.
16 PERSONALITY FACTOR
FACTOR ANALYSIS - A collection of statistical
procedure to compute for an underlying factor
that will describe a data set.
Exploratory Factor Analysis – From Data to
Theory which Relatively free from scientist bias
but prone to statistical noise/coincidences.
 He initially yielded 35 primary factors or
first order factors: 23 of which are for
normal population and 12 for
pathological dimensions.
Of these 23 , only 16 are frequently studied
(16PF).
THE INFLUENCES OF HEREDITY AND
ENVIRONMENT
 He investigated the importance of
hereditary and environmental Factors
by statistically comparing similarities
found between twins reared in the
same Family, twins reared apart, non-
twin siblings reared in the same family,
and non-twin Siblings reared apart.
Thus, he was able to estimate the
extent to which differences in Traits
could be attributed to genetic or to
environmental influences. The results of
his analyses showed that for some
traits, heredity plays a major Role.
 Cattell’s data suggest that 80 percent of
intelligence (Factor B) and 80 percent of
timidity versus boldness (Factor H) can
be accounted for by genetic factors.
Cattell concluded that overall, one-third
of our personality is genetically based,
and Two-thirds is determined by social
and environmental influences.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN NATURE
 “Personality is that which permits a
prediction of what a person will do in a
given situation” (1950, p. 2). For
behavior to be considered predictable,
it must be lawful and orderly. Prediction
would be difficult without regularity
and consistency in the personality.
 Cattell’s view of human nature admits
little spontaneity because that would
make predictability more difficult. On
the free will versus determinism issue,
Cattell falls more on the side of
determinism.
ASSESSMENT IN CATTELL’S THEORY
Cattell’s objective measurements of personality
used three primary assessment techniques,
which he called L-data (life records), Q-data
(questionnaires), and T-data (tests).
L-data - Life-record ratings of behaviors
Observed in real-life situations, such as the
classroom or office.
Q-data - Self-report questionnaire ratings of our
characteristics, attitudes, and interests.
T-data - Data derived from personality tests
that are resistant to Faking
RESEARCH ON CATTELL’S THEORY
In discussing research methods, Cattell listed
three ways to study personality: bivariate,
clinical, and multivariate approaches.
The Bivariate Approach - The bivariate, or two-
variable, approach is the standard laboratory
experimental method.
 This approach has also been called
univariate because only one variable is
 studied at a time. Cattell agreed that
bivariate research is scientific, rigorous,
and quantitative but argued that it dealt
with only limited aspects of personality.
 For Cattell, the bivariate approach was
too restrictive to reveal much about
personality traits.
The Clinical approach - Highly subjective which
includes case studies, dream analysis, free
association.
 These methods do Not yield verifiable
and quantifiable data. Cattell wrote,
“The clinician has his heart in the right
place, but perhaps we may say that he
remains a little fuzzy in his head”
The Multivariate Approach - Yields highly
specific data, it involves the sophisticated
statistical procedure of factor analysis.
 Cattell Favored two forms of factor
analysis: the R technique and the P
technique.
 The R technique involves collecting
large amounts of data from a group of
people. Correlations among all the
scores are made to determine
personality factors or traits. The P
technique involves collecting a large
amount of data from a single subject
over a Long period.
REFLECTIONS ON CATTELL’S THEORY
 Despite Cattell’s legitimate claim that
factor analysis is an objective, precise
technique, critics argue that the
opportunity exists for subjectivity to
affect the outcome.
 Cattell understood his failure to
persuade other psychologists of the
wisdom of his Views and defended his
approach as the only one of value for
studying personality. At The age of 85,
he reiterated this point, criticizing
contemporary psychologists for failing
To master and apply factor analysis and
lamenting that his work remained
isolated from The mainstream of
personality theorizing. He remained
convinced that one day his work Would
allow for the prediction of human
behavior with the same degree of
accuracy with Which astronomers
predict the movements of planets
HIGHLIGHTS: RESEARCH ON CATTELL’S IDEAS
Studies have shown that the 16 PF Test:
 Can predict marital stability
 Can be faked if you want to present
yourself in a more favorable light
 Can be used in many cultures, but for
some languages a literal translation
Of the test items is not possible
 Yielded results indicating that some
source traits are primarily inherit While
others are determined primarily by
environmental influences
 Can identify 16 source traits of
personality Can be used for research,
clinical diagnosis, and predicting
success on the job
HANS JÜRGEN EYSENCK (1905-1998)
 Hans Eysenck was born in Berlin, and
immigrated to England in 1934, after
Adolf Hitler Came to power in Germany.
 His mother was an actress, and his
father was a nightclub entertainer. With
the rise of Nazi power in Germany,
Eysenck moved to England in 1934 to
attend University College in London.
 He received his PhD in 1940 while
working at the college in the psychology
department.
 In 1934 Eysenck wanted to study
physics at the University of London, but
was told that he lacked the necessary
 academic background. Greatly
discouraged, he asked university
officials if there was any other science
in which he could major. Eysenck
recalled, “I was told there was always
psychology. ‘What on earth is that?’ I
inquired in my ignorance. ‘You’ll like it,’
they said. And so I enrolled in a subject
whose scientific status was perhaps a
little more questionable than my
advisers realized”
 More than 40 years later, the highly
successful and productive Eysenck was
asked if he had ever regretted his
career choice. Often, he replied, but
admitted that he was resigned to it.
 Hans Eysenck uses an approach called
Empiricist approach or an
epistemological theory that holds that
knowledge or justification comes only
or primarily from sensory experience.
 Over the course of his career, Eysenck
published amazing 79 books, including
some for the general public, and an
equally amazing 1,097 journal articles.
At the time of his death, he was the
world’s most frequently cited
psychologist. Unfortunately, when he
died, his wife destroyed all of his
personal and professional papers.
 Eysenck and his second wife, Sybil
(Ph.D., University of London), together
developed many of the questionnaires
used in their research (Furnham,
Eysenck, & Saklofske,2010).
 The Eysenck Personality Inventory
(Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) required 12
years of joint research and 20 factor
analyses. Hans Eysenck wrote,
“Although published in our joint names,
[it] is largely a monument to her
skill,patience, and endurance”
THREE DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY
P- Psychoticism vs. impulse control
Psychoticism: People who score high in
psychoticism are aggressive, antisocial, tough-
minded, cold, and egocentric. Also, they have
been found to be cruel, hostile, and insensitive
to the needs and feelings of others. In addition,
they score low on emotional well-being and
have greater problems with alcohol, drug
abuse, and violent criminal behavior than
people who score low in psychoticism.
E- Extraversion vs. Intraversion
Extraversion: Extraverts are oriented toward
the outside world, prefer the company of other
people, and tend to be sociable, impulsive,
adventurous, assertive, and dominant.
In addition, people who score high in
extraversion on the Eysenck Personality
Inventory have been found to experience more
pleasant emotions and to be happier than those
who score low in extraversion
N- Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability
Neuroticism: People high in neuroticism have
greater activity in the brain areas that control
the sympathetic branch of the autonomic
nervous system. This is the body’s alarm
system, which responds to stressful or
dangerous events by increasing breathing rate,
heart rate, blood flow to the muscles, and
release of adrenaline. Eysenck argued that in
neurotics, the sympathetic nervous system
overreacts even to mild stressors, resulting in
chronic hypersensitivity. This condition leads to
heightened emotionality in response to almost
any difficult situation. Indeed, neurotics react
emotionally to events other people consider
insignificant. According to Eysenck, these
differences in biological reactivity on the
neuroticism dimension are innate. People are
genetically predisposed either toward
neuroticism or toward emotional stability.
THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL
 Paul Costa and Robert Mccrae are the
ones responsible for the development
of the five factor model personality
theory.
 They are the ones who developed it
but not the ones who discovered it.
They got recognized because of test
that they created monitizing the theory.
this this theory, psychoticism is was replaced
instead by:
Openness to experiences – This is the quality
which determines the likelihood of a person
being open to new ideas and such. People with
high openness tend to be liberal while those
who have low level of openness happens to be
traditional/conventionaloticismbleness,
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness - This quality determines the
soft-hearted people from the ruthless ones.
Being high on agreeableness means that you
are trusting, generous and yielding
Conscientiousness - The quality of wishing to do
one’s work or duty well and thoroughly People
who have high levels conscientiousness are very
organized, very detail oriented and achieves
things in life
THE TEMPERAMENT THEORY
 Arnold Buss of the University of Texas
at Austin, and Robert Plomin of
Pennsylvania State University, identified
three temperaments that they believe
are the basic building blocks of
personality these are Emotionality,
Activity, and Sociability.
 Buss and Plomin developed two tests to
assess personality: the Emotionality,
Activity, Sociability Survey for Adults
(EAS), and the Emotionality, Activity,
Sociability Infant Temperament Survey
(EASI) for children. For the latter test,
the questionnaire is filled out by the
parent or primary caregiver (Buss &
Plomin, 1975, 1986).
 Buss and Plomin do recognize some
environmental effects. What we inherit
is not a specific amount of a
temperament but a range of response
potential. One person will inherit more
than another. One researcher wrote,
“We inherit dispositions, not destinies”
(Rose, 1995,P. 648).
EMOTIONALITY
 The Emotionality temperament refers
to our level of arousal or excitability. It
consists of three components: distress,
fearfulness, and anger.
  When we describe people as emotional,
we mean they are easily upset and
given to outbursts. At one extreme of
the Emotionality continuum are people
who appear unemotional in that
nothing Seems to disturb them. At the
other extreme are people who are
sensitive to the Slightest provocation.
ACTIVITY
 Buss and Plomin define the Activity
temperament in terms of physical
energy and vigor.
 People who are more energetic and
active than others and who display their
energy in many different situations.
They walk and talk fast and find it hard
to sit still, fidgeting with their fingers or
tapping their toes.
 Research with twins revealed an
inherited component to Activity. It was
found to be moderately stable Through
childhood and adulthood.
SOCIABILITY
 The Sociability temperament refers to
the degree of preference for contact
and interaction with other people.
 Highly sociable persons prefer group
activities and the company of others.
Persons who are not sociable choose
solitary activities and tend to avoid
other people.
 Sociability is an adaptive characteristic.
We must interact with other people to
satisfy many of our needs and to obtain
positive reinforcement.
THE DARK TRIAD OF PERSONALITY
Paulhus and Williams, of the University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada,
introduced a three-factor approach to
understanding the darker side of personality,
which includes the following traits (2002):
Narcissism: extreme selfishness, an inflated
sense of one’s abilities and talents, and The
constant need for admiration and attention.
Machiavellianism: the need to manipulate
others, characterized by cunning, deceit, and
unscrupulous behaviors.
Psychopathy: callous, insensitive, egocentric,
antisocial, takes advantage of other people,
using great charm and often violence.
BEHAVIORAL CORRELATES
 Studies have found that those who
scored high on all three traits engaged
in more anti-social activities than those
who scored low. Also they derived
greater satisfaction from the misfortune
of others (James, Kavanagh, Jonason,
Chonody, & Scrutton, 2014; Porter,
Bhanwer, Woodworth, & Black, 2014).
 Another study found that the verbal
content of subjects’ Facebook updates
was a valid predictor of their levels of
psychopathy and narcissism. Their
updates tended to be emotionally cold,
aggressive, and highly self-promoting
(Garcia & Silkstrom, 2014).
 Those who scored high in
Machiavellianism and psychopathy also
scored low on the Big Five factors on
conscientiousness, agreeableness, and
openness, showed little empathy or
consideration for others, a high level of
aggression, a vengeful and unforgiving
attitude, and low scores on emotional
stability (Giammarco & Vernon, 2014;
Muris, Meesters, & Timmermans, 2013;
Oliveira, 2013).
 Psychopathy is linked to a high sex
drive with strong sexual and
sadomasochistic themes and fantasies.
People who scored high in psychopathy
and narcissism engaged in a number of
 short- term sexual relationships with no
intention of commitment (Adams,
Luevan
REFLECTIONS ON THE TRAIT APPROACH
 The theories presented in this chapter,
indicate that inheritance may account
for as much as 50 percent of personality
(Brody, 1997;Buss, 1988; Stelmack,
1997).
 However, we must not conclude
prematurely that family and other
environmental factors can be
completely discounted as shapers of
personality. The various component of
personality remain products of both our
genetic makeup and the experiences of
our life. The task for psychologists
remains to determine the relative
importance of each.
Carl Rogers: SELF-ACTUALIZATION THEORY
(1902-1987)
• HUMANIST PSYCHOLOGIST
• Born in Chicago Illinois, January 08, 1902
• PARENTS = Educated, Middle Class,
Conservative Protestants.
• 4th of 6 children
Education:
• Took up HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN-MADISON
• He received Bachelor’s Degree in 1924
• After graduated, He entered a Liberal
Protestant Seminary in New york City for 2
years
•Transferred to Columbia University
• MD in 1928 = PhD in Clinical Psychology
(1931)
Personal Life:
• Married to Helen Elliot (1924)
•They had two children : David and Nathalie
Person-centered Therapy - In Person-Centered
Therapy,Rogers explored the client's feeling
and attitudes toward the self and toward other
people.
FORMATIVE TENDENCY
 Rogers believed that there is a tendency
for all matter, both organic and
inorganic, to evolved from simpler to
more complex forms.
 Rogers called this process the formative
tendency and pointed to many
examples from nature.
For instance, complex galaxies of stars form
from a less well-organized mass; crystals such
as snowflakes emerge from formless vapor.
ACTUALIZING TENDENCY
It is the tendency within all humans (and other
animals and plants) to move forward
completion or fulfillment of potentials
MAINTENANCE – Similar to the lower steps in
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
ENHANCEMENT – Strong desire to learn and
willingness to change.
How to self actualize:
STEP 1 – SELF AWARENESS (WHO AM I) Talent,
gifts, interest, weakness, strength, purpose in
life.
STEP 2 – REALIZE / ACTUALIZE Make it happen!
Goal: achieve
Self Concept • Organized, Consistent set of
perceptions and beliefs about oneself
• According to Rogers (1959) we want to feel,
experience and behave in ways which are
consistent with our self image and which reflect
what we would like to be like, our ideal self.
Self worth (or self-esteem) comprises what we
think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings
of self-worth developed in early childhood.
SELF-IMAGE (or real self) how we see
ourselves, which is important to good
psychological health.
IDEAL SELF is the person who we would like to
be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life.
POSITIVE REGARD - People regards us in a way
that affirms our worth.
Conditions of worth - Rogers recognized that
external factors could affect how we value, or
measure, our self- worth based on our ability to
meet certain conditions we believe are
essential.
Defenses it happens when there is
incongruence
DISTORTION It occurs when the individual
perceives a threat to their ideal self. They
distort the perception until it fits their ideal self.
DENIAL Which an individual refuses to
recognize or acknowledge objective facts or
experiences.
Congruence - People regards us in a way that
affirms our worth.
Unconditional positive regard It refers to
accepting and supporting another person
exactly as they are, without evaluating or
judging them
PROCESS OF THERAPY
Stage 1 – Characterized by an unwillingness to
communicate about anything about oneself
(denial of problem)
Stage 2 – Clients become slightly less rigid. They
discuss external events and other people, but
they still disown or fail to recognize their own
feelings.
Stage 3 – They more freely talk about self,
although still as an object. “I’m doing the best I
can at work, but my boss still doesn’t like me.”
Stage 4 – Begin to talk of deep feelings but not
ones presently felt. “I was really burned up
when my teacher accused me of cheating.”
Stage 5 – They have begun to undergo
significant change and growth. They can express
feelings in the present, although they have not
yet accurately symbolized those feelings.
Stage 6 – Experience dramatic growth and an
irreversible movement toward becoming fully
functioning or self-actualizing.
Stage 7 – It can occur outside the therapeutic
encounter, because growth at Stage 6 seems to
be irreversible. Clients who reach Stage 7
become fully functioning “persons of
tomorrow”
PERSONS OF TOMORROW
More adaptable -They would not merely adjust
to a static environment but would realize that
conformity and adjustment to a fixed condition
have little long term survival value
Open to their experiences - Accurately
symbolizing them in awareness rather than
denying or distorting them
Trust in their organismic self - These fully
functioning people would not defend on others
for guidelines on others for guidance because
they would realize that their own experiences
are the best criteria for making choices.
Live fully in the moment - Because these
people would be open to their experiences,
they would experience a constant state of
fluidity and change.
Harmonious relation with others - They would
feel no need to be liked or loved by everyone,
because they would know that they are
unconditionally prized and accepted by
someone.
More Integrated - More whole, with no artificial
boundary between conscious process and
unconscious one
Basic trust of human nature - They would not
harm others merely for personal gain; they
would care about others and be ready to help
when needed
Experiences greater richness -They would
neither distort internal stimuli nor buffer their
emotions
PSYCHOTHERAPHY- Rogerian Therapy seeks to
decrease the client’s guilt, insecurities,
defensiveness, and even close-mindedness by
allowing them to think about life in new ways,
thus warming up to different levels of
experience.
Techniques: CONGRUENT THERAPHIST
GENUINE UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD
EMPHATY ACCEPT NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
ACTIVE LISTENING
ROGER’S view Of Human NATURE
Rogers believed that people are essentially
good and that human nature possesses a basic
sense of trust in the client’s ability to move
forwards in a constructive manner if conditions
conducive to fostering growth are present.
Reinforcement Theory By:B.F. Skinner
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born on March
20, 1904 in Pennsylvania. His father was a
lawyer and his mother stayed home.
• He planned to become a professional literary
writer.
• He had some stint with government research
(pigeon) and tried to enter the market with
baby-tender. Both failed.
• Radical Behavior his stance.
Conditioning
Classical conditioning - Is a type of learning in
which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a
response after being paired with a stimulus that
naturally elicits that response.
Operant conditioning - Type of learning process
in which behavior is strengthened or weakened
by its consequences. Involves the use of
rewards or punishments to shape behavior.
Shaping - Shaping is a procedure in which the
experiment or the environment first reward
gross approximately of the behavior, the closer
approximations, and finally the desired
behavior itself.
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement - Is a process in which a
desired behavior is strengthened by the
addition of a positive stimulus. Something that
the individual finds rewarding or pleasurable,
such as food, praise, or a toy.
• ( Food, water, money, sex, social approval and
physical comfort are example of positive
reinforces.
Negative reinforcement - The removal of an
aversive stimulus from a situation also increase
the probability that the preceding behavior will
occur.
Punishment - Punishment is a consequence of
behavior in operant conditioning that decreases
the likelihood of that behavior being repeated
in the future.
• It involves presenting or removing a stimulus
in response to the behavior, which results in a
decrease in the frequency or strength of the
behavior.
Types of Reinforcement
Conditioned reinforcers
Examples: Food, water,sex or physical comfort
Generalized reinforces
Examples: Attention, Approval, Affection,
Submission of others, and tokens (money)
Schedule Of Reinforcement
Continuous Schedule – Every time the behavior
is done, the organism is rewarded/reinforced.
Intermittent schedule – there is a pattern on
when the reinforcement is given
Fixed ratio - The organism is reinforced
intermittently according to the number of
responses it make
Variable ratio - It is reinforced after the nth
response on the average.
Example: A slot machine, draw in a online
games
Fixed Interval - The organism is reinforced for
the first response following a designated period
of time.
Variable Interval - Is one in which the organism
is reinforced after the lapse of random or varied
periods of time
Extinction - Refers to the gradual decrease or
disappearance of a previously learned behavior
when the reinforcement that previously
followed that behavior is no longer present.
• Extinction can be intentional, where a
reinforcement is intentionally removed, or
unintentional, where the reinforcement is
simply no longer available.
Human Organism
According to Skinner, human behavior (and
human personality) is shaped by three forces.
Natural selection, Cultural practices and
individual’s history of reinforcement
Natural selection
• As individual’s, our behavior is determined by
genetic composition and especially by our
personal histories of reinforcement. As a
species, however we are shaped by the
contingency of survival.
Cultural evolution
• Cultural practices such as toolmaking and
verbal behavior began when an individual was
reinforced for using a tool or uttering a
distinctive sound
Complex Behavior
Higher Mental Processes - Thinking, problem
solving and reminiscing are covert behavior that
take place within the skin but not inside the
mind, they are amenable to the same
contingencies of reinforcement as overt
behavior
Creativity - To Skinner, then creativity is simply
the results of random or accedental behavior
(overt or covert) that happen to be rewarded.
The fact that some people are more creative
than others is due both to difference in genetic
endowment and to experience that have
shaped their creative behavior.
Unconscious behavior - Behavior is labeled
unconscious when people think about is
because it has been suppressed through
punishment. Behavior that has aversive
consequences has a tendency to be ignored or
not though about.
GEORGE KELLY: Personal Construct Theory
 Kelly was born on a farm in Kansas and
he also a only child.
 In 1926, he earned a bachelor’s degree
in physics and mathematics from Park
College in Parkville, Missouri.
 He got his PhD In Psychology with a
dissertion about speech disability.
 The he receive his master’s degree in
educational sociology from the
University of Kansas in Lawrence
PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY
Personal construct theory Kelly’s description of
personality in terms of cognitive processes: We
are capable of interpreting behaviors and
events and of using this understanding to guide
our behavior and to predict the behavior of
other people.
Construct – is a person’s unique way of looking
at life, an intellectual hypothesis devised to
explain or interpret events. We behave in
accordance with the expectation that our
constructs will predict and explain the reality of
our world.
Constructive Alternativism - to express the
view that we are not controlled by our
constructs but we are free to revise or replace
them with other alternatives.
11 SUPPORTING COROLLARIES
Construction Corollary- Similarities among
events
 No two events are exactly alike, yet we
construe similar events so that they are
perceived as being the same.
 The construction corollary states that “a
person anticipates events by construing
their replications
Individuality Corollary-Differences among
people
 “Persons differ from each other in their
construction of events”
  Because people have different
reservoirs of experiences, they construe
the same event in different ways.
Organization Corollary-Relationships among
constructs
 People “characteristically evolve, for
[their] convenience in anticipating
events, a construction system
embracing ordinal relationships
between constructs” (Kelly, 1955, p.
56).
 The organization corollary also assumes
an ordinal relationship of constructs so
that one construct may be subsumed
under another.
Dichotomy Corollary-Dichotomy of Constructs
 Kelly insisted that a construct is an
either-or proposition-black or white,
with no shades of gray
 In order to form a construct, people
must be able to see similarities
between events, but they must also
contrast those events with their
opposite pole.
 Without contrast, we cannot perceive
properly
 By contrasting intelligence with
stupidity and independence with
dependence, you see how they are alike
and how they can be organized under
the construct “good” as opposed to
“bad.
Choice Corollary-Choice between dichotomies
 People choose for themselves that
alternative in a dichotomized construct
through which they anticipate the
greater possibility for extension and
definition of future constructs.
Range Corollary-Range of convenience
 Kelly’s range corollary assumes that
personal constructs are finite and not
relevant to everything. It only applies to
some things in our life The construct
independence was within Arlene’s
range of convenience when she was
deciding to buy a car, but on other
occasions independence would be
outside those boundaries.
Experience Corollary-Experience and Learning
 “A person’s construction system varies
as he (or she) successively construes
the replications of events”
 Experience consists of the successive
construing of events. The events
themselves do not constitute
experience-it is the meaning we attach
to them that changes our lives.
Modulation Corollary-Adaptation to experience
 “The variation in a person’s
construction system is limited by the
permeability of the constructs within
whose range of convenience the
variants lie
 It assumes that the extent to which
people revise their constructs is related
to the degree of permeability of their
existing constructs.
 People who have constructs that are set
in stone are hard to permeate but clay-
like constructs are easy to mold
Fragmentation Corollary-Incompatible
Construct
 “A person may successively employ a
variety of constructive subsystems
which are inferentially incompatible
with each other”
 At first it may seem as if personal
constructs must be compatible, but if
we look to our own behavior and
thinking, we can easily see some
inconsistencies.
  We pointed out that Walter Mischel (a
student of Kelly) believed that behavior
is usually more inconsistent than trait
theorists would have us believe.
Commonality Corollary-Similarities among
people
 “To the extent that one person employs
a construction of experience which is
similar to that employed by another,
(that person’s] processes are
psychologically similar to those of the
other person” (Kelly, 1970, p. 20).
 Two people need not experience the
same event or even similar events for
their processes to be psychologically
similar; they must merely construe their
experiences in a similar fashion.
Sociality Corollary-Social Processes
 To the extent that people accurately
construe the belief system of others,
they may play a role in a social process
involving those other people.
 In interpersonal relations, they not only
observe the behavior of the other
person; they also interpret what that
behavior means to that person.
Assessment in Kelly’s Theory
The Interview
Kelly’s primary assessment technique was the
interview. He wrote, “If you don’t know what is
going on in a person’s mind, ask him; he may
tell you!” (1958, p. 330). Adopting what he
called a “credulous attitude,” Kelly accepted the
client’s words at face value,believing this was
the best way to determine the person’s
constructs. He also recognized that a person
might deliberately lie or distort the reported
version of events. However, what the client said
must be respected, even if not fully believed.
Self-Characterization Sketches - Another
technique used to assess a construct system is
to have the person write a selfcharacterization
sketch.
The Role Construct Repertory Test - Kelly
devised the Role Construct Repertory (REP) Test
to uncover the constructs we apply to the
important people in our lives. The client is
asked to list by name the people who have
played a significant role in his or her life such as
mother, father, spouse, closest friend, and the
most intelligent or interesting person he or she
knows (see Table 11-2). The names are sorted,
three at a time, and clients are asked to select
from each group of three the two people who
are most alike, noting how they differ from the
third.
Fixed Role Therapy - In fixed role therapy, the
therapist prepares a fixed role sketch containing
constructs that differ from the client’s negative
self-perceptions as revealed in the self-
characterization sketch. The client is told that
the fixed role sketch is about a fictitious
character and is asked to act out that character
in the therapist’s office and later in everyday
life.
Albert Bandura
 BORN ON DECEMBER 04, 1925
 CANADIAN-AMERICAN
 HE WAS THE YOUNGEST AND THE ONLY
BOY AMONG SIX SIBLINGS.
 STUDIED AT UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH
COLUMBIA AND UNIVERSITY OF LOWA
 FAMOUS FOR RESEARCH ON SOCIAL
LEARNING THEORIES
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY - A response to the
reductionist nature of behaviorism.
SKINNER – ENVIRONMENT REINFORCEMENT
BANDURA - HUMAN FACTOR ENVIRONMENT
REINFORCEMENT
HUMANS ARE FLEXIBLE; WE CAN LEARN FROM
VARIOUS SITUATIONS.
Observational Learning - Learning new
responses byobserving the behavior of other
people.
bobo doll experiment - Bobo doll experiment
demonstrated that children are able to learn
social behavior such as aggression through the
process of observation learning, through
watching the behavior of another person.
SELF-EFFICACY - An individual's belief in his or
her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to
produce specific performance attainments.
SELF-REINFORCEMENT - Administering rewards
or punishments to oneself for meeting,
exceeding, or falling short of one’s own
expectations or standards.
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING PROCESSES
ATTENTIONAL PROCESSES- Developing our
cognitive processes and perceptual skills so that
we can pay sufficient attention to a model, and
perceiving the model accurately enough, to
imitate displayed behavior.
Example: Staying awake during driver’s
education class.
RETENTION PROCESSES - Retaining or
remembering the model’s behavior so that we
can imitate or repeat it at a later time; for this,
we use our cognitive processes to encode or
form mental images and verbal descriptions of
the model’s behavior.
Example: Taking notes on the lecture material
or the video of a person driving a car.
PRODUCTION PROCESSES – Translating the
mental images or verbal symbolic
representations of the model’s behavior into
our own overt behavior by physically producing
the responses and receiving feedback on the
accuracy of Our continued practice.
Example: Getting in a car with an instructor to
practice shifting gears and dodging the traffic
cones in the school parking lot.
INCENTIVE AND MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES -
Perceiving that the model’s behavior leads to a
reward and thus expecting that our learning—
and successful performance—of the same
behavior will lead to similar consequences.
Example: Expecting that when we have
mastered driving skills, we will pass the state
test andreceive a driver’s license.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN NATURE
 Bandura’s position is clear on the issue
of free will versus determinism.
 Behavior is controlled by the person
through the cognitive processes, and by
the environment through external
social situations.
 Bandura calls this view reciprocal
determinism.
 He noted that people are neither
“powerless objects controlled by
environmental forces nor free agents
who can become whatever they
choose.
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Martin E.P. Seligman
 Full name: Martin Elias Peter Seligman
 Born on August 12, 1942 in Albany, New
York
  Attended Albany Academy for Boys
during his early years Attended
Princeton University to study AB
Philosophy
 He graduated Summa Cum Laude in
1964 Earned his Ph.D in Psychology at
University of Pennsylvania in 1967
 Became the American Psychological
Association (APA) President in 1998
 Currently the director of the Positive
Psychology Center at the University of
Pennsylvania”
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
 In the mid-1960s, psychologist Martin
Seligman at the University of
Pennsylvania began research on a
limited-domain aspect of personality he
calls learned helplessness
 A condition resulting from the
perception that we have no control
over our environment.
 For instance, if a student regularly
performs poorly on exams even after
studying, they may start to believe that
preparing for tests is ineffective and
won’t have any impact on their grade.
 The dogs were subjects In a two-part
conditioning experiment. In the first
part, they were being conditioned to
associate a high-pitched sound with an
electric shock. This was a simple
Pavlovian classical conditioning
situation involving respondent behavior
(the pairing of the tone with the shock).
 In the second part of the experiment,
the dogs were put individually in a large
box that contained two compartments
divided by a low wall. A shock was
delivered through the floor of the
compartment in which the dog was
placed.
Human Experiment
Human subjects were exposed to a loud noise
 The way to turn off the loud noise is to
press the button 4 times
 There is no way to escape because the
button given to them isn't working
 Human subjects were not exposed to a
loud noise
 The way to turn off the loud noise is to
manipulate the box with a lever They
manipulated it correctly and managed
to turn off the loud noise
 The way to turn off the loud noise is to
manipulate the box with a lever They
didn't manage to turn off the loud noise
 The way to turn off the loud noise is to
manipulate the box with a lever Same
as the 1st group, they manipulated the
box with a lever correctly and managed
to turn off the loud noise
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - Positive psychology
was advanced in the late 1990s by Seligman
during his term as president of the American
Psychological Association.
 deals with happiness, excellence, and
optimal human functioning.
CAUSES OF HAPPINESS
 Psychologists have variously labeled the
happy personality in terms such as
subjective well-being or life satisfaction
and define it as encompassing a
cognitive evaluation of the quality of
one’s life experience and the possession
of positive affect (McGregor & Little,
1998). (The word affect refers to moods
and emotions.) Thus, happiness has
both rational and emotional aspects.
 Let us consider what may seem the
most obvious determinant of
happiness: money. It turns out that the
old adage is true; money does not buy
 happiness. However, the absence of GOOD LIFE - Achieved through discovering our
money can lead to unhappiness. unique virtues and strengths, and employing
Is health related to happiness? them creatively to enhance our lives.
 Like money, the absence of good health PLEASANT LIFE - Realized if we learn to savior
can diminish happiness but being and appreciate such basic pleasures as
healthy in itself does not guarantee a companionship,
happy personality. MEANINGFUL LIFE - We find a deep sense of
Six variables associated with the happy fulfilment by employing our unique strengths
personality for a purpose greater than ourselves.
 Repressive-defensiveness, an
unconscious avoidance of threatening
information that results in denying
negative experiences and the negative
emotions associated with those
experiences; the lower a person’s score
on this factor, the higher is their
subjective well-being.
 Trust, the attribution a person makes
about other people’s motives; people
who score high on trust tend to make
optimistic attributions and to report
greater life satisfaction.
 Internal locus of control and desire for
control, the belief in and desire for
control over one’s life; the higher a
person’s score on these factors, the
higher is their subjective well-being.
 Hardiness, the tendency to minimize
the effects of stressful events by
adapting to and evaluating them in
optimistic terms.
 Emotional stability and positive affect,
being free of neuroses and of negative
moods, feelings, and emotions; these
conditions correlate positively with
subjective well-being.
 Self-esteem, people who feel good
about themselves score high in
subjective well-being.
3 Dimensions of Happiness

Applications of Seligman’s Theory
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Types of mental health therapy but with
differences. Psychotherapy focuses more on
long-term issues and growth, while counseling
aims to help people resolve current issues.
Psychotherapy and counseling are types of
therapy that can help boost mental well-being.
WORKPLACE - Seligman’s PERMA model can be
used by employers and human resource
managers to determine the level of well-being
of employees.
EDUCATION - Positive psychology principles can
help teachers to focus more on encouraging
and celebrating the strengths and talents of
their students, and less on penalizing them for
their mistakes and weaknesses.
CRITICISMS OF SELIGMAN’S THEORY

 Some argue that the ideas promoted by
Seligman and other positive
psychologists are not entirely new.
 It ignores the negative aspects of life
and disregards the value of negative
emotions.
 Most of the research has been
conducted in Western countries, so the
findings are culturally biased.
INTERPERSONAL THEORY
HERBERT ‘’HARRY’’ SULLIVAN
 Born in Norwich, New York
 On February 21, 1892
 Died of a cerebral hemorrhage on
January 14,
 1949 (few weeks short of his 57th
birthday)
  PARENTS: Ella Stack Sullivan, Timothy
Sullivan
 Had two other brothers, neither of
whom lived Past the first year
 The Sole Surviving Child
 His relationship with Clarence Bellinger
had a Transforming effect on his life
 He was interested in books and science
 Graduated from high school as
valedictorian at age 16
 Entered Cornell University to become a
physicist, but Also had an interest in
psychiatry
 His academic performance at Cornell
was a disaster And he was suspended
after 1 year
 Sullivan mysteriously disappeared from
the scene for The next 2 years, and was
reported he may have Suffered from a
schizophrenic breakdown and was
Confined to a mental hospital
 Sullivan went on to enroll in the Chicago
College of Medicine and Surgery
 He finished his medical studies in 1915
but did not Receive his degree until
1917
TENSIONS
NEEDS - Needs are tensions brought on by
biological imbalance between a person and tth
physiochemical environment, both inside and
outside the organism.
Most Interpersonal Needs TENDERNESS
Is a potentiality For action that May or may not
Be experienced in Awareness. Thus, Not all
tensions Are consciously Felt.
ANXIETY - differ from tensions of needs in that
it is disjunctive, is more diffuse and vague, and
calls forth no consistent actions for its relief.
ENERGY TRANSFORMATION
Overt or covert actions designed to satisfy
Needs or to reduce anxiety. Some energy
Transformation become relatively consistent
Patterns of behavior called dynamisms.
DYNAMISMS
DISJUNCTIVE DYNAMISMS: MALEVOLENCE – It
originates around age 2 Or 3 years When
children’s actions That earlier had brought
About maternal Tenderness are rebuffed,
Ignored, or met with Anxiety and pain.
ISOLATING DYNAMISMS: LUST - Lust is an
especially powerful dynamism during
adolescence, at which time it often leads to a
reduction of self-esteem.
CONJUNCTIVE DYNAMISMS: INTIMACY -
Intimacy is an integrating dynamism that tends
to draw out loving reactions from the other
person, thereby decreasing anxiety and
loneliness, two extremely painful experiences.
SELF SYSTEM - The most complex and Inclusive
of all dynamisms Which refers to a consistent
Pattern of behaviors that Maintains people’s
Interpersonal security by Protecting them from
Anxiety.
SECURITY OPERATIONS
Dissociation – impulses, desires, and Needs that
a person refuses to allow into Awareness
Selective inattention – refusal to see Things
that we do not wish to see
PERSONIFICATIONS
THE BAD MOTHER –GOOD MOTHER - Grows
out of the infant's experiences with the lack of
satisfaction of their hunger needs (vague
representation of not being properly fed)
- It is based on the tender and
Cooperative behaviors of their
Mothers.
ME PERSONIFICATIONS (BAD-ME, GOOD-ME,
NOT-ME) - based on observations of infants'
experiences with punishment and disapproval
from their mothers
 Results from the Experiences of infants
Receiving praise and Approval from
their Mothers.
  Infant’s experience of sudden, Intense
anxiety, which can Cause infants to
dissociate or Deliberately miss
experiences Connected to that anxiety
EIDETIC PERSONIFICATIONS - Unrealistic traits
or imaginary friends that many children invent
in order to protect their self esteem
LEVELS OF COGNITION
PROTOTAXIC LEVEL – The earliest and most
primitive experiences of an infant That are
impossible to put into words or to communicate
with others
PARATAXIC LEVEL – Experiences that are
personal, prelogical, and communicated Only in
a distorted form.
SYNTAXIC LEVEL – Experiences that are
consensually validated and can be Symbolically
communicated
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Sullivan based his therapeutic procedures on an
effort to improve a Patient’s relationship with
others. To facilitate this process, the Therapist
serves as a participant observer, becoming part
of an Interpersonal, face-to-face relationship
with the patient and Providing the patient an
opportunity to establish syntaxic
Communication with another human being.
Rollo May: Existential Psychology
Rollo Reece May (April 21, 1909 – October 22,
1994)
 Born in 1909 in Ada, Ohio, a small town
in the Midwest, and grew up in another
small Midwestern town called Marine
City, Michigan.
 May’s father was a YMCA organizer,
and his mother mainly involved in
raising their six children. He was the
second child and first-born male in the
family.
College Years:
 In the fall of 1926, May enrolled at what
was then the Michigan State College of
Agriculture and Applied Science.
 In the fall of 1928, May transferred to
Oberlin College and graduated in 1930
with a degree in English.
Teaching English in Greece:
·During the summers of 1932 and 1933, May
took seminars with Adler in Vienna.
“The Art of Counseling: How to Gain and
Give Mental Health (1938)” and
“The Springs of Creative Living (1940)”
Other ventures:
 In the summer of 1932, May became
close with artist Joseph Binder in
Austria, and they traveled together to
America when May returned in 1933.
 In 1933 May became a divinity student
at Union Theological Seminary, where
he studied with the German émigré
theologian Paul Tillich.
 May earned a bachelor’s degree in
divinity in 1938, and served briefly as a
minister before enrolling at Columbia
College to pursue a PhD in clinical
psychology.
 In the early 1940s, May was an adjunct
instructor and counselor at City College
while engaged in doctoral study at
Columbia University.
 May served as a counselor, faculty
member, and fellow, respectively, at
the William Alanson White Institute in
New York City beginning in 1943 and he
started his own practice in 1946.
Tuberculosis patient at Trudeau Sanatorium: A
Turning Point
 After developing TB, May in 1943-1944
was a patient at Trudeau Sanatorium at
pastoral Saranack Lake, New York.
  May focused on the nature of anxiety
for his dissertation. He was awarded his
degree in 1949, and his dissertation
“The Meaning of Anxiety” was
published as an academic book the
following year.
 He spent the final years of his life in
Tiburon on San Francisco Bay, and died
due to congestive heart failure at the
age of 85.
Other Works
 The Ministry of Counseling (1943)
 The Meaning of Anxiety (1950)
 Man’s Search for Himself (1953)
 Love and Will (1969)
 My Quest for Beauty (1985)
 The Psychology of Existence: An
Integrative, Clinical Perspective (1994)
Background of Existentialism
 Existentialism is the philosophical belief
we are each responsible for creating
purpose or meaning in our own lives.
 The Danish philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard (1813–1855) is often called
the “father of existentialism.”
 Prominent existentialist thinkers
included Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul
Sartre, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger,
Gabriel Marcel, and Paul Tillich.
Main Tenets
Existence precedes Essence
Existence means to emerge or to become;
essence implies a static immutable substance
Life is absurd
Absurdity: life is absurd and reason is useless in
dealing with the depths of human life
 Life is meaningless
 Existentialists hold that ultimately each
of us is responsible for who we are and
what we become.
 Most existentialists take an anti-
theoretical position
Basic Concepts
Being-in-the-World – People live in a world that
can best be understood from their own
perspective. Thus, a basic unity exists between
them and their environment, a unity expressed
by the term Dasein, or being-in-the-world.
Three Modes of Being
Umwelt, or the environment around them;
Mitwelt, or their world with other people; and
Eigenwelt, or people’s relationship with
themselves.
Nonbeing – If people can be aware of
themselves as living beings, then they can also
be aware of the possibility of nonbeing or
nothingness.
Death is the most obvious form of nonbeing,
which can also be experienced as retreat from
life’s experiences.
stages of development
innocence: Lack of will other than the will to
survive
rebellion: People seek freedom, but don’t
understand the responsibilities that go with
them
ordinary: People feel overwhelmed by
demanding lifestyles and seek refuge in
conforming to norms or in traditional values
creative: An ideal adult who is close to self-
actualization
ANXIETY - People experience anxiety when they
become aware that their existence or
something identified with it might be
destroyed.
 It is the cause of every major crisis that
we face.
Fear is a reaction to a specific event, whereas
anxiety can be vague.
Normal Anxiety - Growth produces normal
anxiety, defined as that which is proportionate
to the threat, does not involve repression, and
can be handled on a conscious level.
Neurotic Anxiety - a reaction that is
disproportionate to the threat and that leads to
repression and defensive behaviors. Neurotic
anxiety blocks growth and productive action.
Guilt - We experience guilt when we don’t work
to our abilities
 Guilt arises whenever people deny their
potentialities, fail to accurately perceive
the needs of others
Intentionality - The structure that gives
meaning to experience and allows people to
make decisions about the future is called
intentionality.
Care, Love, and Will
Care is an active process that suggests that
things matter.
Love means to care, to delight in the presence
of another person, and to affirm that person’s
value as much as one’s own.
Will is the ability to organize oneself in order to
achieve one’s goals.
 His basic motivational construct is the
daimonic, the entire system of motives
called daimons different for each
individual.
 Daimons include lower needs, such as
food and sex, as well as higher needs,
such as love.
Forms of Love
Sex - A biological function that can be satisfied
through sexual intercourse
Eros - a psychological desire that seeks an
enduring union with a loved one. It may include
sex, but it is built on care and tenderness. Eros
can lead to the psychological growth of both
partners.
Philia - an intimate nonsexual friendship
between two people. It takes time to develop
and is not contingent on the actions of the
other person.
Agape - an altruistic or spiritual love that carries
with it the risk of playing God. a.k.a
unconditional love
Freedom and Destiny
 A blend of the four forms of love
requires both self-assertion and an
affirmation of the other person. It also
requires an assertion of one’s freedom
and a confrontation with one’s destiny.
Healthy individuals are able both to
assume their freedom and to face their
destiny.
 May (1967) said that “freedom is the
individual’s capacity to know that he is
the determined one”
 May (1981) defined destiny as “the
design of the universe speaking through
the design of each one of us”
Forms of Freedom
1. Existential Freedom (freedom of
action) - As exemplified by the ability to
move from place to place, to voice one’s
opinions, to change jobs, and so forth.
2. Essential Freedom (freedom of
being) - An inner freedom, a type of
liberty that is only achieved if we face
our destiny and recognize our mortality.
The Power of Myth
 May believed that the people of
Western civilization have an urgent
need for myths and, because they have
lost many of their traditional myths,
they turn to religious cults, drugs, and
popular culture to fill the vacuum.
 May’s last book was “The Cry for Myth”.
He pointed out that a big problem in
the twentieth century was our loss of
values.
Psychopathology
May saw apathy and emptiness—not anxiety
and guilt—as the chief existential disorders of
our time. Psychopathology is a lack of
connectedness and an inability to fulfill one’s
destiny.
Psychotherapy
The goal of May’s psychotherapy was not to
cure patients of any specific disorder, but to
make them more fully human. May said that
the purpose of psychotherapy is to set people
free, to allow them to make choices and to
assume responsibility for those choices.
Critique of May
May’s psychology has been legitimately
criticized as being anti-theoretical and unjustly
criticized as being anti-intellectual. May’s anti-
theoretical approach calls for a new kind of
science—one that considers uniqueness and
personal freedom. However, according to the
criteria of present science, May’s theory rates
low on most standards. Currently, his theory is
very low on its ability to generate research and
to guide action; low on internal consistency
(because it lacks operationally defined terms),
average on parsimony, and high on its
organizational powers due to its consideration
of a broad scope of the Human condition.
Concept of Humanity
May viewed people as complex beings, capable
of both tremendous good and immense evil.
People have become alienated from the world,
from other people, and, most of all, from
themselves. On the dimensions of a concept of
humanity, May rates high on free choice,
teleology, social influences, and uniqueness. On
the issue of conscious or unconscious forces, his
theory takes a middle position.