Term
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Definition
| involves speculation about human confrontation with very abstract questions regarding nature of existence and meaning of life - ideas typically considered too abstruse and intractable to be addressed by scientific method |
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Term
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Definition
| explanation of human behavior through "human information processing system" |
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Term
Existentialism - William Barrett |
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Definition
| "a philosophy that contains human situation in its totality to ask what the basic conditions of human existence are and how man can establish his own meaning out of these conditions" |
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Term
Existentialism - Otto Rank |
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Definition
| first theorist to incorporate existential concepts into broad theoretical conception of human behavior with theorizing role of twin fears of life and death in development of self in child and ongoing influence of these two forces across lifespan |
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Term
Existentialism - Irvin Yalom |
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Definition
| existential though as focused on human confrontation with fundamentals of existence and how we come to terms with basic concerns of life |
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Term
Four Basic Concerns of Life - Irvin Yalom |
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Definition
- death
- freedom
- existential isolation
- meaningless
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Term
Basic Concern of Life - Death |
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Definition
| conflict between the inevitability of death in animal and the instinct in that animal that desperately wants to live |
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Term
Basic Concern of Life - Freedom |
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Definition
| conflict between desire for self-determination and sense of groundlessness and ambiguity that results when one realizes that much of what happens in one's life is really up to oneself and that there are no absolute rules to live by |
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Term
Basic Concern of Life - Existential Isolation |
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Definition
| conflict arises because of the reality that no matter how close we become to one another, the fact remains that there is an unbridgeable gap in that we will never be able to experience life from any perspective but our own and that we enter existence alone and depart alone |
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Term
Basic Concern of Life - Meaningless |
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Definition
| conflicts stemming from the three basic concerns that the only certainty is death, meaning and value are subjective and not absolute truths, we can never experience other's experiences and they can never experience ours, lead to the conflict of life being seen as meaningless |
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Term
Other Existential Concerns |
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Definition
- how we fit into physical universe
- how we relate to nature
- how we deal with physical nature of our own bodies - beauty, spirituality, and nostalgia
- role of existential concerns in intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup conflict
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Term
Four Themes of Existential Psychology |
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Definition
- existential realities
- systems of meaning and value
- human connection
- freedom of the will
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Term
Theme of Existential Psychology - Four Topics of Existential Realities |
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Definition
- confrontation with death
- confrontation with trauma
- confrontation with body
- confrontation with nature
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Term
Theme of Existential Psychology - Three Topics on Meaning and Value |
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Definition
- focus on human quest for meaning
- focus on human identity
- focus on human significance
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Term
Theme of Existential Psychology - Seven Topics of Human Connection |
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Definition
- interpersonal dimensions
- attachment
- social identity
- shared subjective experience
- ostracism
- perspective taking
- shame and guilt
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Term
Theme of Existential Psychology - Four Topics of Freedom of the Will |
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Definition
- possibility of human freedom
- utilizing contributions from self-determination theory
- automaticity research
- German will psychology
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Term
Construct Pervading All Existential Concerns |
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Definition
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Term
Self-Awareness - Ernest Becker |
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Definition
| self-awareness is the most important feature that distinguishes human beings from animals and it is this self-awareness that sets the stage for existential terror that lead to the development of culture and humankind as we know it today |
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