COGNITIVE AND LEARNING THEORIES

JEAN PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE THEORY

- The theory of Jean Piaget differs from others in several ways
o It is concerned on children, rather than all learners.
o It focuses on development rather than learning
o It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather
than a gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc
- Three Basic Components
o Schemas (building blocks of knowledge) - a cohesive, repeatable action sequence
possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core
meaning. In more simple terms Piaget called the schema the basic building block of
intelligent behavior – a way of organizing knowledge.
o Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another
 Assimilation - which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or
situation.
 Accommodation - this happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does
not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.
 Equilibrium - This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed
that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps
and bounds. Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new
information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium
occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas
(assimilation). Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we
do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new
challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of
assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to
make an adjustment to it.
o Stage of Cognitive Development
 Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2)
 The main achievement during this stage is object permanence -
knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden.
 It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e., a schema) of
the object.
 SUB-STAGES
o Reflex Acts
o Primary Circular Actions – pleasurable actions centered to the
body.
o Secondary Circular Actions - pleasurable actions centered to
the body and involve the object.
o Coordinating Secondary Schemes – using acquired
knowledge to reach goal.
 o Tertiary Circular Actions – intentional adaptations to certain
situations.
o Symbolic Thought – transition stage of making mental
representations.
 Pre-operational stage (from age 2 to age 7) - During this stage, young children
can think about things symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing - a word
or an object - stand for something other than itself. Thinking is still egocentric,
and the infant has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.
 KEY FEATURES
o Centration
o Egocentrism
o Parallel Play
o Symbolic Representation
o Symbolic Play
o Animism
o Artificialism
o Irreversibility
 Concrete operational stage (from age 7 to age 11) - Piaget considered the
concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development because
it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought. This means the child
can work things out internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in
the real world).Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight
(age 9). Conservation is the understanding that something stays the same in
quantity even though its appearance changes.
 CONCRETE OPERATIONS
o Conservation
o Classification – classifying in terms of categories
o Seriation – classifying in terms of measurable properties (height
and weight)
o Reversibility
o Decentering – seeing other point of views
o Transitivity - relationships among
 Formal operational stage (age 11+ - adolescence and adulthood) - The
formal operational stage begins at approximately age eleven and lasts into
adulthood. During this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract
concepts, and logically test hypotheses.
 FEATURES
o Hypo-deductive reasoning
o Abstract Thought
- THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
o Pre-Moral (0-5 Years)
o Heteronomous Morality (5-9 Years) (Moral Realism) - Sees the world as an
unchangeable collection of rules and laws that are not under the control of any person.
Only thinks the consequences of the actions. Focuses more on the severity and
consequences of the behavior. Immanent Justice and Expiatory Punishment
o Autonomous Morality (9-10 Years) (Moral Relativism) - Child’s understanding that
rules are made by people for the people; should consider the concept of free will. Focus
more on the motive and intention of the behavior. Beyond the right or wrong dichotomy
 and punishment is not seen as to make the guilty suffer but to make things right again.
Moral Responsibility

AARON BECK COGNITIVE THEORY

- He developed a cognitive therapy which focuses on the way a person is thinking. It deals with
people's thoughts and behaviors and the impact that they have on that person. Instead of
focusing on working back to a person's past and childhood, cognitive therapy focuses on the
thoughts that the person is having at present.
- Rooted to his finding in the cognition of individuals with depression.
- THE COGNITIVE TRIAD
- The cognitive triad are three forms of negative thinking that are typical of individuals with
depression: namely negative thoughts about the self, the world and the future. These
thoughts tended to be automatic in depressed people as they occurred spontaneously. These will
lead to the forming of NEGATIVE SCHEMAS.
- People with negative self schemas become prone to making logical errors in their thinking and
they tend to focus selectively on certain aspects of a situation while ignoring equally relevant
information.
- Measurement of the Triad: Beck Depression Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Rosenberg
Self-Esteem Scale.
- COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS
- ARBITRARY INTERFERENCE: Drawing conclusions on the basis of sufficient or irrelevant
evidence.
- SELECTIVE ABSTRACTION: Focusing on a single aspect of a situation and ignoring others.
- MAGNIFICATION: exaggerating the importance of undesirable events.
- MINIMISATION: underplaying the significance of an event.
- OVERGENERALIZATION: drawing broad negative conclusions on the basis of a single
insignificant event.
- PERSONALISATION: Attributing the negative feelings of others to yourself.
- DICHOTOMOUS REASONING: Everything is black and white; polarities
- EXCESSIVE RESPONSIBILITY: I am responsible for all bad things that is happening
- SELF- REFERENCES : I am the center of everyone’s attention
- COGNITIVE-PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS
o Sociotropic - A type of dimension that is characterized by dependence on interpersonal
relationships and a need for closeness and nurturance.
o Autonomous - Independence and organized around goal setting, self-determination,
self-imposed, obligations.

- THE COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THEORY

- CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we
act (behavior) all interacts together. Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our
behavior. Therefore, negative and unrealistic thoughts can cause us distress and result in
problems. CBT aims to help people become aware of when they make negative interpretations,
and of behavioral patterns which reinforce the distorted thinking. Cognitive therapy helps people
to develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving which aims to reduce their psychological
distress.
- For depression and anxiety. The bread and butter of all therapies.
 - Came from the school of thought Stoicism by Epictetus – logic can be used to identify and
discard false beliefs that lead to destructive emotions.

- THE RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIORAL THEORY (ALBERT ELLIS)

- A-B-C MODEL (Activating experience/event, beliefs, consequences)
- Basic Irrational Assumptions
o The idea that one should be thoroughly competent at everything.
o The idea that is it catastrophic when things are not the way you want them to be.
o The idea that people have no control over their happiness.
o The idea that you need someone stronger than yourself to be dependent on.
o The idea that your past history greatly influences your present life.
o The idea that there is a perfect solution to human problems and it’s a disaster if you don’t
find it.
- Reframing - meaning to re-interpret it in a more realistic light. This helps the client to develop
more rational beliefs and healthy coping strategies.

JEROME BRUNER CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

- A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active process in
which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge.
The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions,
relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models)
provides meaning and organization to experiences and allows the individual to “go beyond the
information given”.
- Agrees with Vgotsky in terms of scaffolding
- THREE MODES OF REPRESENTATION - Modes of representation are the way in which
information or knowledge are stored and encoded in memory. Rather than neat age-related
stages (like Piaget), the modes of representation are integrated and only loosely sequential as
they "translate" into each other.
o Enactive representation (action-based) (0-1 years) - This appears first. It involves
encoding action based information and storing it in our memory. For example, in the form
of movement as a muscle memory, a baby might remember the action of shaking a rattle.
o Iconic representation (image-based) (1-6 years) - This is where information is stored
visually in the form of images (a mental picture in the mind’s eye).
o Symbolic representation (language-based) (7 years onwards) - This develops last.
This is where information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such as language.
This is the most adaptable form of representation, for actions & images have a fixed
relation to that which they represent.
- Importance of Language - Language is important for the increased ability to deal with abstract
concepts. Bruner argues that language can code stimuli and free an individual from the
constraints of dealing only with appearances, to provide a more complex yet flexible cognition.
- Education Implication
o Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student
willing and able to learn (readiness).
o Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (spiral
organization/spiral curriculum).
 o Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going
beyond the information given/discovery learning).

- BRUNER DISAGREES WITH PIAGET:

- Development is a CONTINUOUS PROCESS – not a series of stages
- The development of LANGUAGE is a cause not a consequence of cognitive development
- You can SPEED-UP cognitive development. You don’t have to wait for the child to be ready
- The involvement of ADULTS and MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE PEERS makes a big difference

LEV VGOTSKY SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY

- Develo

ALBERT BANDURA SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

- Develo

JULIAN ROTTER AND WALTER MISCHEL COGNITIVE

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
- Develo

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG THEORY OF MORAL

DEVELOPMENT
- The Theory of Moral Development is a very interesting subject that stemmed from Jean Piaget’s
theory of moral reasoning. Developed by psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, this theory made us
understand that morality starts from the early childhood years and can be affected by several
factors.
- LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH
- The best predictor of Moral Development is Educational Attainment
- To measure Moral Development
o Kohlberg Interview – L.KOHLBERG
o The Defining Issues Test (DIT) – JIM REST

- LEVELS AND STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

- Level 1: Preconventional Morality
- The first level of morality, preconventional morality, can be further divided into two stages:
obedience and punishment, and individualism and exchange.
o Stage 1: Punishment- Obedience Orientation
o Related to Skinner’s Operational Conditioning, this stage includes the use of punishment
so that the person refrains from doing the action and continues to obey the rules. For
example, we follow the law because we do not want to go to jail.
 o Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation
o In this stage, the person is said to judge the morality of an action based on how it
satisfies the individual needs of the doer. For instance, a person steals money from
another person because he needs that money to buy food for his hungry children. In
Kohlberg’s theory, the children tend to say that this action is morally right because of the
serious need of the doer.
- Level 2: Conventional Morality
- The second level of morality involves the stages 3 and 4 of moral development. Conventional
morality includes the society and societal roles in judging the morality of an action.
o Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation (Roles)
o In this stage, a person judges an action based on the societal roles and social
expectations before him. This is also known as the “interpersonal relationships” phase.
For example, a child gives away her lunch to a street peasant because she thinks doing
so means being nice.
o Stage 4: Law and Order/Societal Norms Orientation
o This stage includes respecting the authorities and following the rules, as well as doing a
person’s duty. The society is the main consideration of a person at this stage. For
instance, a policeman refuses the money offered to him under the table and arrests the
offender because he believes this is his duty as an officer of peace and order.
- Level 3: Postconventional Morality
- The post-conventional morality includes stage 5 and stage 6. This is mainly concerned with the
universal principles that relation to the action done.
o Stage 5 : Social Contract Orientation
o In this stage, the person is look at various opinions and values of different people before
coming up with the decision on the morality of the action.
o Stage 6 : Universal Ethical Principles Orientation
o The final stage of moral reasoning, this orientation is when a person considers universally
accepted ethical principles. The judgment may become innate and may even violate the
laws and rules as the person becomes attached to his own principles of justice.
o

GEORGE KELLY PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS THEORY

- “Theories of theories” (cannot compared to other theories)
- PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS – are actions our minds take that anticipate and interpret events
- Sees people as scientists
 PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES

SIGMUND FREUD PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

- Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis has endured because it: (1) postulated the primacy of sex and
aggression—two universally popular themes, (2) attracted a group of followers who were
dedicated to spreading psychoanalytic doctrine, and (3) advanced the notion of unconscious
motives, which permit varying explanations for the same observations.
- BASIC TENET - Human personality and behavior are powerfully shaped by early childhood
relationships. They believed that humans are primarily pleasure-seeking creature dominated by
sexual and aggressive impulses.
- LEVELS OF MENTAL LIFE
o Unconscious - includes drives and instincts that are beyond awareness but that
motivate most human behaviors. Freud believed that unconscious drives can become
conscious only in disguised or distorted form, such as dream images, slips of the tongue,
or neurotic symptoms.
 Repression
 Phylogenetic Endowment
o Conscious - plays a relatively plays a minor role in Freudian theory. Conscious ideas
stem from either the perception of external stimuli (our perceptual conscious system) or
from the unconscious and preconscious after they have evaded censorship.
o Pre-conscious/Subconscious - contains images that are not in awareness but that can
become conscious either quite easily or with some level of difficulty.
- Human behavior is motivated by strong internal forces called Triebe (drives or instincts) –
o Originate from id, but controlled by ego
o Fixed supply of psychic energy
o SEX (EROS) produces libido
 Love
 Narcissism
 Primary Narcissism
 Secondary Narcissism
 Sadism
 Masochism
o AGGRESSION (THANATOS)
- PROVINCES OF MIND
o EGO (Das ich) (Conscious, Preconscious, Unconscious)
 Executive Self
 First 2 years
 Secondary Process
 Reality principle
 Uses defense mechanism
 Repression
 Sublimation
 Denial
 Reaction formation
  Undoing
 Isolation
 Fixation
 Displacement
 Projection
 Introjection
o SUPEREGO (Das uber-ich) (Unconscious and Preconscious)
 Age 5 or 6 years
 Conscience (no to do) (moralistic principle) lead to Guilt
 Ego-ideal (to do) (idealistic principle) lead to Rewards or feelings of inferiority
 Morality Principle
 Product of the Oedipal Complex (Phallic Stage)
o ID ( Das es) (Unconscious)
 Core of Personality
 Present at birth
 Pleasure Principle
 Primary Process
- STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES)
o Infantile Stage (first 4 to 5 years)
 Oral Stage (birth to 18 months)
 Oral Receptive Phase
 Oral Sadistic Phase (emergence of teeth)
 FIXATION
o Oral Receptive/Dependent Character (too much)
o Oral Aggressive/Sadistic Character (frustration of needs)
 Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years old)
 Early Anal Period
o Fecal expulsion
o Destroying or losing objects
 Late Anal Period
o Friendly feces
o Fecal Possession
 FIXATION
o Anal-expulsive character (disorganized, creative, overly
generous)
o Anal –retentive (perfectionist, organized, rigid)
 Stinginess, Obstinacy, Orderliness (Anal Triad)
 Phallic Stage (3 to 4 or 5 years old)
 Male Phallic Phase – Oedipus Complex – Castration complex/Anxiety –
Identification with the father – Strong superego
 Female Phallic Phase – Castration Complex in from of penis envy –
Oedipus complex (to obtain penis, from father and hostility to mother) –
realization of the self-defeating theme of Oedipus complex –
identification with mother – weak Superego
 FIXATION
o Male – macho image, mama’s boy, over concern with
masculinity
 o Female – promiscuity and seductive ness, deceiving, hurting
men.
o Latency Period (5 to Puberty)
 Repression of sexual urges to sublimation of libidinal energy.
o Genital Period (Puberty onwards)
 Sexual Maturity
 Relationships
o Maturity
o ASSESMENT TECHNIQUES
 Free Association – Parapraxes (slip of the tongue)
 Dream Analysis – (manifest content – latent content)
 Transference
 Positive Transference
 Countertransference
 Negative Transference

ALFRED ADLER INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

- BASIC TENETS
o The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority.
o People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality.
o Personality is unified and self-consistent.
o The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest.
o The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life.
o Style of life is molded by people’s creative power
- STRIVING FOR SUCCESS AND SUPERIORTY
o Striving for Success – social interest
o Striving for Superiority – personal gain
o Striving force as compensation
- SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTIONS
o Fictionalism – teleogical view of the final goal.
o Physical Inferiority – subjective perceptions of inferiority
- UNIFIED AND SELF CONSISTENT
o Organ Dialect - People often use a physical disorder to express style of life, a condition
Adler called organ dialect, or organ jargon
o Conscious and unconscious processes are unified and operate to achieve a single goal.
The part of our goal that is not clearly understood is unconscious; that part of our goal we
fail to fully comprehend is conscious.
- STYLE OF LIFE – shaped by people’s creative power, well set at age 4 or 5 years. Psychological
Healthy individuals have flexible and diverse style of life.
o Ruling Type – striving for personal superiority
o Getting Type – relying indiscriminately on others
o Avoiding Type - person who lacks the confidence to confront problems and avoids or
ignores them
o Socially-useful Type - person who actively and courageously confronts and solves his or
her problems in accordance with social interest.
- BASIC MISTAKES
 o Overgeneralizations
o False or impossible goals of security
o Misperceptions of life and life’s demands
o Minimization or denials of one’s worth
o Faulty values
- ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT – lack of social interest
o Dogmatic style of life
o Live in their own private world
o Setting goals too high
o EXTERNAL FACTORS OF MALADJUSMENT
 Exaggerated feelings of inferiority
 Neglected style of life
 Pampered style of life
o SAFEGUARDING TENDENCIES – protection of self-esteem from public disgrace, found
mostly on neurotic people, can be partly conscious,
 Excuses - “as if” or “as if only”
 Aggression
 Depreciation – undervalue other people’s achievement or one’s own.
 Accusation – blaming other people for failure.
 Self-Accusation – self-torture or guilt, masochism, suicide, depression.
 Withdrawal
 Moving backward – move to more secure period of life, Freud’s concept
of regression.
 Standing Still – avoiding responsibilities.
 Hesitating – procrastination, compulsion, unfinished work
 Constructing Obstacles – creates own problems, less severe
- MASCULINE PROTEST - Both men and women sometimes overemphasize the desirability of
being manly, a condition Adler called the masculine protest . The frequently found inferior status of
women is not based on physiology but on historical developments and social learning. Boys are
often taught early that being masculine means being courageous, strong, and dominant . The
ultimate accomplishment for boys is to win, to be powerful, to be on top. In contrast, girls often learn
to be passive and to accept an inferior position in society . In contrast to Adler's more democratic
attitude, Freud believed that anatomy is destiny and that women occupy the 'dark continent" of
psychology . Near the end of his life, Freud was still asking what women wanted. According to
Adler, Freud's attitudes toward women would be evidence of a person with a strong masculine
protest. In contrast to Freud's views on women, Adler assumed that women —because they have
the same physiological and psychological needs as men —want more or less the same things that
men want.
- BIRTH ORDER
o First Born – intensified feeling of superiority, overprotective high anxiety, achievers.
o Second Born – cooperation and social interest, moderate competitiveness.
o Youngest – most pampered, high risk of being problem child, strong feelings of inferiority,
lack sense of independence, highly motivated to exceed older siblings, seek unique
identity,
o Only Child – against mother or father, inflated self-concept socially mature, exaggerated
sense of superiority
- ASSESMENT TECHNIQUES
o Family Constellation
 o Early Recollections – reliable method to determine one’s style of life.
o Dreams – provide clues in solving future problems.

CARL JUNG ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

- He saw people as extremely complex beings that are a product of both conscious and
unconscious personal experiences. However, people are also motivated by inherited remnants
that spring from the collective experiences of their early ancestors.
- LIBIDO - It is the creative life force that could be applied to the continuous psychological growth
of the person.
LEVEL OF THE PSYCHE (It is a construct to represent all of the interacting systems within
human personality that are needed to account for the mental life and behavior of the person.)
o Conscious
 Resides the EGO, secondary to SELF
 EGO- center or seat on consciousness.
o Unconscious
 Personal Unconscious – All repressed, forgotten, or subliminal perceived
experiences of one individual
 COMPLEXES - Emotionally toned conglomeration of emotionally toned
ideas. (Word Association)
 Collective Unconscious
 ARCHETYPES
o Persona and Shadow (1st test of courage)
o Anima and Animus (2nd stage of courage)
o Great Mother
o Wise Old Man
o Hero
 (Active Imagination)
o Self – center of personality
 Carl Jung is the first who studied Self-Actualization
 Transcendence – to bring opposing forces into balance.
 Represented by the Mandala.
 Self Realization
o JUNGIAN PRINCIPLES
 Principle of Opposites – seeks balance, for every reaction there is an equal
and opposite reaction.
 Principle of Entropy –tendency of balance, or equal representation of the sides.
 Principle of Equivalence – libidinal energy and equally given to both sides, over
valuing is to the expense of the other side.
 Causality and Teleology – both motivated by the past and experience and
anticipation of the future.
 Progression and Regression - To achieve self-realization people must adapt to
both their external and their internal worlds. Progression involves adaptation to
the outside world and the forward flow of psychic energy, whereas regression
refers to adaptation to the inner world and the backward flow of psychic energy.
 Jung believed that the backward step is essential to a person's forward
movement toward self-realization.
o PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES
 ATTITUDES – way of energy, predisposition to act or react
 Introversion - characterized by a retiring and reflective approach to life.
 Extraversion - characterized by an outgoing and relatively confident
approach to life.
 FUNCTIONS – way of perceiving the worlds.
 Sensing – senses, concrete experience without the use of reason.
Irrational function. Interprets using the presence of physical stimuli.
 Thinking – use of reason and logic. Rational function. We judge
according to what it is.
 Feeling – evaluation of event, whether good or bad, acceptable or
unacceptable. Rational function. We judge according to the worth
 Intuiting – hunches. Irrational function. Interprets by the works beyond
the consciousness.
 Extraverted thinking type: characterized in a positively by an ability to organize
masses of facts into a coherent theory, and in negatively by a selfish and
exploitative attitude toward others
 Introverted thinking type: characterized positively by imagination and an ability
to think originally and boldly, and negatively by social ineptness
 Extraverted feeling type: characterized positively by an acceptance of the
standards of society, and negatively by a change in emotions from situation to
situation
 Introverted feeling type: characterized positively by intense feelings of
sympathy for others who have experienced misfortune, and negatively by
shyness and inaccessibility
 Extraverted sensing type: characterized positively by an appreciation for the
arts, and negatively by crude pleasure seeking
 Introverted sensing type: characterized positively by the intensity of subjective
sensations, and negatively by oversensitivity and obtuseness
 Extraverted intuitive type: characterized positively by a quick grasp of the
creative possibilities in various ventures, and negatively by impatience and
flightiness
 Introverted intuitive type: characterized positively by the ability to envision the
future, and negatively by an inability to communicate effectively with others. Carl
Jung’s Type.
- STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
o Childhood
 Anarchic Phase – islands of consciousness, chaotic, unorganized, primitive
images
 Monarchic Phase – development of ego, logical and verbal thinking, views self
in third person and objectively.
 Dualistic Phase - ego as perceiver, ego as subjective and objective, first person.
o Youth – period of extraversion, puberty, Conservative Principle (desire to live in the past)
o Middle Life – period introversion, most important stage, age 35 to 40.
o Old Age finding meaning in death.
- SELF RELIAZATION
 o Self-realization, or individuation, involves a psychological rebirth and an integration of
various parts of the psyche into a unified or whole individual. Self-realization represents
the highest level of human development.

ERIK ERIKSON PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

KAREN HORNEY PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL THEORY

- Karen Horney's psychoanalytic social theory, assumes that social and cultural conditions,
especially during childhood, have a powerful effect on later personality. Like Melanie Klein,
Horney accepted many of Freud's observations, but she objected to most of his interpretations,
including his notions on feminine psychology.

- THE IMPACT OF CULTURE - Horney insisted that modern culture is too competitive and that
competition leads to hostility and feelings of isolation. These conditions lead to exaggerated
needs for affection and cause people to overvalue love.

- THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES - Neurotic conflict stems largely from

childhood traumas, most of which are traced to a lack of genuine love. Children who do not
receive genuine affection feel threatened and adopt rigid behavioral patterns in an attempt to gain
love. Two basic needs in childhood: Safety and Satisfaction.
- Competition - Basic Evil – Basic Hostility – Basic Anxiety – Neurotic Trends – Intrapsychic
Conflict
- BASIC EVIL - Behavior of parents that undermines a child’s security.
- BASIC HOSTILITY - Repressed feelings of rage when children fear that their parents will not
satisfy safety and satisfaction
- BASIC ANXIETY - Feelings of isolation and helplessness in a potentially hostile world,
generalized basic hostility, Nutritive soil of neurosis
o To protect themselves from Basic Anxiety, people us Protective Devices
 Affection
 Submissiveness
 Power, Prestige, Possession
 Withdrawal

BASIC
CONFLICT OR
NORMAL
NEUROTIC TREND SOLUTION NEUROTIC NEEDS SOURCE OF
ANALOG
NEUROTIC
TREND
Power
Moving Against Exploitation Ability to
Protection
People Expansive Prestige or Social survive ina
against hostility
“Aggressive/Hostile Solution Recognition competitive
of others
Personality” Personal Admiration society
Personal Achievement
Moving Towards
Affection and approval
People Self-Effacing Feelings of Friendly,
Powerful Partner
“Compliant Solution Helplessness loving
Narrow limits to life
Personality”
Self-sufficiency and
independence
Moving Away from
Resignation Feelings of Autonomous,
People
Solution Perfection and isolation serene
“Detached People”
unassailability

- INTRAPSYCHIC CONFLICT
o Idealized Self-Image - People who do not receive love and affection during childhood
are blocked in heir attempt to acquire a stable sense of identity. Feeling alienated from
self, they create an idealized self-image, or an extravagantly positive picture of
themselves.
 Neurotic Search for Glory
 Neurotic Claims
 Neurotic Pride
o Self-Hatred
 “Tyranny of Should”
- SECONDARY ADJUSMENT TECHNIQUES -second to Neurotic Trends
o Blind Spots – “repression to Freud”, denying or ignoring certain aspects of an
experience because they are not in accordance with one’s idealized self-image.
o Compartmentalization - dividing one’s life into various compartments with different rules
applying to them
o Rationalization - good reasons to excuse conduct that are otherwise anxiety provoking
of emotion
o Excessive Self-Control - guarding against anxiety by controlling an expression • similar
to neurotic need to live a life with narrow limits
o Externalization - feeling that all of the major influences in life are external to one’s self ,
the person does not feel responsible for himself or his actions, same with projection
o Arbitrary Rightness - when an issue arises that have no clear solution, the person
arbitrarily chooses one solution, thereby ending in debate.
o Elusiveness - never making a decision about anything so that he or she can never be
proven wrong and criticized or ridiculed by others
o Cynicism - does not believe in anything so that he or she cannot be hurt or disappointed
by others
- ASSESMENT TECHNIQUES - Goal: To create a realistic relationship between the real self and
the ideal self; to make clients accept themselves for what they really are and thus develop
realistic goals for the future.
ERICH FROMM HUMANSITIC PSYCHOANALYSIS
- Sees people from the perspective of psychology, history, and anthropology. Influenced by Freud
and Horney, Fromm developed a more culturally oriented theory than Freud and a much broader
theory than Horney
- BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
o Fromm believed that humans have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature
and left with no powerful instincts to adapt to a changing world. But because humans have
acquired the ability to reason, they can think about their isolated condition—a situation
Fromm called the human dilemma. Dichotomies, a two-pronged dilemma that has no
solution because none of the alternatives is entirely satisfactory.
- HUMAN NEEDS/EXISTENTIAL NEEDS

HARRY STACK SULLIVAN INTERPERSONAL THEORY

- Theories

HEINZ KOHUT SELF-PSYCHOLOGY

ANNA FREUD EGO PSYCHOLOGY

DAN MCADAMS PERSONAL NARRATIVES AND LIFE STORY

OBJECT RELATIONS THEORIES

MARGARET MAHLER SEPARATION-INDIVIDUATION THEORY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

JOHN BOWLBY EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF ATTACHMENT

MARY AINSWORTH ATTACHMENT THEORY

HUMANISTIC/EXISTENSIAL THEORIES

Difference between Existential and Humanistic Psychology

Existential Humanistic
Subject of Inquiry Human existence Human self
Ontological position Existence precedes essence Essence precedes existence
 Future gives the present The ‘here and now” gives the
Temporal Orientation
meaning present meaning
Awareness and acceptance of Awareness and acceptance of
Therapeutic Goals
human condition human self.
Growth motivator Anxiety Actualizing Tendency
Optimal functioning State of Being Process of Becoming
The good life The search of meaning The search of self

CARL ROGERS PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

ABRAHAM MASLOW HOLISTIC DYNAMIC THEORY

VICTOR FRANKL LOGOTHERAPY

- Victor Frankl developed a theory that it is through a search for meaning and purpose in life that
individuals can endure hardship and suffering.
- “Man’s Search of Meaning”
- It is considered the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy" after Freud's psychoanalysis and
Adler's individual psychology. Logotherapy is based on an existential analysis focusing on
Kierkegaard's will to meaning as opposed to Adler's Nietzschean doctrine of will to power or
Freud's will to pleasure.
- “LOGO’s” (Meaning)
- Operational Outputs
o Crumbaugh and Maholick's Purpose in Life (PIL) test, which measures an individual's
meaning and purpose in life. (Presence of Meaning)
o Seeking of Noetic Goals Test (SONG) (Orientation towards meaning)

FUNDAMENTALS OF LOGOTHERAPY

- Core Properties - Frankl believed in three core properties on which his theory and therapy were
based:
o Each person has a healthy core.
o One's primary focus is to enlighten others to their own internal resources and provide
them tools to use their inner core.
o Life offers purpose and meaning but does not promise fulfilment or happiness.
- Basic Assumptions
o Body (Soma), Mind (Psyche) and Spirit (Noos)
 oLife Has Meaning in all Circumstances – Existential Vacuum, when a man
experiences a loss of meaning in life; he remains in a state of experiential crisis.
Noogenic Neurosis, Neurosis due to meaningless life.
o Human Have Will To Meaning – the primary motivational force of man.
o Freedom to Find Meaning – Freedom and Responsibility – humans are essentially
free and he must accept the responsibilities for directing his own life. Although man’s
freedom is basically bound by certain limitations because he is not free from
circumstances and conflicts.
o Meaning of the moment - for decisions to be meaningful, individuals must respond to
the demands of daily life in ways that match the values of society or their own
conscience.
o Individuals are unique
- THERAPEUTIC TECHINIQUES
o Dereflection - aimed at helping someone focus away from themselves and toward other
people, so that they can become whole and spend less time being self-absorbed about a
problem or how to reach a goal.
o Paradoxical Intention - a technique that has the patient wish for the thing that is feared
most. This was suggested for use in the case of anxiety or phobias, in which humour and
ridicule can be used when fear is paralyzing. For example, a person with a fear of looking
foolish might be encouraged to try to look foolish on purpose. Paradoxically, the fear
would be removed when the intention involved the thing that was feared most.
o Socratic Dialogue - would be used in logotherapy as a tool to help a patient through the
process of self-discovery through his or her own words. In this way, the therapist would
point out patterns of words and help the client to see the meaning in them. This process
is believed to help the client realize an answer that is waiting to be discovered.

LUDWIG BINSWANGER EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS

MEDARD BOSS DASEINANALYSIS

MARTIN HEIDEGGER

SOREN KEIRKEGAARD

PAUL TILLICH

ROLLO MAY EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY

- May is greatly influenced by 19th and 20th century philosophers.
- MAIN IDEA: Essentially, May saw people living in the world of present experiences and
ultimately being responsible for who they become. May believed that may people lack the
courage to face their destiny and while in the process of fleeing from it, they give up much of their
freedom. Having negated their freedom, they likewise run away from responsibility. Not being
 willing to make choices, they lose sight of who they are and develop a sense of insignificance and
alienation.
- In contrast, healthy people challenge their destiny, cherish their freedom, and live authentically
with other people and themselves. They recognize the inevitability of death and have the
courage to live life in the present.
- BEING-IN-THE-WORLD (Dasein)
o Umwelt – the environment around us. (world around)
o Mitwelt – world with other people. (with the world)
o Eigenwelt – our relationship with one’s self. (own world)
- NOT BEING-IN-THE-WORLD
o Non-being
o Dread of nothingness
o Fear of death, not making active choices, living defensively.
- ANXIETY (Kierkegaard – “anxiety is the dizziness of freedom)
o When we become aware of our existence or some value identified with it might be
destroyed
o Normal anxiety occurs when it is proportionate to the threat, doesn’t involve repression,
or other forms of intrapsychic conflict
o Neurotic anxiety occurs when it is disproportionate to the threat, does involve
repression, or does involve other forms of intrapsychic conflict.
- GUILT - arises when people deny their potential, fail to accurately perceive the needs of fellow
human, or remain oblivious to their dependence on the natural world
- INTENTIONALITY - People act with intention. Intention and action are woven together.
- CARE, LOVE, & WILL, too, are interrelated. Love requires knowing how to care for someone.
Care however is the source of love. Will organizes one into action and toward a goal.
- Forms of Love
o Sex (physical)
o Eros (psychological)
o Philia (intimacy between two people)
o Agape (concern for others, brotherly love)
- He is also the only existential psychologist aware of who discusses certain stages of
development:
o Innocence -- the pre-egoic, pre-self-conscious stage of the infant. The innocent is
premoral, i.e. is neither bad nor good. Like a wild animal that kills to eat, the innocent is
only doing what he or she must do. But an innocent does have a degree of will in the
sense of a drive to fulfil their needs.
o Rebellion -- the childhood and adolescent stage of developing one’s ego or self-
consciousness by means of contrast with adults, from the “no” of the two year old to the
‘no way” of the teenager. The rebellious person wants freedom, but has as yet no full
understanding of the responsibility that goes with it. The teenager may want to spend
their allowance in any way they choose.
o Ordinary -- the normal adult ego, conventional and a little boring, perhaps. They have
learned responsibility, but find it too demanding, and so seek refuge in conformity and
traditional values.
o Creative -- the authentic adult, the existential stage, beyond ego and self-actualizing.
This is the person who, accepting destiny, faces anxiety with courage
- Daimons (or little God) – is the primary motivational construct of May. (Daimonic Possessions)

- “REASSUMING OUR RELATION TO EXISTENCE”

 - “BEING OVER SUBSTANCE”
- Existential Psychotherapy – deep change; holistic approach to the reality of one’s life “I am
experience”. Living in the existential decisiveness. Expanding consciousness.
- Ontological Repression – loss of the sense for the depth of existence. (too much doing, not
enough being)
- Epistemological Experience – lot of what we know is not relevant into defining our Being.
- Two Types Of Freedom (Assertion of one’s freedom requires confronting one’s destiny!)
o Existential Freedom – freedom of doing/action.
o Essential Freedom – freedom of being
- Distortion of Freedom and Responsibility
o Distrust of Freedom – “we can’t really take care of ourselves”
o Full-freedom assumption – “I am free, with no limits and boundaries”

DISPOSITIONAL/ THEORIES
GORDON ALLPORT PSYCHOLOGY OF THE INDIVIDUAL

RAYMOND BERNARD CATTELL FACTORY ANALYTIC APPROACH

HENRY MURRAY PERSONOLOGY

HANS EYSENCK BIOLOGICALLY BASED FACTOR THEORY

ROBERT R. MCRAE AND PAUL T. COSTA FIVE FACTOR TRAIT THEORY

DAVID BUSS EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

BEHAVIORIAL THEORIES
BURRHUS FREDERIC SKINNER BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS

IVAN PAVLOV CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

CONSTITUTIONAL THEORIES

KURT GOLDSTIEN ORGANISMIC THEORY

 - Kurt Goldstein (November 6, 1878 – September 19, 1965) was a German neurologist and
psychiatrist who created a holistic theory of the organism.
- ORGANISMIC THEORIES - treating the organism as a unified, organized whole rather than
"atomizing" the individual into elementary particles of feelings, images, and sensations). Gestalt
Psychology
- The central features of organismic theory, as regards a theory of personality are the following:
o an emphasis on the unity, consistency, coherence, and integration of the personality -
where organization is normal, and disorganization is pathological;
o a belief that the organized system of the organism may be analyzed by differentiating the
whole into its constituent membership parts - where the whole organism functions
according to the laws that cannot be found in study of the isolated parts separately;
o an assumption that the person is motivated by sovereign drive ("self-
actualization/realization") rather than by a plurality of drives - where a singleness of
purpose gives direction to the person's life;
o a tendency to stress the inherent potentialities of the organism for growth - where the
influence of the external environment on normal development is minimized;
o and a belief in the advantages of studying comprehensively one individual rather than
studying one isolated psychological function in many persons.
- PRIMARY ORGANIZATION OF ORGANISMIC FUCNTIONING
o Figure (any foreground process or conscious action that emerges and stands out as a
contour against a background surface) and;
o Ground (the continuous, often unconscious, background or surrounding environment).
- Goldstein distinguishes between different kinds of structural behavior:
o Performances - consciously experienced, voluntary activities;
o Attitudes - inner experiences such as moods and feelings; processes - indirect
experiencing of bodily functions;
o Concrete behavior -automatically responding to a stimulus; and
o Abstract behavior - the organism acting on a stimulus after cognitively considering it.
- Goldstein described the dynamics of the organism by developing the concepts of
equalization –
- Average state of tension in the organism that acts as the "center" of the individual;
- The Principle of Equalization - explains the orderliness, coherence, and consistency of
behavior;
- Self-actualization/self-realization -the predominant motive that an organism possesses
whereby all other drives, such as power, sex, hunger, and curiosity, are merely subordinate
entities;
- Self-actualization is the fulfilment and replenishment of one's needs; and coming to terms with
the environment -the interaction between the organism and the environment where the person
attempts to master the challenges of the environment, such as overcoming the physical and
psychological threats and pressures that jeopardize one's drive toward self-actualization.
- ORGANISMIC PARADOX

WILLIAM SHELDON’S BODY TYPE PERSONALITY

THEORY
- William Herbert Sheldon – American Psychologist developed a theory that classifies based on
body types
- BODY TYPES
o Endomorphic – (Viscerotonic Personality) (fat)
 Sociable, comfort-loving, loves fine food, and tends to eat too much
o Mesomorphic – (Somatonic Personality) (well proportioned)
 Energetic, active
o Ectomorphic – (Cerebronic Personality) (slim)
 Restraint, inhibited, avoids social contact
- Somatotype – system of classification of human physical types; determined by three digits of
endomorphy, mesomorphy, ectomorphy.

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
KURT KOFFKA, MAX WERTHEMIER & WOLFGANG KOHLER GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

FILIPINO PSYCHOLOGY

ADDITIONAL
KAZIMIERZ DABROWSKI POSITIVE DISINTIGRATION THEORY

SUFISM PSYCHOLOGY

ZEN BUDDHISM PSYCHOLOGY

PERSONAL NARRATIVES