Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
PSYCD006.
Course Title (CB02)
Introduction to Humanistic Psychology
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This is a survey of humanistic, existential-phenomenological psychology and Eastern thought. The course is a cross-cultural survey of humanistic personality principles including Western European existential-phenomenological psychology and the current and historical impact of Eastern thought.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is a major preparation requirement in the discipline of Psychology at the CSU and UC for the B.A. degree and is part of a series of general education courses designed to provide significant knowledge in the wide range of areas of Psychology. This course also contributes to the fulfillment of major requirements for the A.A. degree in Psychology. In addition, this course meets general education for °®¶¹´«Ã½, CSUGE, and IGETC and is UC and CSU transferable. This course is part of a sequence in the clinical and personality area and meets the needs of Psychology majors and G.E students as it details the history of Humanistic Psychology (Third Force in Psychology) and Existentialism.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG4XIGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class essays

Homework and extended projects

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Assignments

  1. Assigned readings from required text and references
  2. A written and oral group report produced by small (5 to 8 students) collaborative groups using the "case method" to critically analyze and evaluate a problem from within the course selected by the student or instructor.
  3. A research paper that examines a significant contemporary issue or problem in humanistic psychology selected by the student or instructor. The focus of the research paper will be on the summary, integration, critical analysis and/or synthesis of the theoretical perspectives and/or body of empirical data germane to the explication of the problem or issue examined. The majority of the source material for the research paper must be derived from primary sources and relevant psychological journal articles. The research paper should be 10 to 15 pages in length and follow the style and format of the American Psychological Publication Manual or other standard research paper format.

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Mid-term and final examinations using a combination of objective, short answer and essay questions to evaluate the student's grasp of the theories, core concepts, methods of inquiry and significant empirical data that comprise the course content. The essay component will require critical thinking and analysis and/or synthesis.
  2. Evaluate a collaborative individual oral and written report (80% mastery) as indexed by APA style workbook. A written and oral group report produced by small (5 to 8 students) collaborative groups using the "case method" to critically analyze and evaluate a problem from within the course selected by the student or instructor.
  3. Write a research paper that examines a significant contemporary issue or problem in humanistic psychology (selected by the student or instructor following the format and guidelines described above). The evaluation will be graded. The focus of the research paper will be on the summary, integration, critical analysis and/or synthesis of the theoretical perspectives and empirical data pertaining to the problem or issue examined. The majority of the source material for the research paper must be derived from primary sources, preferably from psychological journal articles. The research paper should be 10 to 15 pages in length and follow the style and format of the American Psychological Publication Manual.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Richard House (Editor), David Kalisch (Editor), and Jennifer Maidman (Editor), "Humanistic Psychology, Current Trends and Future Prospects" Routledge 2018.
Hilke Brockmann (Editor) and Jan Delhey (Editor), "Human Happiness and the Pursuit of Maximization: Is More Always Better?" Springer Nederlands, 2013.
Kirk J. Schneider (Editor), J. Fraser Pierson (Editor), and James F.T. Bugental (Editor), "The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology, Theory, Research and Practice" 2nd edition. Sage, 2015.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Bolen, J. "The Tao of Psychology". San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1982.
Buber, M. "I and Thou". New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958.
Frankl, V. "Man's Search for Meaning". Washington Square Press, 1955.
Giorgi, A. "Psychology as a Human Science: A Phenomenologically Based Approach". Brooks/Cole, 1976.
Greening, T. "Encounter Groups from the Perspective of Existential Humanism". In T. Greening (Ed.) Existential Humanistic Psychology. Brooks/Cole, 1976.
Heidegger, M. "Being and Time". New York: Harper and Row, 1962.
Husserl, E. "The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology". Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1970.
Koffka, K. Principles of Gestalt Psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovan., 1935.
Kapleau, P. "The Three Pillars of Zen". Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.
Kockelmans, J. "A First Introduction to Husserl's Phenomenology". Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, 1967.
Koffka, K. "Principles of Gestalt Psychology". New York: Harcourt Brace Jovan., 1935.
Lopez, S. J., Pedrotti, J. T., and Snyder, C. R., "Positive Psychology" 4th ed. Sage 2019.
Peterson, Tanya, J. "Mindfulness Journal for Anxiety", Althea Press, 2018.
Rogers, C. "A way of Being". Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
Sartre, J.P. "Being and Nothingness". New York: Philosophical Library, 1956.
Strasser, S. "Phenomenology and the Human Sciences". Duquesne University Press, Pittsburgh, 1963.
Valle, R. and King, M. "Existential-Phenomenological Alternatives for Psychology". New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
van Kaam, A. "Existential Foundations of Psychology. Duquesne University Press", Pittsburgh, 1966.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Recognize the historical and philosophical background of psychology
  • Recognize the interdisciplinary character of Psychology and identify the sub-fields of Psychology
  • Critically analyze and explain the nature of theory and the methods used of inquiry in traditional non-humanistic psychology
  • Critically analyze and compare the traditional Western epistemological and ontological assumptions and methods of inquiry associated with contemporary scientific methodology with the epistemological and ontological assumptions and methods of inquiry associated with humanistic psychology, existentialism, phenomenology and Eastern thought.
  • Explain and apply the basic constructs of humanistic, existential-phenomenological psychology to selected clinical and social problems in a diverse modern cultural environment giving attentions to issues of gender, racial, ethnic, physical diversity.
  • Interpret and analyze the traditional topic areas in contemporary psychology from the perspective of humanistic existential-phenomenological psychology and contrast compare and fuse these ideas into the current human potential emphasis.
  • Critically evaluate the problems and implications of the creative growth movement (historically) with the ongoing demand for current multicultural and gender sensitivity appropriate to modern psychology.

CSLOs

  • Explain major concepts, theories and methods of humanistic psychology.

  • Apply basic constructs in humanistic, existential-phenomenological psychology to selected clinical and social problems.

Outline

  1. Recognize the historical and philosophical background of psychology
    1. The Greek Philosophical Legacy
      1. Socrates: Socratic method; self-knowledge; uniqueness of the individual
      2. Plato: theory of forms; mind-body dualism; innate knowledge; empiricism vs. rationalism
      3. Aristotle: categorization of nature; inductive and deductive logic; syllogistic reasoning; causation; laws of association
      4. Epicureanism and the doctrine of hedonism
    2. The European Philosophical Legacy
      1. Rene Descartes: the mind-body problem and interactionism; skepticism and "cogito ergo sum"; innate knowledge; and Knowing anchored in consciousness and free will, not materialism
      2. Immanual Kant: a priori categories as innate mental structures; noumena vs. phenomena; integration of empiricism and rationalism
      3. Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger phenomenology and existentialism
      4. Medard Boss and Ludwig Binswanger existential foundations of medicine and Psychology
    3. British Empiricism and Associationism
      1. Thomas Hobbes: all knowledge is acquired through association based on the senses; human nature is basically bad and requires control
      2. John Locke: all knowledge is derived from experience; no innate knowledge mind is a blank slate at birth "tabula rasa"; environmental determinism; primary and secondary qualities
      3. George Berkeley: reality only exists to the extent that the mind perceives it; perception is the only reality we can be certain about
    4. Physiological Origins
      1. Charles Bell and Francois Magendie: sensory and motor nerves
      2. Johannes Muller and Emil De Bois-Raymond: specific nerve energies; electrical/chemical nature of neural transmission
      3. Hermann von Helmholtz: Speed of nerve impulse; reaction time; unconscious inference
      4. Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal: discovery of the neuron
      5. Pierre Flourens: extirpation of brain tissue and the localization of function
      6. Charles Sherrington: integrative actions of the nervous system; reflexology; excitatory and inhibitory synapses
      7. Charles Darwin: evolution; natural selection; adaptation; heredity; comparative psychology
      8. E. O. Wilson's Sociobiology and the origin of evolutionary psychology
    5. Experimental Origins
      1. Ernst Weber and Gestav Fechner: psychophysics; absolute and differential thresholds
      2. Wilhelm Wundt: first psychology laboratory 1879; Structuralism; introspection and the contents of consciousness
      3. Hermann Ebbinghaus: experimental investigation of memory
      4. Francis Galton: measurement of individual differences; statistics
      5. Ivan Pavlov: classical conditioning
    6. Freudian Psychoanalytic Origins
      1. Sigmund Freud's theory of personality, psychopathology and the techniques of Psychoanalysis
      2. Carl G. Jung's modifications of Freudian's theory.
      3. Alfred Adler's break with Freud and the growing emphasis on sociological factors.
      4. Neo-Freudian's including Karen Horney, Anna Freud and Eric Erikson
      5. Charles Darwin's survival of the fittest and natural selection
    7. Psychology in America
      1. Functionalism; William James; adaptation; pragmatism; stream of consciousness theory of emotion; habit
      2. Early Behaviorism; John B. Watson; stimulus-response associations; conditioned responses extreme emphasis on environmental factors
      3. Late Behaviorism; B. F. Skinner, Clark Hull, and Edward Tolman
      4. Gestalt psychology in America M. Wertheimer, K. Kofka and W. Kohler
      5. Humanistic-existential psychology; C. Rogers, A. Maslow, R. May and C. Buhler
      6. Cognitive psychology and the emergence of Cognitive Science and CBT as a new paradigm
      7. Martin Seligman and Positive Psychology
  2. Recognize the interdisciplinary character of Psychology and identify the sub-fields of Psychology
    1. Psychology as an interdisciplinary enterprise
      1. As a social science with ties to economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology
      2. As a behavioral science
      3. As a biological and health science
      4. As a cognitive behavioral science
    2. International character of psychology with active academic and professional representation in most major countries in the world.
    3. Subfields as recognized by the American Psychological Association.
      1. Biological Psychology
      2. Clinical Psychology
      3. Cognitive Psychology
      4. Developmental Psychology
      5. Educational Psychology
      6. Experimental Psychology
      7. Forensic Psychology
      8. Health Psychology
      9. Humanistic Psychology
      10. Industrial and Organization Psychology
      11. Social Psychology
      12. Sports Psychology
      13. Evolutionary Psychology
      14. Positive Psychology
  3. Analyze and explain the nature of theory and the methods used of inquiry in traditional non-humanistic psychology
    1. The nature of scientific theory
      1. Empirically based
      2. Systematic and precise
      3. The use of operational definitions of concepts and variables
      4. Testability and verifiability
      5. Falsifiability
      6. Parsimonious
      7. Use of inductive and deductive logic
    2. Observational Methods
      1. Naturalistic observation
      2. Unobtrusive observations
      3. Participant observation
    3. Case History Method
      1. Biases and selective reporting
      2. Clinical and developmental utility
      3. Limitations
    4. Surveys and questionnaires
      1. Representative samples
      2. Response bias
      3. Questionnaire design issues and problems
    5. Correlational Methods
      1. Bivariate approaches using selection rather than manipulation
      2. Correlation coefficients
      3. Cause - effect relationships
      4. Third variable problems
      5. Multiple correlation and multiple regression techniques
    6. Experimental Methods
      1. Independent variables, dependent variables and intervening variables.
      2. Operational definitions
      3. Problems of confounding
      4. Random selection and random assignment
      5. Placebo effects and experimenter bias
      6. Single blind , double blind and counterbalancing procedures
      7. Between - subjects designs
      8. Matched groups designs
      9. Repeated measures or within-subjects designs
      10. Factorial designs
      11. Single - subject designs
      12. Research ethics - APA ethical guidelines
    7. Statistical Methods
      1. Statistical controls
      2. Descriptive statistics
      3. Inferential statistics and hypothesis testing
  4. Analyze and compare the traditional Western epistemological and ontological assumptions and methods of inquiry associated with contemporary scientific methodology with the epistemological and ontological assumptions and methods of inquiry associated with humanistic psychology, existentialism, phenomenology and Eastern thought.
    1. History and philosophical background related to the development of humanistic psychology
      1. Greek legacy. Rationalism, empiricism, idealism, nativism, and mind-body dualism.
      2. The emergence of Humanism as a reaction against Scholasticism of British empiricism, John Locke, J. S. Mill, George Berkeley as providing the basis for the emergence of the scientific method
      3. Immanuel Kant's epistemology and humanistic psychology
      4. Structuralism, introspection and phenomenology
      5. Functionalism, William James and humanistic psychology
      6. Gestalt school - emphasis on the whole person
    2. Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic models
      1. Freud and psychic determinism
      2. Adler and the creative self
      3. Jung's emphasis on innate structures and teleology
    3. Behaviorism and humanism compared
      1. Watson's radical environmentalism
      2. Skinner's descriptive a theoretical behaviorism
      3. Bandura's cognitive behaviorism
    4. Historical development of phenomenology and existentialism
      1. Franz Brentano and intentionality
      2. S. Kierkegaard emphasis on choice, decision, and alienation
      3. Martin Heidegger and C. Jaspers, formal founders of existential philosophy
      4. Edmund Husserl's phenomenological reduction and the epoche
      5. Jean-Paul Sartre - existence before essence - choice as the main aspect of human life
    5. The development of phenomenological methodology
      1. Husserl's phenomenological method
      2. Thine's scientific phenomenology
      3. Phenomenology compared to traditional scientific methodology
      4. J. F. Rychlak and the psychology of rigorous humanism
    6. Existentialism and Humanism
      1. James Bugenthal's emphasis on authenticity
      2. Rollo May - love and will
      3. Maslow - self-actualization
      4. Rogers - client-centered therapy
      5. Fritz Perls and Gestalt therapy
      6. Victor Frankl, logotherapy and man's search for meaning
    7. Eastern thought and philosophy
      1. Buddhism
      2. Taoist Philosophy
      3. Hindu
      4. Ego-transcendence
  5. Explain and apply the basic constructs of humanistic, existential-phenomenological psychology to selected clinical and social problems in a diverse modern cultural environment giving attentions to issues of gender, racial, ethnic, physical diversity.
    1. Humanistic theoretical introduction past and present
    2. Humanistic psychology and contemporary human problems
      1. Racism
      2. Elitism
      3. Winning and losing
      4. Masculine and feminine roles
      5. Contemporary family problems
    3. Parallels in Eastern thought
      1. Purpose of life
      2. Role of work
      3. Concepts of physical/psychological development
      4. Religion and after life
      5. Gender roles and identity
    4. Design of humanistic solutions
      1. Education
      2. Family
      3. Social relationships
      4. Life span development
      5. Career and personal satisfaction
      6. "Mental illness"
  6. Interpret and analyze the traditional topic areas in contemporary psychology from the perspective of humanistic existential-phenomenological psychology and contrast compare and fuse these ideas into the current human potential emphasis.
    1. Developmental psychology
      1. Humanistic perspectives vs. traditional
      2. Health psychology/stress
      3. Modern careers
      4. Aging in the life span concept
    2. Motivation
      1. Maslow's hierarchy of need
      2. Social roles
      3. Choice and alternatives
    3. Mental illness and therapy
      1. What is mental illness from the humanistic perspective
      2. Inner vs. other directiveness
      3. The client knows
      4. Traditional labels
      5. Social systems and co-dependence
    4. Personality theory
      1. Differences in philosophical foundation
      2. Stream of consciousness vs. "The Ghost in the Machine"
      3. Existential phenomenological models-subject object analysis (epoche)
      4. Traditional humanistic theorists
  7. Analyze and evaluate the problems and implications of the creative growth movement (historically) with the ongoing demand for current multicultural and gender sensitivity appropriate to modern psychology.
    1. History of the growth movement
      1. Encounter groups
      2. Esalen
      3. Self realization (epoche)
      4. Gestalt analysis
    2. Contemporary problems in modern life
      1. Choice - free will
      2. Ethics and alternatives
      3. Intelligence and choice from alternatives
    3. The direction of modern human growth
      1. Dasignanalysis and existentialism
      2. Mindfulness and anxiety
      3. Being vs. non being
      4. Social responsibility
      5. Mindfulness and well being
      6. Mindful therapy (APA)
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