Erich Fromm (Socio-analytical or Humanistic Psychology)

• Erich Fromm


  Socio-analytical theory / Humanistic psychoanalysis
• Introduction


  • All men are ultimately idealists and hope for a life beyond pure physical satisfaction
  • An individual has the capacity to solve his own problems
  • He created most of his problems
  • He doesn't look for quick solutions
• Man: 'Man is the only animal who finds his own existence a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape… man is the only animal who knows he must die.'
• Freedom versus Security


  As people have achieved more freedom, they have become more lonely, insignificant and alienated (or vice versa)
• Alienation from nature


  1. Man is no longer with nature

  2. Man has transcended nature but as a result (he) is left homeless, isolated and alienated

  3. To cope with these feelings of alienation people identify with their tribes or clans

  4. Membership provides acceptance, affiliation, and a set of customs and rules

  5. However, humans grow and develop, so security couldn't last

  6. Each period has been characterized by increasing movement away from the group and toward individuality
• Alienation


  High degree of freedom
• The Middle Ages (400 AD - 1400): The last era of stability


  1. Feudal system determined one's place in the society

  2. Renaissance and Protestant Reformation destroyed stability and security by increasing personal freedom

  3. The idea of individual came into being, however, with individuality came isolation and alienation, and bewilderment

  4. Freedom is a difficult thing to have, and when we can, we tend to flee from it
• Psychic escape mechanisms


  1. Authoritarianism

  2. Destructiveness

  3. Automaton conformity
• Authoritarianism


  • Fusing the self with others
  • Submit to the power
  • Becoming an authority
  • Extreme authoritarianism is masochism and sadism
  • Desire to eliminate threatening objects, persons, or institutions
  • Yields to: brutality, vandalism, humiliation, crime and terrorism (all the nastiness of life)
  • Other forms: drug addiction, alcoholism and passive entertainment
• Destructiveness


  • Person displays unconditional obedience to the prevailing rules that govern behavior
  • Automaton conformists experience a split between their genuine feelings and colors they show the world
• Positive freedom: 'Positive freedom as the realization of the self implies the full affirmation of the uniqueness of the individual.'
• Basic psychological needs


  • Relatedness
  • Transcendence
  • Rootedness
  • Identity
  • Frame of orientation
  • Excitation and stimulation
• Personality development in childhood

  1. Symbiotic relatedness

  2. Withdrawal-destructiveness

  3. Love
• Symbiotic relatedness


  • Children remain close to and dependent on their parents
  • Some members of the family are "swallowed up" by other members...that they do not develop personalities of their own
  • Exists in unproductive symbiotic families
• Withdrawal-destructiveness


  • Children distance and separate themselves from their parents
  • Passive and active forms of the parent-child relationship and which form the children's behaviors
  • Notable for its cool indifference or hatefulness
  • Found in unproductive withdrawing families
• Love


  • Most desirable form of parent-child interaction
  • Parents provide the greatest opportunity for their children's positive personality development
  • They teach their children
  • The children learn to acknowledge their freedom and to take responsibility
• Love leads to a good, healthy and productive family
• One's cultural and social conditions and opportunities are imperative in the satisfaction of the needs
• The coping process of an individual is a compromise between one's needs and what the environment is
• Non-productive character types


  • Receptive
  • Exploitative
  • Hoarding
  • Marketing
• Receptive


  • Highly dependent on others
  • A receiver in a relationship, needing to be loved rather than to love, and taking rather than creating
  • Individual feels incapable without outside help
• Exploitative


  • Takes from others by being forceful or cunning
  • What has to be forcibly taken or stolen has greater value than what is given freely
• Hoarding


  Derives security from amassing and preserving material possessions and personal thoughts and feelings
• Marketing


  • Values superficial qualities more than inner characteristics and abilities
  • One's personality becomes simply a commodity to be sold
• Productive character types


  • Productive
  • Being
  • Having
  • Biophilous
  • Necrophilous
• Productive


  • The ideal of self-development
  • Represents the ultimate goal of human development
  • Ability to use all his capacities and realize his potential and to develop the self
  • It is not just about creativity and acquisition of material things, but rather on the attitude one can attain
• Being


  • One defines himself in terms of what he is- self-worth comes from within
  • Not competitive and cooperates, loves and lives productively
  • Sharing with others increases enjoyment in life
• Having


  • Definition and meaning of one's life lies in possessions- people and intangibles (ideas)
  • Individual defines his value in terms of how well his possessions compare with those of others
  • Highly competitive and ceaseless in his struggle to surpass the worth of others
• Biophilous


  • Congruent with the productive orientation due to concern with personal growth and development
  • Individual is in love with life and attracted to creation and construction
  • Influence is carried by love, reason and example
  • Development is not only for the self but of others
  • View is toward the future
• Necrophilous


  • Attracted to inanimate objects and to things associated with death
  • Tends to dwell on the past and to be cold and aloof
  • Devotion to law and order
  • Use of power and force because individual's dreams center on murder, blood and skulls
• Humanistic communitarian socialism


  An ideal society in which love, brotherhood and solidarity characterises all human relationships
• Man's goal is to grow, to develop, to realize his potential
• Failure to attain a productive character type or to become what one has the potential to become, results in unhappiness or even mental illness. It can also lead to a propensity to become evil.
• Therapy


  • Built on a personal relationship with individuals (emphasis on relatedness) - to meet their existential needs, concentrate and be sincere
  • Dream analysis - similar with Jung
  • Patient should not be viewed as ill but as a person with the same needs as others
  • Concrete steps not provided
• Concept of humanity


  • Determinism vs. free choice - middle
  • Pessimistic (world is bad) but optimistic (humans are capable)
  • Social influence, but still biological
  • Moderate on similarity