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Article 1: Dillon, J. J. (2008). Reclaiming humanistic psychology from modernity: Problems and solutions. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(2), 221–242. doi:10.1177/0022167807306988

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022167807306988

Learning Objective: 6 & 7

Summary: Abstract: This article begins as a lamentation over the historical demise of humanistic psychology programs in the United States and considers the critiques and alternatives to the humanistic tradition proposed during such transitions. The article isolates the core elements of the premodern humanistic tradition, outlines the central features of the cultural trend referred to as modernity, and shows how modernity has provided the fuel for most of the major critiques of and alternatives to the humanistic tradition. The article then shows how modernity has even influenced the way that humanistic psychology has appropriated its own premodern tradition. The article concludes with six concrete suggestions for reclaiming humanistic psychology from modernity hopefully setting it on a sounder, more valid, and potentially more effective course for the future.

Questions to Consider:

1. Discuss and explain the author’s suggestions for reclaiming humanistic psychology from modernity and why this is significant. Cognitive Domain: Analysis

2. The author posits that humanism springs from three separate but intimately related sources. Which area below is NOT one of those three? Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. Humanists of the Reformation
2. Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
3. Greek and Roman philosophy
4. Humanists of the medieval Renaissance

3.When ancient and Renaissance humanists inquired into the “nature” of human beings, they were referring to ______. Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

1. genes and biology
2. temperament construct
3. reflexive responses
4. isolating human distinctions
    

Article 2: DeRobertis, E. M. (2015). A neuroscientific renaissance of humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 55(3), 323–345. doi:10.1177/0022167814536617

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167814536617

Learning Objective: 5, 6, & 7

Summary: Abstract: Advances in cognitive neuroscience are creating a significant theoretical rapprochement between neuroscience and humanistic psychology. Since the decade of the brain, there has been a steady increase in neuroscientific research on characteristically humanistic topics such as selfhood, choice, and collaborative meaning making. Moreover, the fundamental postulates of humanistic psychology are playing a central role in a host of contemporary viewpoints within neuroscience. As a result, neuroscience is paving the way for a renewed appreciation of humanistic psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the contemporary currents of neuroscientific thought that are most notably supportive of humanistic psychology’s general understanding of human existence. The theoretical rapprochement between neuroscience and humanistic psychology suggests that humanistic psychology may benefit from enhancing its developmental and multicultural aspects. Humanistic psychology stands to further benefit from the development of an integrated, distinctly humanistic neuroscience viewpoint.

Questions to Consider:

1. Define and explain what the author calls humanistic neuroscience. Cognitive Domain: Analysis

2. Dynamic systems neuroscience provides a clear example of ______. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. mind-body dualism
2. isolated variables
3. neuroscientific holism
4. phenomenological processes

3. ______ is an attempt to integrate dynamic systems principles with phenomenological analyses of experience and experimental results from studies on biological functioning. Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

1. Reductionism
2. Neurophenomenology
3. Physicalism
4. Existential neuroscience
    

Article 3: Muramoto, S. (2011). Humanistic psychology as the quest for the identity of human being. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 51(4), 419–423. doi:10.1177/0022167811408911

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022167811408911

Learning Objective: 1, 3, & 7

Summary: Abstract: The philosophical foundation of humanistic psychology must be examined. In explicitly stating its postulates it may remain in the Kantian spell, but, in trying to overcome the dichotomy of phenomena and noumena, belong to the Romantic tradition. Further, it is also conscious of its humanistic tradition in historical diversity. The inquiry into the distinction of humans from other beings, especially computers, will lead to a more fundamental anthropological and ontological question. Needed is also the sensitivity to differences within and exclusions from the unitary concept of human being. While not necessary to change the basic postulates, it may be worthwhile to make them more dynamic and less one-sided by integrating their opposites or negative aspects. The uniqueness of humanistic psychology consists in the quest for the identity of human being.

Questions to Consider:

1. First, the Kantian postulate, on one hand, necessitates ______, a division of reality into phenomena. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. materialism
2. physicalism
3. triadism
4. dualism

2. According to the author, the basic postulates of humanistic psychology are nothing but its ______. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. cosmology
2. theology
3. anthropology
4. ontology

3. Discuss and explain this statement from the article: “Now every knowledge is conditioned by, performed in, and at the same time, forms history. It does not emerge in an abstract vacuum.” Cognitive Domain: Analysis