HK, have you read "Man's Search for Meaning"?

[NewYorkDragons80]

In my Christian Morality class we are reading "Man's Search for Meaning." It is such a great book. I can't put this thing down. HK, in your field, is Victor Frankl is he considered on of the most influential people?

"THOSE BASTARDS"
-Norman Schwartzkoff

"May God bless us in this trial, comfort us, strengthen our resolve, and make our justice as terrible and certain as His."
-Senator John McCain

"Neitzche is dead"
-God

[HordeKing1]

Viktor E. Frankl is considered the father of existentialism and as such has attracted support from various professions.

He believed that all motivation can be traced to the searh for meaning in one's life. His ultimate message is that we are responsible for our actions and their consequences. This is a viewpoint I hold dear.

But as far as "most influential" he is generally overshadowed by Sigmund and Anna Freud,(psychoanalysis) Erikson (pscyhosocial life stages) and Skinner (conditioning).


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[NewYorkDragons80]

Just wondering because on the cover of the book they tout him as second only to Freud.

"THOSE BASTARDS"
-Norman Schwartzkoff

"May God bless us in this trial, comfort us, strengthen our resolve, and make our justice as terrible and certain as His."
-Senator John McCain

"Neitzche is dead"
-God

[Se7en]

I took a LOT of psych classes in college, and I know this is blasphemy, but....

I'm sorry, Freud was fucked in the head.

EVERYTHING to that man was sex.

Patient: Ouch! Damn it! I stumped my toe on the table leg.
Freud: Ah, but your anger is not at your unfortunate injury, but because you are angry at your father for not allowing you to have sex with your mother.
Patient: Uh...what? No, I just stumped my toe.
Freud: A true sign of sexual repression!

I mean, I know the guy made great progress for the field, but....I'm just NOT a fan of his.

<img border="0" src="http://Se7enRFNet.homestead.com/files/RFnetSe7en.jpg" width="300" height="100">

Thank you, WWFallon! You are my Olympic Hero!

"Being a bastard WORKS."
--Spider Jerusalem

[NewYorkDragons80]

He did a lot for the way we look at the human mind, but I am not a fan of his either. You can figure out why.

"THOSE BASTARDS"
-Norman Schwartzkoff

"May God bless us in this trial, comfort us, strengthen our resolve, and make our justice as terrible and certain as His."
-Senator John McCain

"Neitzche is dead"
-God

[HordeKing1]

NYDRAGONS80 - And on the back of Trident it says 4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recomend chewing Trident. (They omit the part about recommending Trident over chewing tinfoil).

I hope you understand that I'm not minimizing his contributions to understanding our motivations. However, his ideas have been coopted by philosophers and he is not nearly as influential in the field of pscyhology as the other people I mentioned.

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[HordeKing1]

Frued was a genius on the levels of Copernicus and Darwin. They changed our perception of the world like no other before or after.

Before Freud there was no concept of the unconscious mind and cognitive development or even the very basic idea that childhood experiences affect adult behavior.

Although Freud's stages of psychosexual deveolpment are the most well known by the lay person, they are by far the most misunderstood of all his work. The lay person has typically not read Freud himself, but rather some high school or introductory college textbook summarizing (glossing over) the theory.

The Oedipal complex is a perfect example. The typical lay person has the mistaken idea that Freud believed that little boys want to kill their fathers and have sex, actual sex with the mother. That's not what the kid is looking for - He wants the mother's attention and love all to himslef to the exclusion of the father and siblings whom he perceives to be rivals for her attention. The kid doesn't have actual fantasies about his mom in a sexual way.

Frued did have a lot of wacky ideas. For example, Frued didn't view women as human, but rather as "other."

Even geniuses must live within the sociocultral context of their environment. Back then, women were considered to be inferior to men in every regard. Some of Frued's thoughts were shaped by the society he grew up in.

The people who knock Freud the most usually haven't studied, or have a poor concept of the man and his work.

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