PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES

Psychological Theories

Psychological Theories

Introduction

There are numerous psychological theories that are used to explain and predict a wide variety of behaviors. What exactly is the purpose of having so many psychological theories? These theories serve a number of important purposes.

Theories provide a framework for understanding human behavior, thought, and development. By having a broad base of understanding about the how's and why's of human behavior, we can better understand ourselves and others.

Theories create a basis for future research. Researchers use theories to form hypotheses that can then be tested.

Theories are dynamic and always changing. As new discoveries are made, theories are modified and adapted to account for new information. (Meichenbaum, 1977,23)

Transpersonal Perspective and the similarities with the others

While Hillman's Archetypal psychology attends to "soul," the vales, transpersonal psychology is concerned with the peaks, "spirit." In general, transpersonal psychologists are concerned with developing a psychology which integrates the wisdom of the world's spiritual traditions. As the term suggests, 'trans'- personal psychology attempts to place the individual within the greater cosmos beyond the self in which he or she is embedded. Like Jung, most transpersonal psychologists feel that religiosity and the "perennial philosophy" speak to a wisdom of the spiritual reality in which we participate and of which we are a part and product. It is an outgrowth of the humanistic movement and is influenced by its forerunner, Abraham Maslow, who felt that "self-actualization" involves a greater awareness of a spiritual dimension to existence. (Meichenbaum, Cameron, 1974, 103)

Brant Cortright has written of eight basic assumptions of transpersonal psychology:

"Our essential nature is spiritual."

"Consciousness is multidimensional."

"Human beings have valid urges toward spiritual seeking, expressed as a search for wholeness through deepening individual, social, and transcendent awareness."

"Contacting a deeper source of wisdom and guidance within is both possible and helpful to growth."

"Uniting a person's conscious will and aspiration with the spiritual impulse is a superordinate health value."

"Altered states of consciousness are one way of accessing transpersonal experiences and can be an aid to healing and growth."

"Our life and actions are meaningful."

"The transpersonal context shapes how the person/client is viewed." (Washburn, 1994, 4)

As Rolf von Eckartsberg and Robert Romanyshyn have emphasized, psychological and spiritual traditions are primarily metaphorical; they describe and organize human experience. Theory, then, is a map which should not be confused with the territory, and yet such maps are necessary for understanding. Transpersonal psyschology then is a way of seeing that is "spiritual", which aims to integrate and to unify, an effort to synthesize many different traditions into one coherent system. This is its strength as well as its weakness.

A spiritual way of seeing can often do a disservice to soul-making by neglecting the complexities and ambiguities -- and, above all, the differences -- between such traditions. It tends to paint in broad strokes, which can lead to missing the subtle nuances that give each tradition its unique character and integrity. The good news is that transpersonal approaches are a way to develop a common language ...