EXISTENTIAL AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGIES

Describes similarities and differences between existential psychology (EP) and individual psychology (IP). Both contend that life is strenuous and that decisions create meaning; both explain present functioning in terms of the future, emphasize developmental change throughout life, stress the importance of consciousness, and are more humanistically than behaviorally oriented. However, basic differences also exist. Two in particular seem fundamental: (1) EP emphasizes the role of personal choice more than does IP. In the latter, all persons are believed to experience some sense of inferiority, which is the basis for compensatory effort. In EP, feeling inferior indicates a decision that has been made; and the essence of human nature is the decision-making capability. (2) In IP, the goals of the life plan are conventional and socially valued, seen as compensating for universally felt inferiorities. In EP the "fundamental project" considered developmentally desirable would be generic rather than concrete, individualistic rather than social. Thus EP emerges as placing more value on behavioral variability, while IP values behavioral stability more highly. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved