Existentialism vs. Humanism: Personality Theory Compared
This paper examines two major approaches to personality theory — existentialism and humanism — exploring their philosophical foundations, key thinkers, and practical implications for understanding human behavior. Drawing on the work of Kierkegaard, Sartre, Maslow, and Rogers, the paper contrasts existentialism's emphasis on radical freedom, anxiety, and self-creation with humanism's optimistic focus on self-actualization and inherent human worth. It further analyzes how each perspective shapes personality characteristics, situational behavior, and interpersonal relationships, ultimately arguing that the humanist framework offers a more socially engaged and fulfilling model of human existence.
- Introduction to Personality Theory: Overview of personality, its influences, and study approaches
- Existentialism and Humanism Defined: Philosophical origins and core tenets of each theory
- Maslow, Rogers, and the Humanist Framework: Hierarchy of needs and the fully functioning person
- Personality in Situational Behavior: How each theory shapes responses to daily situations
- Personality Characteristics: Contrasting existentialist burden with humanist resilience
- Interpersonal Relational Aspect: Relational capacity of existentialists versus humanists
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently applies two competing theoretical frameworks — existentialism and humanism — to the same domains (situational behavior, personality characteristics, interpersonal relationships), creating a clear and readable parallel structure throughout.
- It grounds abstract philosophical concepts in concrete, everyday scenarios (e.g., the existentialist deciding what to do each minute upon waking), making difficult ideas accessible to a general undergraduate audience.
- The paper appropriately synthesizes multiple sources (Boeree, Corbett, AllPsych) and moves logically from definition and theory to applied behavioral analysis.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates comparative analysis as its central technique. Each major section presents the existentialist position first and then contrasts it with the humanist view, enabling the reader to evaluate the two theories side by side rather than in isolation. This method is particularly effective for personality theory essays, where competing frameworks must be distinguished clearly.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief overview of personality theory and its study methods, then defines existentialism and humanism in turn. It surveys Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Rogers' fully functioning person before applying both theories to situational behavior, personality traits, and interpersonal relationships. The progression moves from the conceptual to the applied, ending with a relational comparison that reinforces the paper's implicit preference for the humanist model.
Introduction to Personality Theory
Personality refers to the unique set of relatively constant behaviors and mental processes in a person and his or her interactions with the environment (Kevin, 2011). It is generally accepted that personality is influenced by genetics — in the form of dispositions or temperament — at roughly 40–60%, with the remainder shaped by the environment. The tasks of the psychologist are to characterize and describe personality traits, investigate the relationship between those traits and behavior, and understand and predict behavior from them. The major approaches to the study of personality include the descriptive, biological or genetic, learning, psychodynamic, and humanistic, existential, or phenomenological perspectives (Kevin, 2011).
Existentialism and Humanism Defined
Existentialism is difficult to define, partly because those who conceived it denied that they had started a movement or that it even constituted one (Corbett, 1985). It can be vaguely described as a spirit or atmosphere characterizing one's response to human existence. Among its precursors were Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, who were later joined by Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Camus (Corbett, 1985). Existentialism uses phenomenology as its philosophical method — the careful and thorough study of phenomena, a discipline created by Edmund Husserl. Phenomena consist of the contents of consciousness that one experiences; phenomenology allows those experiences to reveal themselves to consciousness without bias. This method has been applied to the investigation of emotions, psychological pathologies, and a wide range of human experiences (Boeree, 2003).
Existentialism sees the essence of humanity as the very lack of a fixed essence — as nothingness and freedom. No philosophical system or theory can fully capture human consciousness or reduce it to simple processes. The future of existence cannot be predicted by statistics, and the circumstances and raw materials of existence differ substantially among individuals. Yet these differences matter less than how each person chooses to live. That choice is the only thing that makes each person who he or she is. Existentialism holds that each person actually creates himself or herself. Even so, it observes that most individuals live their lives in denial of their full humanity, burdened by anxiety, guilt, and the awareness of death. These are inauthentic lives — lives that ignore freedom by conforming to materialism, seeking refuge in conformity, avoiding the moral decisions that must be made, and ceasing to evolve. Authenticity, by contrast, means being aware of one's freedom, the duty to create oneself, and the inevitability of anxiety, guilt, and death. Living authentically requires the acceptance of these conditions as the very act of self-affirmation, and it demands involvement, compassion, and commitment (Boeree, 2003).
Humanism is the American counterpart of existentialism (Boeree, 2003). It holds that basic goodness and respect reside in humankind (AllPsych, 2002) and evolved from existential psychology, though it maintains a considerably brighter view of human potential. American psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers set the stage for this approach both in the study of personality and in improving overall life satisfaction. Humanist psychologists share several core tenets: a focus on the here-and-now rather than regret for the past or fear of the future; personal responsibility for one's actions; reality-based decision-making; recognition of the inherent and indestructible worth of every individual; and personal growth and self-understanding as the ultimate goal of life. Humanism holds that happiness is possible only through self-improvement and self-knowledge (AllPsych, 2002).
Maslow, Rogers, and the Humanist Framework
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs summarizes the belief system of humanist theory (AllPsych, 2002; Boeree, 2006). It states that every person has certain needs that must be met in the proper order before he or she can be fully functional. Unless a given level of needs is sufficiently met, the individual cannot advance to the next higher level. At the first level are physiological or survival needs: air, food, water, and sleep. The second level encompasses the need for safety and security. The third level involves a sense of belonging and love. The fourth level consists of esteem needs. Finally, the fifth and highest level is the need for self-actualization, at which point the person achieves a complete understanding of the self and a sense of accomplishment, accepts the world as it is, and views human nature as inherently good (AllPsych, 2002).
Carl Rogers, on the other hand, describes the healthy person as fully functioning and possessing several key qualities: openness to experience, living in the here-and-now, trust in the real self within, recognition of personal freedom and responsibility, and creativity (Boeree, 2003).
References
AllPsych (2002). Personality synopsis. Chapter X: Humanist theory. Heffner Media Group, Inc.
Boeree, C. G. (2006). Abraham Maslow. Personality theories.
Boeree, C. G. (2003). Individual, existential and humanistic psychology. General psychology.
Corbett, B. (1985). What is existentialism? Philosophy Department, Webster University.
Kevin, T. (2011). Personality and its study.
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