Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Fromm: Humanistic
Psychoanalysis
© The McGraw−Hill^197
Companies, 2009Fromm (1947) believed that humans, unlike other animals, have been “torn
away” from their prehistoric union with nature. They have no powerful instincts to
adapt to a changing world; instead, they have acquired the facility to reason—a con-
dition Fromm called the human dilemma.People experience this basic dilemma be-
cause they have become separate from nature and yet have the capacity to be aware
of themselves as isolated beings. The human ability to reason, therefore, is both a
blessing and a curse. On one hand, it permits people to survive, but on the other, it
forces them to attempt to solve basic insoluble dichotomies. Fromm referred to these
as “existential dichotomies” because they are rooted in people’s very existence. Hu-
mans cannot do away with these existential dichotomies; they can only react to these
dichotomies relative to their culture and their individual personalities.
The first and most fundamental dichotomy is that between life and death. Self-
awareness and reason tell us that we will die, but we try to negate this dichotomy by
postulating life after death, an attempt that does not alter the fact that our lives end
with death.
A second existential dichotomy is that humans are capable of conceptualizing
the goal of complete self-realization, but we also are aware that life is too short to
reach that goal. “Only if the life span of the individual were identical with that of
mankind could he participate in the human development which occurs in the histor-
ical process” (Fromm, 1947, p. 42). Some people try to solve this dichotomy by as-
suming that their own historical period is the crowning achievement of humanity,
while others postulate a continuation of development after death.
The third existential dichotomy is that people are ultimately alone, yet we can-
not tolerate isolation. They are aware of themselves as separate individuals, and at
the same time, they believe that their happiness depends on uniting with their fellow
human beings. Although people cannot completely solve the problem of aloneness
versus union, they must make an attempt or run the risk of insanity.
Human Needs
As animals, humans are motivated by such physiological needs as hunger, sex, and
safety; but they can never resolve their human dilemma by satisfying these animal
needs. Only the distinctive human needscan move people toward a reunion with the
natural world. These existential needshave emerged during the evolution of human
culture, growing out of their attempts to find an answer to their existence and to
avoid becoming insane. Indeed, Fromm (1955) contended that one important differ-
ence between mentally healthy individuals and neurotic or insane ones is that healthy
people find answers to their existence—answers that more completely correspond to
their total human needs. In other words, healthy individuals are better able to find
ways of reuniting to the world by productively solving the human needs of related-
ness, transcendence, rootedness, a sense of identity,and a frame of orientation.
Relatedness
The first human, or existential, need is relatedness,the drive for union with another
person or other persons. Fromm postulated three basic ways in which a person may
relate to the world: (1) submission, (2) power, and (3) love. A person can submit to
Chapter 7 Fromm: Humanistic Psychoanalysis 191