 | Transpersonal psychology: Encyclopedia II - Transpersonal psychology - The development of the field
Transpersonal psychology - The development of the field
Among the thinkers who are considered to have set the stage for transpersonal studies are William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, and Roberto Assagioli (Cowley & Derezotes, 1994; Miller, 1998; Davis, 2003). A major motivating factor behind the initiative to establish this school of psychology was Abraham Maslow's already published work regarding human peak experiences. Maslows work grew out of the humanistic movement of the 1960's, and gradually the term "transpersonal" was associated with a distinct school of psychology within the humanistic movement.
In 1969, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich were the initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, the leading academic journal in the field. This was soon to be followed by the founding of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) in 1972. Past presidents of the association include Alyce Green, James Fadiman, Frances Vaughan, Arthur Hastings, Daniel Goleman, Robert Frager, Ronald Jue, Jeanne Achterberg and Dwight Judy. In the 1980s and 90s the field developed through the works of such authors as Stanislav Grof, Ken Wilber, Michael Washburn, Frances Vaughan, Roger Walsh, Stanley Krippner, Michael Murphy, Charles T. Tart, David Lukoff and Stuart Sovatsky. While Wilber has been considered an influential writer and theoretician in the field, he has since personally dissociated himself from the movement in favor of what he calls an integral approach.
Today transpersonal psychology also includes approaches to health, social sciences and practical arts. Transpersonal perspectives are also being applied to such diverse fields as psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, sociology, pharmacology, cross-cultural studies (Scotton, Chinen and Battista, 1996; Davis, 2003) and social work (Cowley & Derezotes, 1994). Currently, transpersonal psychology (especially archetypal psychology of Carl Jung and his followers) is integrated, at least to some extent, into many psychology departments in US and European Universities. Transpersonal therapies are also included in many therapeutic practices.
Institutions of higher learning that have adopted insights from Transpersonal psychology include The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (US), John F. Kennedy University (US), California Institute of Integral Studies (US), Saybrook Institute (US), Naropa University (US) and Liverpool John Moores University (UK). The transpersonal approach is also a part of such organizations as The British Psychological Society, which maintains a separate section addressing the transpersonal perspective. There is also a strong connection between the transpersonal and the humanistic perspective. This is not surprising since transpersonal psychology started off within humanistic psychology (Aanstoos, Serlin & Greening, 2000).
By common consent, the following branches are considered to be transpersonal psychological schools: Jungian depth psychology (more recently rephrased as archetypal psychology by James Hillman), psychosynthesis founded by Roberto Assagioli, and the theories of Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof, Ken Wilber, Michael Washburn and Charles Tart.
Transpersonal psychology is sometimes confused with parapsychology, a mistake made due to the overlapping and unconventional research interests of both fields. While parapsychology leans more towards traditional scientific epistemology (laboratory experiments, statistics, research on cognitive states), transpersonal psychology is more closely related to the epistemology of the humanities and the hermeneutic disciplines (humanism, existentialism, phenomenology, anthropology). Transpersonal psychology is also sometimes confused with the New Age. Although the transpersonal perspective grew out of the human potential movement, a movement that many commentators associate with a broad conception of the New Age, it is still problematic to place Transpersonal Psychology within such a framework. Transpersonal psychology is an academic discipline, not a religious or spiritual movement, and many of the field's leading authors, among those Sovatsky (1998) and Rowan (1993), have adressed problematic aspects of New Age hermeneutics.
Other related archivesAbraham Maslow, Albert Ellis, Alice Bailey, Anthropology, British Psychological Society, Buddhism, California Institute of Integral Studies, Carl Jung, Charles Tart, Ecological survival, Gurdjieff, Hinduism, Humanistic psychology, James Hillman, John F. Kennedy University, Jungian, Kabbalah, Ken Wilber, Kundalini, Liverpool John Moores University, Meditation, Naropa University, Native American, Near-Death Studies, New Age, Nonduality, Parapsychology, Psychology of religion, Psychotherapy, Richard Bucke, Roberto Assagioli, Rollo May, Shamanism, Shamanistic Initiatory Crisis, Sigmund Freud, Stanislav Grof, The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Transpersonal experience, William James, Yoga, altered states of consciousness, anthropology, archetypal psychology, behaviorism, cult, cults, depth psychology, eclectic, existentialism, health, hermeneutics, human potential movement, humanistic psychology, integral, meditation, mental illnesses, mystical experience, near death experience, near-death experience, new religious movement, parapsychology, pharmacology, phenomenology, physiological psychology, pre/trans fallacy, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychology, psychology of religion, psychosomatic, psychosynthesis, religious conversion, shamanic illness, social psychology, social sciences, social work, sociology, spiritual, spirituality, transcendent
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