The Phenomenology of Learning and Becoming

Abstract

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Tapping the humanistic potential of self-determination theory: Awakening to paradox.

“…Knowles's aforementioned developmental work (1986) mirrored van Kaam's (1981) approach of recognizing the vital and functional aspects of human behavior gleaned from psychoanalysis as coexisting alongside the more transcendent aims of human life. In our own work (Bland & DeRobertis, 2017b;DeRobertis, 2008DeRobertis, , 2012bDeRobertis, , 2017, we have noted homeostatic and constancy-promoting adaptational aims as bearing a dynamic (i.e., potentially transformational or discordant) relationship to selfenriching and self-transcending aims. To use the language of Maslow, humanistic macrotheorizing in the area of motivation has long sought to account for the full-breadth of human needs, from deficiency needs and their pathological derivatives to metaneeds and their metapathological derivatives.…”

“…The imagination's mediating function is made more fecund, complexified ad infinitum in fact, when joined with the powers of language and the addition of symbolically mediated imagining. The imagination, as the "inventiveness" of the will, catalyzes diverse acts of world coconstitution and cocreativity, facilitating the realization of autonomy as wholehearted involvement or participation (DeRobertis, 2017;Ricoeur, 1978, p. 19). As vital to the emergence of role taking and human empathy, the imagination is that which preserves the otherness of the other in SDT's autonomous relatedness (Ricoeur, 1978(Ricoeur, , 1992.…”

Phenomenological psychology and qualitative research

“…The latter contains paradigmatic empirical studies on learning (by Giorgi) criminal victimization (by Wertz), thinking while playing chess (by Aanstoos), and self-deception (by Fischer). A brief representative sampling that illustrates the range of recent research outputs is as follows: Living through positive experiences of psychotherapy (Giorgi & Gallegos, 2005 ), Lived persistent meaning of early emotional memories (Englander, 2007 ), Art appreciation (Roald, 2008 ), Pivotal moments in therapy (B. Giorgi, 2011 ), Postpartum depression (Røseth et al, 2011 ), Autism and culture (Desai et al, 2012 ), Leading a police vehicle pursuit (Broomé, 2013 ), Social anxiety (Beck, 2013 ), The suffering of older adults (Morrissey, 2015 ), The beginning of an extra-marital affair (Zapien, 2016 ), Mental health and the workplace (Tangvald-Pedersen and Bongaardt, 2017 ) Disturbances in maternal affection (Røseth and Bongaardt, 2019 ) Cross cultural learning (DeRobertis, 2017 , 2020 ), and Black men’s experience of police harassment (Vogel, 2021 ).…”

Lifespan human development and “the humanistic perspective”: A contribution toward inclusion.

“…EHSDT is an open-ended, holistic, macrolevel approach to human development that has interdisciplinary origins in philosophy, anthropology, education, pedagogy, sociology, and history (see DeRobertis, 2008DeRobertis, , 2012DeRobertis, , 2015bDeRobertis, , 2017. EHSDT values philosophicalanthropological reflection and metapsychological rigor, and it also acknowledges the importance of being guided by data.…”

“…14 DEROBERTIS AND BLAND agreement regarding the critical role of other human beings in codetermining psychic structure and the development of one's sense of competence. Proponents of both theories have argued in favor of the human capacity to create self-regulatory processes from a continuous flow of social interaction impacting the learner's motives, values, and goals (Bandura, 1971;DeRobertis, 2017). As stated by the phenomenologist Plessner (1964) However, whereas social-cognitive theory looks upon language as a mere representational tool, EHSDT considers language to be a formative aspect of both culture and self-cultivation, operating on many levels of awareness simultaneously.…”