Four Forces in Psychology – passagesbeyondthegate (2024)

In the late 1960’s Abraham Maslow, Anthony Sutich and others wrote about what they called the four forces in American psychology. The psychological forces they identified were behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic, and transpersonal. Known as the fourth force, transpersonal was viewed as emerging at the time. In the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology (1969), Sutich provided a lengthy, detailed, and comprehensive definition of transpersonal psychology. In the same journal a few decades later (1993), Roger Walsh and Francis Vaughan gave a shorter definition of transpersonal psychology (known also as spiritual psychology), defining it as “a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritualand transcendentaspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The transpersonalis defined as experiences in which the sense of identity or self extendsbeyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psycheor cosmos.” Although it is a relatively new way of thinking about humanity in the West—that is, with respect to a psychological understanding of the human experience, the viewpoint is fundamental to an African point of view—a viewpoint that is regularly discussed and applied in the writings of African-centered transpersonal psychologist, Linda James Myers—that dates back hundreds to thousands of years, and includes an ancient Egyptian (Kemetic) understanding of humans that viewed spirituality and psychology as inseparable, and embraced and recognized the connection between the lived experiences of human beings and the Cosmos (viewed as a sacred Universe).

Maslow, Sutich and others effectively argued that the four forces in psychology were four unique approaches to studying human beings. As a student I was interested in learning about each of these approaches to varying degrees. I began studying increasing amounts of the material from year to year as a graduate student, when much to my delight, there came a moment when I believed a case could be made for arguing that the four psychological forces aligned with (and are means of expressions for) the four psychological functions Carl Jung identified as sensing, thinking, feeling, and intuiting.

Jung described the four functions in his book Psychological Types as follows: “Sensation establishes what is actually present, thinking enables us to recognize its meaning, feeling tells us its value, and intuition points to possibilities as to whence it came and whither it is going (pp. 540-541).”

The functions are configured in the human psyche with thinking and feeling existing at the opposite ends of the same axis. Existing at the opposing ends of a second overlapping axis are sensing and intuiting. Together, the four functions represent our means and ways of knowing and understanding reality and all aspects of the human experience while mirroring aspects of the fourfold structure of the psyche. Worthy of note is that the two overlapping axes form a cross which can be referred to as a Jungian cross.

In my book Passages Beyond the Gate (2012), I discuss how these four psychological functions give rise to four strikingly different ways of knowing which we find in psychology. In American psychology they unfold in a dynamic and readily identifiable way.

As the functions begin to differentiate within the psyche of an individual, the order is such that the first to develop is the superior or dominant function. This dynamic process determines which function will become the “troublesome,” unruly function, and that function is always the opposite function of the superior function. Two more functions will over time differentiate and become controllable and reliable (to varying degrees).

Over time things stabilize, and the ego realizes it has three functions that it can effectively use, but one that is unreliable, difficult to manage, and thus often devalued. This dynamic is aptly named the problem of the three and the one. It is a dynamic process that can be seen not only in an individual, but in a discipline—such as psychology, which in itself mirrors and identifies dynamics and those things of importance in the psyche of groups that comprise cultures and nations.

If the first force in American psychology, represented by behaviorism, is grounded in the function Jung called sensation—then the alignments of the three remaining functions with the three remaining psychological forces point to psychoanalysis (the original psychodynamic psychology) being grounded in thinking, and humanistic (sometimes referred to as humanistic-existential psychology) being grounded in the feeling function. Transpersonal psychology grounded in intuition represents the inferior function in American psychology; consequently, being on the same axis, it is opposite behaviorism which is grounded in sensation. With this in mind, the argument can be made that behaviorism (essentially, the tenets it rests upon that are consistent with the traditional scientific method) is not only the first force in American psychology, it also is a manifestation of sensation, the superior function in American psychology.

Sensing is the dominant function in American psychology: its dominance was originally expressed in behaviorism, but, in current day studies and practice, it is further expressed in the growing call or demand by many mainstream psychologists for all psychologists to embrace evidence based research only: that is, research based on the traditional scientific method where measurement and quantification rule. Transpersonal psychology tends not to be embraced by these mainstream psychologists because it is a psychology that in its purest form is grounded in intuition and it is open to the metaphysical realms.

A complete understanding of human nature will be gained from the contribution to knowledge that emerges from the four functions that give rise to the four forces in psychology. This means transpersonal psychology which embraces a spiritual understanding of reality cannot be pushed to the side or ignored—and yet, in American psychology, transpersonal psychology is the psychological approach mainstream psychologists are most determined to ignore, resist, ridicule, or even condemn. In order to make transpersonal psychology more acceptable to the mainstream, some transpersonalists are willing to deny the fullness of exploration and possibilities that characterize the transpersonal by avoiding the metaphysical side of the transpersonal or rejecting methods that explore it other than those ways that embrace the traditional scientific method.

At American leading academic institutions across the nation, approaches to the study of psychology (based on traditional scientific method and inquiry grounded in sensation) greatly mirror an acceptance of tenets embraced by behavioral, cognitive, biological and other related physical scientific approaches. Though, admittedly, and thankfully—so, too, can there be found at many of these institutions psychologists who adhere to the tenets of psychodynamic, and humanistic-existential approaches. All of the psychological approaches named above currently have a seat at the table; however, American psychology will never be whole or complete without transpersonal psychology also being granted a seat at the table. Once this occurs transpersonal psychology’s important contributions will be realized, as it will have been given the opportunity to fulfill its promise. In time it will be recognized that the contributions of an intuitively based transpersonal psychology are just as important as the contributions of sensation, thinking, and feeling oriented approaches, if not more so.

American psychology should be an expression of the best that each of the four functions will make possible in our quest for knowing the physical and material aspects of our being, the meaning of our lived experiences, the values that give importance to our lives, and the metaphysical possibilities as to whence we came and whither we are going both in our present earthly existence, and beyond this lifetime, given the spiritual beings that we (in essence) are from a Transpersonal perspective.