Charlotte Buhler

Charlotte Buhler (1893 - 1974) was born in Berlin Germany on December 20, 1893 as the older of two children.  She became interested in psychology at an early age as a means to explain the purpose of human existence.  While in college, she met and married Dr. Karl Buhler, whose work reflected Charlotte's interest in human thoughts on existence.  By 1919, Charlotte had two children and had earned her PhD from the University of Munich.

As a member of the 'second generation' of women psychologists, Charlotte was not forced to choose between marriage and motherhood and her work.  In her first position, Dr. Buhler worked for her government leading research on adolescence and later, with her husband, let the University of Vienna's psychology department, one of the most important in the world.  While in Vienna, Charlotte focused her research on the cognitive and personality development of children from infancy through adolescence.  The goal of this research was to create a unified theory of psychology development of childhood.  Charlotte desired to include the child's whole life experiences in her development theory.

As Hitler came to power, Charlotte and her husband were both arrested for racial and political reasons.  They fled to the US and held positions in Minnesota, Massachusetts and California.  Charlotte served as a professor of psychology, the director of a  child guidance center , and a clinical psychologist, respectively.  While in California, Charlotte met Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, whose beliefs were very similar to her own.  She is believed to have influenced Maslow, who is known as the 'father of humanistic psychology'.

Even in the 1920's, Charlottes' research and writings reflected the study of the purpose of human existence, the concept of personal fulfillment and the use of individual gifts to reach goals.  She defined four human tendencies:

1.      The tendency to strive for personal satisfactions in sex, love, and ego recognition

2.      The tendency toward self-limiting adaptation for the purpose of fitting in, belonging, and gaining security

3.      The tendency toward self-expression and creative accomplishments

4.      The tendency toward integration or order-upholding (Ragsdale).

Charlotte believed that humans could find personal fulfillment by fully using one's potential, living constructively, setting goals and periodically assessing progress, and establishing a personal system of values.  She descried the distinction between her theories and traditional psychoanalytical theory as humanism implying that man lives with a purpose and a goal and is in search of a meaning in life beyond his own existence.

Charlotte returned to Germany in 1972 to spend the last years of her life with Rolf, her son.  She died in 1974.