This work belongs within the movement of the so-called “Third Force” psychology, but unlike many other works in this stream of thought, it approaches the problems of man as a person from a point of view that comes from within science and from an academic psychological perspective. I stress this not because there have been no other such attempts, but because these attempts are in the minority—and because very often, to those who are not knowledgeable about the movement, Third Force psychology seems to be a domain reserved exclusively for clinicians. This impression is obtained because most of the Third Force psychologists are clinicians or psychologists interested in personality theory. Also, the mistaken notion that if one is interested in the whole person then it is not possible to be scientific is still too prevalent. In truth, the impact of this psychology is by no means limited to clinical psychology—its insights are relevant for the whole field. Moreover, it is precisely the prejudice that this psychology must be either anti scientific or nonscientific that we would like to challenge.
