Charlotte Buhler (1893-1974)

Professional Life
Charlotte Buhler was born in Berlin in 1893. She studied at the University of Freiburg and at the University of Berlin. During her research for her dissertation, she went to Munich and met her future husband, Karl Buhler. She graduated summa cum laude in Munich in 1918. Buhler and her husband went to Dresden, where they began teaching at the Technical University Dresden.

Buhler and her husband began working at the University of Vienna in 1922. They concentrated much of their research on children, and conducted their work in the Palais Epstein. After 15 years in Vienna, the couple, who was of Jewish descent, was forced to leave during the Nazi occupation. They fled to Oslo Norway, where Buhler briefly held a teaching position at the University of Oslo. Soon after, she left Norway to join her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Buhler became the chief psychologist of the Central Hospital in Minneapolis, and earned her American citizenship in 1945. Her last position was with County General Hospital as the chief psychologist. She worked with the University of Southern California, County General Hospital and in private practice until her death in 1974.

While in Dresden, Buhler worked with young people, exploring the developmental process and designing tests to gauge developmental milestones. Her tests are still in use today. In Vienna, Buhler studied adolescent and infant psychology, and worked closely with Hildegard Hetzer to create intelligence tests for children. She addressed Gerontopsychology in her books, and is considered an innovative force in the theory of Gerontopsychology.

Contribution to Psychology
Buhler worked with both Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers and developed the core principles of humanistic psychology. The theory encompasses many different approaches to therapy, including existential psychology, emphasizing a human’s ability to choose and the tragedy that belies human existence. Humanistic psychology also incorporates Maslow’s theories on motivations and needs, and the client-centered therapy pioneered by Carl Rogers.

When practicing humanistic psychology, a therapist works directly with a client, and dialogue is used as a means for opening up a window to the inner self. This allows the client to recognize and give validity to their positive traits. A secure and non-judgmental relationship between the client and the therapist is the catalyst for this type of growth and awareness. Humanistic psychology takes a non-pathologizing perspective of the client, and focuses on the positive aspects of a person’s life experience and behaviors. Self-actualization is one of the primary goals of humanistic psychology, and this end is achieved through an awareness of one’s own life experiences.