Humanistic Psychology: Origin and Contributions
André Boyer Jr.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Humanistic Psychology: Origin and Contributions Humanistic Psychology is considered the “third force” in psychology next to Behaviorism (first force) and Psychoanalysis (second force). According to D.P. Schultz and S.E. Schultz (2016) humanistic psychology is defined as, “A system of psychology that emphasizes the study of conscious experience and the wholeness of human nature” (p.384). The main base of humanistic psychology belief is that humans are born good and that any mental or social problems is caused by variation from this natural tendency to be good. Humanistic psychology was mainly influenced by the work of Abraham Maslow
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Humanistic psychologist believes both are too deterministic and were against behaviorism for being heavily dependent on animal studies and psychoanalysis because they believe the unconscious is the main thing that drives our behavior and not accounting for personal choice. Humanistic psychology believes that everyone is good and trying to be their best self. They also believe in free will, which they call personal agency, this refers to a person’s choices and the consequences that follow those decisions. Humanistic psychologist also believe that phenomenology or subjective experience is central to understanding people. Objective reality is considered less important to subjective perception because the only thing that should matter is how that person views and interprets the world around them and therefore humanistic psychology dislikes scientific psychology (McLeod 1970). Humanistic psychology does not believe you can accurately learn anything about a person’s behavior when in controlled environments like labs. Humanists also believe that every person is completely unique with their own desires and needs, so they cannot be treated in the same way as another. Humanistic psychology is against comparative psychology, which is the study of animals to better understand human behavior. Their reasoning being humans are way more complex than animals and are capable of conscious thought that animals are not …show more content…
Self-actualization is from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which represents the need to fulfil one’s individual potential in life. Humanistic Psychology does not use scientific experimentations and prefers to use qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation. According to (GoodTherapy.org), “Humanistic psychology integrates multiple therapeutic techniques, such as Carl Rogers' person-centered therapy, which is also known as "Rogerian therapy”. They also use open ended questionnaires and case
For instance, Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology both utilize the basic scientific method for addressing particular issues, as well as research, but Humanistic Psychology does not utilize the scientific method and instead claims because humans differ from animals given humans are capable of reason, thought, and language. Behavioral, Cognitive, and Humanistic Psychologies conduct their research by observing. By paraphrasing the three psychologies’ definitions, all of them come up with their analyses by studying the human mind, behavior, and the outcome based off of particular stimuli. In Jake’s situation, by studying how his mind and behavior were compensating with his difficult classes, all three psychologies would have rational explanations of which why Anxiety Disorder is an appropriate diagnosis. How Behavioral, Cognitive, and Humanistic Psychology differ, though, is by how they all come to their same conclusions. The behavioral approach explained Jake’s anxiety because of his reaction with certain stimuli given changes in environment, the cognitive approach explained his diagnosis with previous genetic relevance, and the humanistic approach explained Jake’s Anxiety Disorder because of his change in his own
The some similarities between the Humanistic and the Psychodynamic theoretical approaches is that there are some parallels between Humanistic concepts of self, self- concept and self-actualization to Psychodynamic (Freud’s) theory on personality structure. The Humanistic
Behaviorism, is a theory based upon the idea that all behaviors are attained through certain condition. Behaviorists believe that it is more profitable to study behavior than to study beliefs and disbeliefs. I know, from personal experience people will increase behaviors that are followed by positive consequences while people will decrease behaviour that might lead them to negative consequences. Humanistic psycology emerged as a combination of both behaviourism and psycoanalysis. I believe that it is a hypothetical view of human nature that yields to positive view of human nature. It is an optimistic view of human nature. I believe that it has a strong concern for human welfare, values, and dignity. As we will see both perspectives
The humanistic theory ties into the humanistic perspective. This was first thought of my Abraham Maslow. Unlike the behaviorists, humanistic psychologists believe that humans are not solely the product of their environment. Rather humanistic psychologists study human meanings, understandings, and experiences involved in growing, teaching, and learning. They emphasize characteristics that are shared by all human beings such as love, grief, caring, and self-worth. Humanistic psychologists study how people are influenced by their self-perceptions and the personal meanings attached to their experiences. Humanistic psychologists are not primarily concerned with instinctual drives, responses to external stimuli, or past experiences. Rather, they consider conscious choices, responses to internal needs, and current circumstances to be important in shaping human
The nature of human beings is normally viewed to be good. The humanistic theorists emphasize on the many ways that can permit the fulfillment of full potential. This theory is related to therapy and development. Some of the main contributors to this theory include: Abraham Maslow, Victor and Rollo May. These theorists recognize that the determination of life as well as the role of suffering and nervousness.
The humanistic perspective on personality deals exclusively with human behavior. Humanistic psychologists believe that human nature includes a natural drive towards personal growth, that humans have the freedom to choose what they do regardless of environmental factors, and humans are mostly conscious beings and are not controlled by unconscious needs and conflicts. They also believe that a person's subjective view of the world is more important than objective reality. Two of the humanistic theorists that have made an impact of humanism are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
The Humanistic approach and psychodynamic approach look at past experiences for two very different reasons. Freud the founder of the psychodynamic approach based his approach on early childhood experiences and how it crucially effects an individual later on in their life. (Malim & Birch(2010)). While Maslow & Rogers the founders of the humanistic approach looks at past experiences but focuses more on the here and now rather than anything else. The Humanistic approach believes that the present is more important than the past as it believes that an individual shouldn’t let their past effect their future. (Glassman & Hadad (2008)). Freud claims that the past is very important as behaviour is determined by the unconscious mind and childhood
Humanistic psychology relies on client centred therapy and the idea that each individual has the potential to achieve a position in their psyche named self actualisation. Humanistic psychology differs from psychodynamic theory in that it is optimistic about the human psyche and does not view conflict as inevitable. Humanistic psychology assumes people attach meaning to their unique perspectives on the world and that behaviour is strongly influenced by this. Carl Rogers defined the healthy personality as being one that had congruence between the perceived self and the experienced self and that the individual in question experienced unconditional positive regard from their parent or guardian. He defined an unhealthy personality as being one which lacked these components. Abraham Maslow alternatively suggested a hierarchy for which a person’s healthy personality could be measured by stages of psychological and physical needs (see diagram 2). He suggested that, for a person to achieve self actualisation and become a fully functioning person, they must first satisfy all the needs of each level in the pyramid before moving onto the next
Features of the Psychoanalytic and Humanistic Perspectives Outline the key features of the psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives, and briefly compare and contrast their views on conscious experience, a person as an integrated whole, and the role of therapists in arriving at changes. Answer In explaining and predicting animal behaviour, different schools of psychology are of different perspectives; e.g. cognitive approach focuses on the mental processes, behaviourism is based on external stimuli and reinforcement, biological approach is concerned with the relationship between the mind and body and the influence of heredity. However, they are only cope with a specific part of people, but neglect human as a whole.
...roblems. On the other hand, the humanistic approach, introduced by Abraham Maslow, states that individuals have the freedom and capacity to direct his or her own future. Although it is a theory, it is apparant that the psychoanalytic approach is accepted in our society through observations of our speech and procedures of our criminal justice system. As a result, it is conclusive that it is more instrumental in the treatment of mental disorders.
In the centre of the humanistic approach stands the subjective experience of individuals, the emphasis is that humans rather choose how to behave based on their free will (Derobertis, 2013). The approach rejects that behaviour is bound by past or current circumstances or ruled by uncontrollable forces, but rather believes that humans make decisions regarding their actions based on their own choices and that people are generally good (Glassman & Hadad, 2009). The main dominator of personality development is the self-actualization (Rogers, 1959). The pioneers of the humanistic approach are Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and George Kelly. Carl Rogers named the person seeking treatment a client and not a patient, he established the client-centred
Abraham Maslow adopted the theory, and it was focused on discussing the development of professional organizations that are devoted to a more humanistic psychology. There are important topics that dominate the theory such as creativity, self-actualization and individuality as central themes to the theory. Humanistic approach is paramount and has played a critical role in ensuring understanding and new ways of thinking concerning mental
He thought that there had to be more to humans than simply rewards, punishments, and subconscious urges according to behaviorists and psychoanalysts. Maslow introduced humanistic psychology as an area to focus on the potential of people to become all that they can be. Other psychologists helped develop different elements of humanistic psychology, but Maslow is largely considered to be the father of the humanist movement in psychology. He steadfastly believed that people are motivated to reach certain needs. When one need is accomplished, a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. At the top of this hierarchy Maslow believed was the possibility of self-actualization; every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. This was, however, seen as a rare achievement only reached by very few people since according to his theory; all lower-level needs had to be met before self-actualization could take place. Unfortunately, advancement is often disrupted by failure to meet the lower level needs. Life experiences may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy. According to Maslow, only one in a hundred people achieve full self-actualization due to our society rewarding
Self-actualization is an idea originating from the Humanistic psychological theory and particularly created by Abraham Maslow. The humanistic school of thought in psychology is the third force in psychology that attempts to regain the self, supporting that individuals do have free will and has the power to change for the better. Humanistic psychology was developed as a response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism focusing on individuality, personal growth and the concept of self-actualization. While early schools of thought were mostly concentrated on abnormal human behavior, humanistic psychology is different because of its emphasis on helping individuals achieve and fulfill their potential. The two main contributors to this school of thought
This psychology perspective emphasizes individuals ' inherent drive towards self-actualization, the process of realizing and expressing one 's own capabilities and creativity. It helps the client gain the belief that all people are inherently good. It adopts a holistic approach to human existence and pays special attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will, and positive human potential. It encourages viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the sum of our parts and encourages self exploration rather than the study of behavior in other people. Humanistic psychology acknowledges spiritual aspiration as an integral part of the human psyche. It is linked to the emerging field of transpersonal psychology. As per usual, there are advantages and limitations to this particular theory. One of the greatest strengths of humanistic psychology is that it emphasizes individual choice and responsibility. Humanistic psychology satisfies most people 's idea of what being human means because it values personal ideals and self-fulfillment. Finally, humanistic psychology provides researchers with a flexible framework for observing human behavior because it considers a person in the context of his environment and in conjunction with his personal perceptions and feelings. As with any viewpoint, humanistic psychology has its critics. One major criticism of humanistic psychology is that its concepts are too vague. Critics