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Humanistic psychology essay
Outline the key features of the humanistic approach to psychology. compare the humanistic and behavioural approaches [16 marks]
National Development of Abraham Maslow
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Humanistic Psychology is a psychological perspective that highlights the study of a person in whole. These psychologist look at human behavior not just through the eyes of the viewer, but also through the eyes of the client that has the behavior. These psychologist believe that an individual's behavior is associated to his or her intimate feelings and their self image. Humanistic psychologist accepts human beings are not just a commodity of the environment. These psychologist study human meanings, understanding, and experiences involved in growing, teaching, and learning. They highlight characteristics that are shared by all human beings, some examples are love, grief, caring, and self worth of the individual. Some of the most famous psychologist that studies this approach are Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), was the psychologist that developed the self-actualization pyramid, he believed that one should look and focus on the positive aspects of human behavior rather then focusing on the abnormal aspects of human behavior. "What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization...It refers to the desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming” (Maslow, A., 1943). Maslow made sure to note that in his theory of the hierarchy pyramid that the order in which ones needs are filled does not always go in the order of standard progression. For example, he notes that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. For others, the need for creative...
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...rk so one can use the basics for all individuals whether it be a EQ test of some sort or even a Q sort. This is a small quirk and I think eventually it can be worked out to make it a more definite approach.
Works Cited
Cherry, K. (2013). What is Self Actualization?, Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com on January 6th, 2013.
Fritscher, L. (2012). Client-Centered Therapy., Retrieved from http://phobias.about.com on January 6th, 2013.
Fromm, E. (1962), Beyond the chains of illusion: my encounter with Marx and Freud. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation, Psychological Review 50, 370-96.
McLeod, S. (2007). The Fully Functioning Person., Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org on January 6th, 2013.
Sammons, A. (2013). The Humanistic Approach: The Basics., Retrieved from www.psychlotron.org on January 6th, 2013.
Additionally, Humanistic Psychology studies how people value themselves. Today’s Psychologists are often faced with problems when diagnosing patients, and utilizing a Humanistic approach to their prognosis facilitates a more broad study of what may be occurring. Taking a step back, Jake is having a tough time with his classes; his classes are now more difficult than before, and they might be affecting how Jake perceives his own values. I.e. because Jake feels more nervous, he could be losing his sense of control, which goes against his personal growth and affects his values and image of himself. Applying the humanistic approach to Jake, his fulfillment as a student is his personal growth. However as the difficulty of his classes increase, so does his own personal perception on how much he is growing. For Jake, realizing that he’s not suited for a particular difficult class is upsetting and induces anxiety. Modern day Psychologists would concur because Jake is feeling less valued and lacking a proper humanistic view of himself, he is feeling uncomfortable, and thus more
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 psychological theory is how they suspect people to have negatively been affected as children or something that causes them to go over into insanity. It is the scientific study of human behavior and mental process which attempt to uncover why we do what we do. There are many other different types of the psychological theory. Some theories have fallen out of favor, while others remain widely accepted, but all have contributed tremendously to our understanding of human thought and behavior. By learning more about these theories, you can gain a deeper and richer understanding of psychology's past, present and future.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs, outlining and suggesting what a person need to reach self-actualization and reveal the true potential of themselves. In the model, Maslow propose that a person has to meet basic needs in order to reach the true potential of themselves. Biological/physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging need, esteem needs according to Maslow is the fundamental frame for reaching the peak of self. The last need to be met on the scale
Humanistic Theory is based on the ability for individuals to be able to separately diverse with our own prospective on life. Maslow’s theory speaks to the potential and to positive outcome of human motivation and believes that every individual can and will strives to be more.
Climbing the Ladder to Autonomous Joy Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs in his paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” released in 1943. This hierarchy, usually represented by a pyramid, begins with the simple needs of survival at the first step, and progresses towards the final step of an individual reaching their full potential. This model was created to explain the inner workings of successful individuals and find what makes them exemplary. Seventy plus years later, the hierarchy is still referred to as a stairway a man or woman take to grow and develop to become their best version.
The purpose of this report is to analyse the personality of the character, Will Hunting from the film Good Will Hunting using the psychodynamic and humanistic theories of personality. The main characters discussed in this text and their relationship to Will can be seen in appendix 1.
the strengths of humanistic/phenomenological perspective are that it deals with both the positive nature of humankind as well as the free will associated with change. It also is beneficial in the way that the aspects of this theory come together easily to make a successful approach to an issue. Lastly, humanism carries on to other professions, giving one a variety of opportunities. The weakness is the lack of concrete treatment; this means that it is hard to both develop a treatment technique and study the effectiveness of it. Humanistic perspective also does not help people with severe personality
Unlike many of his colleagues at the time who were focusing on psychopathology, or what is wrong with individuals, he focused on how individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential and what needs govern their respective behaviors (McLeod)). Maslow developed the hierarchy over time, adjusting from a rigid structure where needs must be met before being able to achieve a higher level, to where the individuals can experience and behave in ways across the hierarchy multiple times daily depending on their needs. The hierarchy is comprised of 5 levels; Physiological, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The bottom two levels are considered basic needs, or deficiency needs because once the needs are met they cease to be a driving factor, unlike psychological needs. Loving and Belonging and Esteem needs are considered psychological needs, and are different from basic needs because they don’t stem from a lack of something, but rather the desire to grow. Maslow theorizes that individual’s decisions and behavior are determined based on their current level of needs, and the ideal level to achieve full potential culminates in self-actualization; however, operating on this level cannot be achieved until the preceding levels of needs have been
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.
It helps many people to find their strength and to help them use those strengths to better themselves. This group of people often refers to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”. They can see breaks in the pyramid, which can cause the hardships of anxiety. The pyramid works step by step up the pyramid starting at the lowest point, being physiological needs. It then continues up the pyramid through safety, love and belonging, ones self esteem, and ending at self-actualization. The humanistic view, in full can be described as a “crucial opportunity to lead us to our own healthy path”. In a humanistic therapy session the therapist uses a lot of empathy and hard listening. This allows the client to voice their concerns without the pressure of answering questions. But the therapists do help a lot too. With the help of humanistic therapist, the individual will learn to add or find positive experiences in their life. It can help those individuals find a sort of peace with who they are and with what
...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.
Humanistic approach focuses on human existence, where people have unique qualities that include creativity, freewill or freedom, potential and personal growth. People like Carl Rogers who have brought about person-centred theory and Abraham Maslow who has developed a hierarchy of needs, where he emphasized on self-actualization. There is an evaluation on both Rogers and Maslow theories, on how they are based on their own assumptions and views, and I apply Maslow’s theory of self-actualization into my own personal life.
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