Humanistic Psychology centers on the ideas of self-realization and actualization. Several proponents of self-actualization have suggested that individuals have an innate tendency to self-fulfill, and consistently aspire to improve aspects of their life and seek out meaning and fulfillment in life.
Carl Rogers, Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow are critical proponents of self-realization through internal exploration. Humanistic Psychology also acknowledges the possibility that an individual's environment may also impact an individuals ability to self-realize, or find meaning in their life. These ideas and more are explored in greater detail below, as well as an examination of their relationship to my own insights and individualization.
Carlo Rogers is a leading proponent of humanistic psychology. His ideas and theories represent a principal component of humanistic psychology. Humanistic psychology developed during the 1950 and 1960s within the United States; its focus is client centered or person centered approaches to therapy (Cummins, 1996: 108). Carl Rogers…...
mlaBibliography
Cummins, David R. "Person-Centered Psychology and Taoism: The Reception of Lao-Tzu by Carl R. Rogers." Psychology of Religions, Vol. 6, 1996
Gewirth, A. "Self-Fulfillment." Princeton University Press, 1998.
Kiel, Joan M. "Reshaping Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to Reflect Today's Educational and Managerial Philosophies." Journal of Instructional Psychology, Vol. 26, 1999.
Maslow, Abraham H. "Toward a Psychology of Being, 2nd. Ed." New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1962. pp. 138, 145
24). Leitner & Phillips (2003, p. 160) also stress the need for a holistic diagnosis of the human mind so that a more effective conclusion can be derived. Bugental (1963, p. 565) also decries the tendency to compartmentalize the field of psychology to make it resemble the natural sciences. More so, this is a great cause for confusion among psychology students because they end up having a fragmented view of the field and are ill-equipped to exchange ideas and insights with those specializing in the other sub-fields of psychology instead of developing a holistic view of human nature.
Narrow vision and the tendency to view psychological conditions as diseases by therapists have direct consequences for the clients. Leitner & Phillips (2003) stated that, "the stigmatization of psychiatric labels may in some cases exacerbate interpersonal problems and increase social isolation for individuals who likely have increased needs for social supports" (p.…...
mlaReferences
Bugental, J.F.T. (1963). Humanistic psychology: A new breakthrough. American Psychologist, Vol. 18, pp. 563-567. Accessed from PsycInfo Database.
DeCarvalho, R. (1990). A history of the third force in psychology. Journal of Humanistic
Psychology, Vol. 30 (4), pp. 22-44. Accessed from Sage Journals Online.
Leitner, L.M., & Phillips, S.N. (2003). The immovable object vs. The irresistible force: Problems and opportunities for humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 43, pp. 156-173. Accessed from Sage Journals Online.
A psychologically healthy person takes responsibility for his actions, whether negative or positive. The individual has distinct, inherent and unconditional worth. This means that he remains important and acceptable despite his mistakes and imperfections. And person's life is meant to achieve personal growth, self-understanding and understanding of others and the world. Happiness is possible only through self-knowledge, self-understanding and self-acceptance (Heffner).
The lack of research on humanistic psychology can be explained one way by its nature and philosophical and theoretical mechanisms (Moore, 2001; Katz, 2009).
Practitioners stress acceptance of the patient as a person, instead of a critical examination of his behavior. They focus on the uniqueness of his experience rather than dwell on the workings of his behavior. They operate under the "phenomenal perspective," which holds that people are best understood and helped by examining and appreciating their individual and unique experience and aspirations. This personal perspective has also become…...
mlaBIBLIOGRAPHY
Cassel, R.N. And Reiger, R.C. (2000). New third-force psychology promises to reduce the growing prison population through student-centered high schools. Education:
Project Innovation. Retrieved on July 23, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_1_121/ai_n28800360
Corliss, C. (2008). Humanist approach is vital in psychotherapy. Clinical Psychiatry
News: International Medical News Group. Retrieved on July 23, 2009 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4345/is_1_36/ai_n29406564
In addition to the above noted areas, there is also green politics, deep ecology, the feminist and gay rights movements, and the psycho-spiritual wing of the peace movement. This takes into account an integrated and balanced view of human nature and maintaining harmony in the grand scheme of existence. As noted by Maureen O'Hara, past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychologists: "As the world's people demand freedom and self-determination, it is urgent that we learn how diverse communities of empowered individuals, with freedom to construct their own stories and identities, might live together in mutual peace. Perhaps it is not a vain hope that is life in such communities might lead to the advance in human consciousness beyond anything we have yet experienced. "
eferences
Association for Humanistic Psychology. Website retrieved December 20, 2006. http://www.ahpweb.org/aboutahp/whatis.html
Encyclopedia of eligion. Website retrieved December 20, 2006. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Psychology.htm
Green, E., & Green, A. (1974). Mind training,…...
mlaReferences
Association for Humanistic Psychology. Website retrieved December 20, 2006. http://www.ahpweb.org/aboutahp/whatis.html
Encyclopedia of Religion. Website retrieved December 20, 2006. http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Psychology.htm
Green, E., & Green, A. (1974). Mind training, ESP, hypnosis, and voluntary control of internal states. In J. Regush and N. Regush (Eds.), Psi: The other world catalogue. NY G.P. Putnam's
Hayes, S.C, Strosahl, K.D., & Wilson, K.G. (1999) 1999 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior
Clinical Focused
The humanistic psychology was established in early 1940s and 1950s as an option to conservative behavioral and psychoanalytic techniques. A novel method of dealing with client referred to as humanistic therapy followed the development of the humanistic psychology. This type of therapy is client-based and it focuses on how a person distinguishes the environment and the world. Several variations have since the setting up of humanistic psychology been established. Humanistic psychology puts its attention on the conscious person and appraises an individual's self-actualization concept besides putting into consideration the personal examination and mastery of self. Humanistic therapy offers therapy partly via a client's own innovative process, and it emphasizes on self-determination and free will. One of the client-centered approaches to humanistic psychology is the ogerian Therapy developed by Carl ogers, an American psychotherapists and a counselor. In this regard, this brief overview focuses on the history and establishment…...
mlaReferences
Carducci, B. (2009). The psychology of personality: Viewpoints, research and applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
DeRobertis, E. (2006). Deriving a humanistic theory of child development from the works of Carl.R. Rogers and Karen Horney. The Humanistic Psychologist, 34 (2), 177-199.
Fernald, P. (2002). Carl Rogers: Body-centered counselor. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78 (2), 172-178.
Kirschenbaum, H. (2004). Carl Roger's life and work: An assessment on the 100th Anniversary of his birth. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82 (1), 116-124.
Knowing this, Strenger points out that therapists need to consider "who can work with whom," because the therapeutic outcome may be greatly affected by the "chemistry" between therapist and client. The egalitarian principle in the therapeutic relationship gets played out further in qualitative studies (such as Gallegos, 2005 and Cohen, 2005) in which client experiences in the mental health system and subjective accounts of symptom relief from psychotherapy are treated as credible data, from which therapists can learn.
Humanistic psychology developed in protest against the reductionism of psychoanalysis and behaviorism which saw the human being as a bunch of unconscious impulses or reactors to stimuli. The new paradigm sought to treat the "whole person" and found phenomenological / qualitative approaches better suited to this richer purpose. Maslow, for example, wanted to gain information based on personal, subjective experiences and not on abstract systems. But as Giorgi (2005) points out, the…...
mlaReferences
Association for Humanistic Psychology web site: http://www.ahpweb.org/aboutahp/whatis.html .
Chopra, D. (1997). Soul searching. Natural Health, January/February, 192.
Cohen, O. (2005). How do we recover? An analysis of psychiatric survivor oral histories. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 45, (3) Summer, 333-354.
Colucci-Coritt, P. (1999). History and systems of psychology: Feminist family therapy. http://www.mindymac.com/Feminist_Family_Therapy.htm
Cultural Values in Humanistic Psychology
Every discipline embraces particular values that reflect on the science or discipline itself, but that also reflect on the cultural context in which the discipline or science is primarily conducted. The full court press of positivism brought an objective, values-free paradigm to the forefront of research (Glazner & Hill, 2013). The field of psychology is engaged in a debate about the possibility of bringing positive psychology and humanistic psychology together, in what would invariably be considered a renewal of humanism. But certain conditions are requisite for this reattachment of the disciplines -- most notably, multiculturalism. "The renewal of humanism is integral to multicultural practice, and multicultural practice is integral to the renewal of humanism" (Schneider & Langle, 2012, p. 481). It is difficult to imagine a therapeutic relationship that is not sensitive to multicultural differences. Indeed, it is reasonable to say that, "humanistic practice principles are…...
mlaReferences
Duckitt, J. And Wall, C. (1999). Color bias and racial preferenes in white South African preschool children. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 160(2), 143-154.
Elkins, D.N. (2009). Why humanistic psychology lost its power and influence in American psychology: Implications for advancing humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 49(3), 267-291.
Friedman, H.L. And Robbins, B.D. (2012). The negative shadow cast by positive psychology: Contrasting views and implications of humanistic and positive psychology on resiliency. The Humanistic Psychologist, 40, 87-102.
Glazner, P.L. And Hill, J.P. (2013). Why most American universities have given up on human purpose and meaning: a critical exploration of the historical story. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 34(3), 289-299.
Humanistic Psychology
Humanistic psychology has made a tremendous impact on the overall field of psychology and the social sciences in general. Since Rogers first introduced the concepts of unconditional positive regard, the ideals of professional competence in psychotherapy have changed towards client-centered perspectives and practices (McArthur & Cooper, 2017). However, humanistic psychology often eschews quantitative research methods, diverges considerably from the views in cognitive psychology, psychoanalysis and behaviorism, and has been occasionally perceived or portrayed of as too soft to be relevant to the social sciences (Wong, 2017). More recently, humanistic psychologists have gained ground in acquiring greater credibility for the contributions of their paradigm. In particular, humanistic psychology has a greater potential to offer multimodal interventions than other approaches to psychology, For example, psychological wellness is conceived of in a broad-minded manner encompassing multiple domains of life including the interpersonal, community, occupational, psychological, physical, and economic (Duff, Rubenstein & Prilleltensky,…...
Question 1
The individual’s experience and the personal construction of meaning are central to humanistic psychology. Theorists like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow initially promoted this humanistic view of psychology, which was contrary to the prevailing tenets of behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Instead of focusing on past experiences and environmental variables, Rogers and Maslow focused on the person’s perceptions and intrinsic motivations (“What is Humanistic Psychology?” n.d.). Moreover, early theorists also negated the importance of experimental studies and other applications of the scientific method to psychological inquiry because these methods have a way of dehumanizing and devaluing personal experience (McLeod, 2015). Theorists like Rogers and Maslow found was more useful to apply qualitative methods that would allow the person to open up and share their thoughts, beliefs, experiences, and perceptions. Thus, the therapist and the client work together to discover ways of finding meaning in life experiences.
Carl Rogers promoted the value of…...
Psychology Personality
There are six approaches for studying the personality development of a person. Two of the most popular ones are the biological and humanistic approaches. The other four of these approaches include the trait, cognitive, behavioral and psychoanalytic. Each of these approaches are used to describe the system through we acquire our personality and factors that influence this personality development. The use of the approach is determined by the psychotherapist as well as the client, as they can differ from one person to another with respect to their effectiveness. However, it is the responsibility of the therapist to make sure that the approach used by him would be appropriate for the particular client he is dealing with. Even though it is not expected of the therapist to specialize in all the approaches, he should at least have an idea about each one of them. In this paper, we will discuss…...
mlaReferences
Lawrence, Sawyer (2009). "Biological vs. Humanistic Approach to Personality." University of Phoenix.
Vigil, Jeremy (2002). "Biological v. Humanistic." Psychology 250.
Both Existential and Transpersonal psychologies have this in common, a respect for and utilization of Eastern techniques to reach a state of stress-free maintenance of human psychological health.
But the differences lie in their origins. While Transpersonal psychologies are related to the Eastern or Western indigenous epistemologies, Existential-Humanistic psychologies have a Freudian origin, coming through Freud and his descendents. While Transpersonal psychology is considered to be a "fourth force" in psychology, psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanistic psychologies are outside of the "transegoic" elements, ignoring insights from the world's contemplative traditions in both Eastern and Western religions. Labeled "Western," Existential and Humanistic psychologies are focused mainly on prepersonal and personal aspects of the psyche.
Existential and humanistic psychologies are based on the writings not only of Freud, but Kierkegaard, Nietzche, Heidigger, Sartre, Camus and other European intellectuals who had experienced European wars and chaos during the twentieth century. Important to them were qualities of…...
mlaReferences
Cortright, B. (1997). Psychotherapy and spirit: Theory and practice in transpersonal psychology. New York: State University of New York Press.
Daniels, M. (2005). Shadow, self, spirit: Essays in transpersonal psychology. Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic.
May, R. (1969) Love and Will, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Sartre, J.P. (1956). Being and nothingness (H. E. Barnes, Trans.). New York: Washington Square Press.
Shame and Doubt, according to Erickson, children develop a sense of self-control as they control their bodily functions. This makes them feel confident and able to handle problems independently. But Tom's mother would not relinquish her control over his bodily functions at this time. Her forcing him to void on her schedule and not his, gave him a sense of shame and the feeling that he was not in control of his world. He therefore felt inadequate and doubtful of his ability to cope with anything. As she continued to control him by denying him food, love and choices of clothing, he became increasingly angry at the world, frustrated at the impression that his body and whole life was under the control of someone other than himself. This created anger and depression.
It is a wonder that Tom was as normal as he was during his teen years. He was…...
mlaWorks Cited
Association for Humanistic Psychology. Website: http://ahpweb.org/aboutahp/aboutahp.html .
Berger, Kathleen S. The Developing Person Through Childhood and Adolescence, Sixth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers. 2002.
Thompson, Ross a. "Child development." Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557692_2/Development_Child.html.
Thorpe, G.L., Olson, S.L. (1997) Behavior Therapy: Concepts, Procedures, and Applications, Second Edition (Paperback). New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Whereas the behaviorist and psychodynamic models contradict each other in their fundamental assumptions and focus, humanistic perspective does not necessarily contradict behaviorism or the psychodynamic approach, except that it considers both of those views as explanations of only portions of human behavior rather than all human behavior.
The Cognitive Perspective:
The Cognitive perspective broadens the study of human psychology even further than the humanistic perspective. In addition to considering all of the influential elements within the behaviorist, psychodynamic, and humanistic views, cognitive psychology also studies the combined contributions of knowledge, memory, previous experience, subconscious desires, external factors, and volitional thought on external behavior (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005).
Cognitive psychology accepts many of the fundamental concepts of other schools of psychological thought, and much like the humanistic point-of-view, merely considers them incomplete explanations of human behavior rather than oppositional theories.
According to cognitive psychologists, even the most inclusive theories like humanistic psychology are limited in…...
mlaREFERENCES Coleman, J.C., Butcher, J.N., Carson, R.C. (1984) Abnormal Psychology and Human Life. Dallas: Scott, Foresman & Co. Gerrig, R, Zimbardo, P. (2005) Psychology and Life. 17th Edition.
New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Psychology take-Home
Alan
Alan's quote clearly illustrates the concept of 'emotional intelligence.' The theory of emotional intelligence is associated with Daniel Goleman, who suggests that success in life cannot be solely attributed to intellectual ability as measured on conventional IQ tests. (Intelligence testing is a form of cognitive psychology.) Emotional intelligence has become more accepted as a 'real' intelligence in recent years because of the growing popularity of Howard Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences, or the idea that intelligence can defined according to specific ability groupings. Alan's sense of self-reflection about his own life underlines the fact that it is possible to develop emotional intelligence, even if someone is not naturally gifted in this particular area of his or her life.
Alan is an engineer, a profession that has traditionally valued technical capacities rather than feelings. But unlike some highly successful engineers, Alan has come to realize the importance of the 'human…...
Assignment 1 Phenomenological psychology focuses on the subjective experiences of individuals. The “founder” of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl presented a cohesive methodology and philosophical framework that laid the foundation for phenomenological psychology. One of the greatest challenges of phenomenological psychology is differentiating between the unique subjective experiences and perceptions of individuals and the need to discern an objective, shared reality. Phenomenological psychology is almost easier to define by what it is not: it is not about using the scientific method to study human behavior, and it is not about studying personality or psychoses. Rather, phenomenological psychology is about understanding the nature of reality itself, through an evaluation of both individual and collective human psychological experience. Husserl set forth principles for ontology in psychology as well as epistemology, which can be especially useful when studying the divergent experiences of those with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, whose sense of reality is radically different from…...
## Delving into the Realm of Clinical Psychology: A Comprehensive Guide to Essay Topics
Introduction
Clinical psychology, a multifaceted field rooted in the practice of evidence-based techniques, offers a captivating landscape for scholarly exploration. Its vast scope, encompassing assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health disorders, presents an array of compelling essay topics. This comprehensive guide will navigate you through the intricacies of clinical psychology, providing a wealth of essay topics that resonate with the field's theoretical foundations and practical applications.
Theoretical Perspectives in Clinical Psychology
1. Psychodynamic Theory: Exploring the Unconscious Roots of Psychopathology
2. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Unveiling the Interplay of Thoughts, Emotions, and....
My Passion for Counseling: A Journey of Meaning and Connection
My passion for counseling stems from a deep-seated desire to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of others and foster their well-being. This aspiration has been ignited by a combination of personal experiences, profound insights, and a unwavering commitment to empowerment.
Personal Experiences as a Catalyst
Growing up, I witnessed firsthand the transformative impact that counseling can have on individuals and families. My own struggles with anxiety and self-esteem led me to seek the guidance of a therapist, who provided me with a safe and supportive space to explore my challenges and....
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now