Carl Rogers And Abraham Maslow And Humanistic Psychology : The Quest For Happiness

Happiness is an essential goal for most people. From books and expensive classes that teach people how to achieve happiness to the fundamental right of “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, the importance of happiness is evident in society. This causes the rise to two fundamental questions: “How does one attain happiness?” and “,How does happiness create a meaningful life?” Both happiness and living a meaningful life are achieved simultaneously. The search for happiness and the factors that make it brings meaning to life. Happiness can stem from several factors such as wisdom and knowledge, savoring life and its experiences, and even suffering and pain. Analyzing these factors brings meaning to one’s life.

As human beings we are naturally wired to seek happiness wherever we can find it. When we don’t, we may enter a stage of anger, anxiety, or distress. That’s why it is our personal goal to look for happiness and preserve it once we acquire it. Many have explored ways to find what triggers this feeling of “happiness” and what we can do to keep it; nonetheless, the evidence found is hardly sufficient to make a public statement on how to find happiness. For this reason, most of the time we speculate what might provoke this feeling of contentment. “Happiness is a glass half empty,” an essay written by Oliver Burkeman, highlights the importance of happiness and discloses how we can find delight through unorthodox methods. The prime objective of this piece of writing is to inform the audience about the effect of happiness on their lives and how their usual attempts of becoming happier can sabotage achieving this feeling. Furthermore, he wants to promote the benefits of pessimism and describe how it can help us in the long run. The author utilizes pronouns, logos, and pathos in order to prove his point and draw the audience into his essay, in an attempt of making them reconsider the way they live their lives and adopt this new pessimistic way that would greatly boost their level of happiness.

This essay is about comparing and contrasting two out of the eight personality theories commonly used to decipher one’s personality. Those two are the psychoanalytic perspective and the existential/humanistic perspective. Both perspectives are equally important as they play a major role in understanding personality in different ways and explaining them as well. Freud’s psychoanalysis helps us to understand the individual’s personality from its early years right up to adulthood while existential and humanistic theorists postulate the interpretation that personality changes throughout the lifetime. The contents of this essay include the comparing and contrasting between the structure, concepts, methods, theorists, and strengths

Humanistic theories emerged in 1950s. We have two types of humanistic theories, the first one is Person-centred theory by Carl Rogers which is based on how people see them-selves in relation to their personal experience and the second theory is Self-actualisation by Abraham Maslow which is based on the needs that motivate people. In this paper both theories will be described in detail and also they will be evaluated.

When you think about Abraham Maslow, Erik Erikson, and Sigmund Freud's theories, they all have to do with psychology. They all have to do with the mind. Abraham Maslow’s theory, Theory of Hierarchy Needs, is a description of the needs that motivate human behavior. Erik Erikson’s theory, Theory Eight Stages of Development, has eight stages that include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame/doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. Sigmund Freud’s theory, Theory ID, EGO, SUPEREGO, emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and a primary assumption that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.

People travel through life with what seems like a single goal: to be happy. This may seem like a selfish way to live, however this lone objective is the motivation behind nearly all actions. Even seemingly selfless deeds make people feel better about themselves. That warm feeling experienced while doing charitable acts can be described as happiness. But what is authentic happiness? There is an endless possibility of answers to this question, and man seems to be always searching for the solution. Although one may reach his or her goals, there is always still something one strives for in order to be happy. In the book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert takes the reader through

Authored by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Happiness Revisited” is a study on happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi defines happiness in terms of how we achieve it. He suggests that people achieve happiness “not by trying to look for it directly” (609) but by looking for it directly. He also added that by “achieving control over the contents of our consciousness” (609), a circuitous path begins, thus the beginning of achieving happiness. Further, Csikszentmihalyi stated that just like happiness, success is not to be pursued but ensued. This statement is ideally illustrated by Viktor Frankl’s book on Man’s Search for meaning: “Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it”(609).

Happiness: a Human Disease -- An Examination of the Allegorical Theme of Existentialism in the Happy Man

The experience convinced him that there is so much that can be learned by studying people of different cultures daily lives. It also convinced him that people around the world have more similarities than differences, and that we all share certain human needs and drives. These findings helped guide his research on emotional security as an attribute that profoundly impacts our social relations. Maslow did not know how to organize all of these observations into a consistent conception of personality. While trying organize his findings, Maslow studied the literature of a few European psychological thinkers: Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Karen Horny and Max

Theorists have invested years of research into learning the dynamics of one’s personality. Humanistic and Existential Personality Theories offered perspectives that have proved to be valuable to those researching and exploring how one’s personality develops and expands throughout life. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Carl Rogers’s development of the formative tendency and the actualizing tendency, the range of perspectives is diverse. In this paper, we will analyze how humanistic and existential theories affect individual personalities and give explanation to how these

In “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy,” Emily Esfahani Smith writes about the conflict between Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Happiness” and the culture today, which focuses on happiness in life rather than meaning. She introduces Viktor Frankl as a star medical and psychology student who survived the Holocaust in 1942. While Frankl was kept hostage in his camp, he was forced to find the good in life in order to survive. After being liberated, Frankl recorded his experience and what he learned in nine days, creating a best-seller in the United States. Smith explains that even though it has been concluded that Americans’ happiness is at an all-time high, the Center for Disease Control says that almost fifty percent of Americans have not found a purpose in life. Smith tells that bad mental health, self-esteem, and depression are less likely to be found in those who have found a pleasurable meaning in life. Happiness is associated with being a “taker”, while having a meaning life is associated with being a “giver” according to Smith. The downside to having a purpose for one’s life is the fact that he or she is usually more unhappy due to stress and worry than those who only strive for happiness, Smith explains. A study in 2011 proved that if someone has a negative circumstance occur in his or her lifetime, that event will give him or her more of a drive to find meaning in life rather than happiness. Smith concluded by linking these other sources with Frankl’s

The everlasting question of "What is Happiness?" has been inquired since the creation of men. Unfortunately, the only agreed answer that humanity came up with is that all the creatures seek happiness, but no one has the concrete directions for achieving it. Our libraries are overwhelmed with books about happiness, but no dictionary definition explains which path men must take to be happy. No mathematician gave us the axiom which we could use to solve the problem of living in bliss. No scientist brought up the formula of fusing certain ingredients to produce the "drink of happiness". Still almost all the people consider that their ultimate purport in

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails” (Abraham Maslow). How might this apply to ways of knowing, as tools, in the pursuit of knowledge?

Abraham H. Maslow was born on April 1, 1908 in New York City, and passed away on June 8, 1970 in California. Dr. Maslow received all three (A.B., M.A. and Ph.D.) of his degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He was also the “founding editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.” (Professional biography, 1970, p. 98). As a graduate student enthusiastic by the work of Alfred Adler and John B. Watson, Maslow became a dedicated behaviorist, and pursued his socialistic and humanistic (Maslow, 2000, p. 129). From 1933 to late 1936, Dr. Maslow spent most of his research on monkeys and primates, his topic of focus revolved around motivation, hunger, social interaction, sexual behaviour, and learning and reproduction of learned behaviours. In 1937, Dr. Maslow began his work on social psychology, and was a prominent figure and founder of individual psychology as well. His focus during that time included personality and culture, dominance, and personality and social behaviour in women. At the start of 1941, it was evident that his works began to broaden and he delved into abnormal psychology, leadership, human motivation, and developed his famous theory of self-actualization in 1943 (Professional biography, 1970, p. 100).

Men and women were selling themselves short of the human race was the story (Maslow, 1908-1970). Abraham Maslow was the originator of Humanistic Psychology. Abraham Maslow was a man of great character. His life, theories, and career still exist today and people continue to reflect on such an impact he has had on society.