Difference Between Humanistic Geography and Positivistic Approach

Through reading How the States Got Their Shapes and Guns, Germs, and Steel I would define human geography as the study of how different factors such as culture, lifestyle, geography, and environment dictate where humans live and migrate. Both books are able to connect how the latter factors influence the pattern of human activity and movement.

External effects, punishment and reward system, on behavior is studied in the behavioral perspective. Sociocultural is about how the community as a whole can effect on individual, for good or bad. Lastly, humanistic is about your own freewill. The choices you make based on how you feel or think about yourself. The eclectic approach is when psychologist use not just one perspective to study human behavior. It can make studies more complex but the eclectic approach gives a more complete view on human

The key element to humanistic perspective is free will. Without it, it would be impossible to reach our goals. When we allow others to control our lives and make decisions for us, our free will has already been used by someone else. That person has the advantage of both our happiness and his in his

This perspective assumes that we all thrive for personality growth, through mental processes and behaviors.. This perspective is different in its methodology compare to the biological approach, and the psychodynamic approach. Both these perspectives assume that human beings are controlled by internal or external forces. There are deterministic in nature. The humanistic perspective, promotes free will, and people can be, whatever, they envision themselves. This perspective was influence by humanists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who emphasizes on the importance of individual potentials.

Geographers study the relationships between topics such as globalization, regions, mobility, nature, culture, and cultural landscapes. Human geography is centered on the study of people, places, and the relationship between people and the environment. Geographers have a way of studying the many patterns within people and the different spaces

This semester I learned that there are four different branches of human geography. First to define the different geographies: social, has to do with society and what that regions society values. An example of this would be school systems. Cultural geographies has to do with symbolic practices and shared sets of meaning, a simple example of this could be in Italy, most people are Roman Catholic, and share those values. Political, is the type of government that county has, for example North Korea is communist. Lastly, economic, is that countries economy, for example Greece, currently is in an economic crisis.

Positivism originated with August Comte. It was considered a philosophical approach that replaced speculation with science. Positivist theorists believe

“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future”. This is a quote by one of the most successful and innovative men to ever live, Walt Disney. He was successful because he constantly kept looking to make a better future for himself and others. He did this through interactions with the world and everything around him. Interactions such as these can push mankind forward. They lead to innovations that revolutionize the world we live in. It only takes one great idea to change the world and make it a better place for everyone. Human geography deals with how human actions influence and impact other humans and the world’s environment.

Positivism or more specifically, logical positivism, is “maintained that science is value free, independent of the scientist, and obtained using objective methods” (McEwen & Wills, 2007, p.8). This leads to no biased interpretation of the data. In summary, objectivity and facts are the basis of received view.

Research paradigms are ‘the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by members of a given community’ (Kuhn, 1970, p.175). The three most common paradigms are positivism, constructivism or interpretivism and pragmatism. Each of these can be categorised further by examining their: ontology, epistemology and methodology. Fundamentally, ontology is the nature of reality, epistemology describes the relationship the investigator has with their version of reality, and methodology is the various techniques and tools used to analysis their research.

It begins by studying the whole person, not only through the eyes of an observer, but through the eyes of the person performing the behavior. The humanistic approach is also called the phenomenological approach in some circumstances. In these cases, the personality is looked at from the view of a person’s individual subjective experience. This approach arose as a rebellion of sorts

A Central component to the poststructuralist theory is subjectivity as it marks a vital break with humanist conceptions of the individual (Storey, 2006). The term subjectivity refers to how an individual’s view is formed by respective opinions and feelings instead of external influences. It is somewhat accountable for why somebody loves Rock n Roll music while another individual hates it.

Positivism is a theoretical point of view which concentrates on social facts, scientific methods and quantitative data. The research methods that are commonly used by positivists are questionnaires, structured interviews, structured non-participant observation and official statistics. These methods are used as they are objective and reliable. One sociological study that used positivist methods was Durkheim’s Suicide Study. Durkheim used official statistics to study suicide and demonstrate society as a science with its own distinct subject matter.

The social science paradigm also known as Post positivism consists of testing hypothesis and research questions that are developed through reasoning. This is done through measurements and observation. Social scientists aspire to science and they seek to study human behaviour, interaction and thought in an organized way; which we can then measure, generalize and replicate. Like any research, post-positivism needs to be backed up by evidence. When a social science research sets out a research project, it is their goal to find evidence that can either agree or disagree with the hypothesis or theories. Post positivism, compared to positivism allows more interaction with the participants of the research project and seeks to highlight the relationship between universal properties between the variables. The best way to understand post positivism is by comparing it to positivism and the interpretive paradigm. Compared to positivism, post positivism is more tolerant for value-based information, however is not focused on qualitative information like the interpretive paradigm, instead the research is mainly focused on quantitative data.

Humanistic perspective is a psychological perspective popularized by Carlo Rogers and Abraham Maslow that emphasizes the human capacity for choice and growth. This perspective offers a very positive viewpoint of human nature and potential. It suggests that we are each responsible for our own happiness and well-being as humans. “The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human