Essay and Peer Reflection: Personality Theory
A.J. Molina
LeTourneau University Essay and Peer Reflection: Personality Theory
Introduction
Humanistic Psychology presents insight into understanding human behavior by delving into the individualistic view of each person. The importance of self-actualization infects the Western culture so psychologists need to have an understanding of individuals in order to counsel those who seek counseling.
What is it?
Humanistic Psychology arose during the 1950’s. The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic psychology (McLeod, S. A. 2007). It takes into account each individual’s uniqueness and studies the whole person. Personal choice is driven by inner feelings and free will. It enables a focus on private, subjective experience and personal growth and offers a set of values that can be used to understand human behavior based on self-concept. Psychoanalysis concentrates it attention on the influence that the unconscious mind has on behavior while the behaviorist’s focus is on the influence of a stimulus – response behavior.
Merits
A strength in the school of humanistic psychology is that it allows people to have a stake in the control of their mental health. Value is placed on personal ideas and self-fulfillments. Environmental influences play a role in people’s experiences. A person can make choices regarding these
Although the hierarchy of needs and Humanistic Psychology were innovative during it was and is still criticized today. One of such criticisms is self-actualization and that Maslow gave very ambiguous characteristics and examples of people he thought to be self-actualized. In addition, the hierarchy of needs is hard to prove scientifically. Self- actualization relies mostly on a person’s experience. Therefore, one can’t tell if an individual is self-actualized. However humanistic psychology changed the way human behavior was viewed during a time where behavioral psychology was more prevalent. This introduced a new way of
Humanistic therapy aims to help client develop a stronger, and healthier sense of self. It
This perspective examines the patient’s motivation behind their thoughts and actions, emphasizing the individuality of the patient. Instead of using medication to treat a patient, the humanistic perspective in psychology would encourage the patient to seek out their own happiness by examining their own individual needs and focus on the positive aspects of their life rather than the negative parts.
During the 1950s the humanistic approach was established, this was because of the growing panic therapists started to experience due to the limitations of psychoanalysis. The man who started this approach was Carl Rogers; he had no faith in psychoanalysis due to his belief that psychoanalysis had fallen short in handling the nature of healthy growth in the individual. Rather than just looking at behaviour from an observer’s point of view, Humanism looks at behaviour from the eyes of the person in question. Due to the fact that this approach centres on personal experiences and subjective concepts, humanists do not deem scientific practices as justified or acceptable. This perspective proposes that each and every one of us is liable for our own euphoria. In modern day psychotherapy an extensive field of efficient methods are at our disposal due to the impact of humanistic
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.
Humans psychologist looks at the whole person; their behavior, cognitive process, potential, subjective reality, and self-actualization. I believe that humanistic psychology promotes self-awareness that will ultimately help humans. It combines the most influential schools of thoughts, functionalism, behaviorism, and cognitive psychology. In an article from the Association for Humanistic Psychology, it stated that the benefits of humanistic therapy are having a "crucial opportunity to lead our troubled culture back to its own healthy path. More than any other therapy. It also states that freedom to choose is maximized, validating human’s
A humanistic psychologist would attempt to analyze Jake by putting themselves in his shoes. Humanism believes that all people are inherently good. Therefore, a humanistic psychologist would try to help Jake by encouraging him to achieve his full capability of emotional stability. In the psychological debate of free will v.s. determinism, the humanistic discipline believes strongly in free will. A humanistic psychologist would treat Jake by taking an extremely positive approach and encouraging self-exploration in order to overcome his anxiety
Humanism, also known as the phenomenological approach, is a contemporary approach to psychology that focuses on the “whole person”. It stresses the idea that a person is an individual and is unique. Humanists look at behavior through the eyes of the person, not as an observer. Everyone needs to be treated differently based on their unique personality. They believe that a person’s behavior is determined by their perception of the world around them, not their environment or genetics. Humanism begins with the belief that people have free will, or personal agency as it’s called in humanism, and that all people are inherently good. It is believed that everyone wants to make themselves and the world a better place. They have a natural born drive to fulfill their maximum potential. Humanism emphasizes personal worth and basic human values. Humanists are not concerned about instinctual drive, external forces, or past experiences. Instead humanists use the ideas of love, fulfillment, self-worth, and independence to help people as they are the basic human wants.
Humanistic Psychology can support various individuals regardless of their circumstances. The meaning of life can be different for many however; when we grow as individuals, we have no reason for living unless we create an importance through our passions, goals, and success’s. As an individual, I have an endless desire to help others find happiness, passion, and success; therefore, I believe that the humanistic approach in psychology would have a profound effect on people who are searching for a purpose in life.
The focus of this paper is the person-centered approach, which is the understanding of personality and human relationships in psychotherapy and counseling in the areas of client-centered therapy, education of student-centered learning, organizations, and other group settings. Even though psychoanalysis and behaviorism have made major contributions to psychology, it has influenced the understanding and practices of the humanistic movement, specifically with the therapies for the different mental disorders. Psychoanalysis understands the unconscious behavior, behaviorism focuses on the conditioning process that produces behavior. Humanistic psychology focuses on the person's potential to act as a whole person in a nurturing environment by
Humanistic psychology focuses on human beings, from other creatures, and it does so with a distinctly optimistic outlook, emphasizing three characteristics of human uniqueness: subjectivity, individuality and the capacity for growth. (Fernald, 2008 p. 177)
The social cognitive theory states that we learn behaviors through observation, modeling, and motivation such as positive reinforcement. Some influential psychologists of this theory were N.E. Miller and Albert Bandura. They found that this type of social learning was strengthened if the observer identified with their "model." This meant that children were more likely to repeat behaviors they had seen other children their age do, although they might model adults as well. Learning is also strengthened if someone models a behavior he or she has seen rewarded.
Humanistic psychology is refereed as the '3rd force' in psychology it was an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual's potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. A fundamental belief that people are born good but that this can be distorted through social interactions and life experiences. In this essay I plan to explain Carl Rogers’s theories of person centred and how I have linked them to myself. Carl Rogers stated that there was many key aspects which make up a person’s personality.
Humanistic psychologists generally argue that a person’s subjective perception and understanding of the world is far more important than objective reality (Funder, 2012). Hence the fact that Rogers and Maslow valued scientific psychology very little. They and other humanistic psychologists typically prefer more qualitative research methods. These methods are often things such as diaries, open ended questionnaires, wholly unstructured interviews and observations. It is far more useful if the goal is not to generalize the findings to the general
Last but not all, Humanistic approach sums up my personality a little more than psychodynamic does because it involves nature vs. nurture and that kind of sums it up just saying that. Environment and Heredity is kind of the main reasons of my attitudes and actions. In the article, Time-Limited Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Briggs conducts different forms of psychotherapy techniques to prove whether things in an adolescent’s life effect different adolescents differently. His study was a success and proved that many adolescents have different interpretations on the same issue. He read them off different problems and wanted to see how they would interpret them. He used children in the age groups of 12-17 and it worked out.