Historical Roots of Humanism and Modern Psychology Psychology is by nature dynamic. This can be attributed to the aspect that it directly relates and endeavours to explain humanity and human beings are the most dynamic of all the things that exist on earth. In fact, they are the genesis of the changes and diversities experienced in different areas of life. Therefore, anything that directly relates to human beings cannot evade dynamism. In the context of humanism and modern psychology, changes have been witnessed in these fields of psychology. Humanism is a psychological approach that explains, holistically, the individual uniqueness of each individual. It mostly emphasizes on studying the whole being of a human being. It is a psychological approach that analyzes the uniqueness of an individual by looking into the way such an individual perceives himself. Two components are outstanding regarding this approach that it is based on self-concept and believes a human being’s behaviour is highly integrated with the inner feelings. Its existence is based on the limitations of observed in the psychology of behaviourists and psychodynamics. In fact, humanism is the basis for modern psychology. This is because it investigates the meanings values and freedoms surrounding the tragedies, responsibilities and potential of human beings. The aspects of spirituality and self-actualization are also very imminent in the concept of humanism. However, like any other concept of psychology, its
Explain the reasons for the development of psychology as an academic discipline in the 19th and 20th centuries, making explicit the important turning points and breakthroughs.
A person who views history as the actions of individuals is what brought about history believes in personality views, whereas a person how believes the culture and intellectual environment of a particular history era believes in the naturalistic history (Goodwin p. 10)
Unlike Freud and the psychodynamic approach that concentrated on the unconscious mind, the concern of the humanistic psychologists was to do justice to people’s conscious experience and their role in direction their own lives. The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as limitations of the behaviourist and psychodynamic psychology. The humanistic approach is thus often called the “third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviourism (Maslow, 1968).( Saul McLeod. (2007). Humanism. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/humanistic.html. Last accessed 13th Nov 2013.) Humanism rejected the assumption of the behaviourist perspective which is characterised as deterministic, focused on reinforcement of stimulus-response behaviour and heavily dependent on animal research. Humanistic psychology also rejected the psychodynamic approach because it also is deterministic, with unconscious irrational and instinctive forces determining human thought and behaviour. Both behaviourism and psychoanalysis are regarded as dehumanizing by humanistic psychologists. (Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-96.) The two most prominent figures in the field of humanistic psychology are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Their focus in humanistic psychology was to emphasize that which helps individuals reach
There are many authentic writers and scholars that have worked on different psychological approaches in order to evaluate their relationship with the working and responses of human being. In addition, these approaches are formed by means of different experiments and scientific studies that further help scholars to categories different human
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.
History and Systems of Psychology is a course requirement offered to Psychology majors and minors. This course is used to provide majors and minors with the foundation and the evolution of the field of psychology. Within this class, many scholars of discussed. Two scholars that stood out to me in this course would be John Watson and Max Wertheimer. These two particular scholars are responsible for two of the most influential and famous schools of thought, behaviorism and Gestalt psychology. These two schools of thought are responsible for changing the field of psychology and introducing the field to new theories and ways of thinking. Although the two schools of thought are similar in being influential but they are different in many ways. The two schools of thought are even said to be contradictory of one another and one is even said to be the cause of the fading out of the other.
The humanistic approach to psychology is an organization of different thoughts in which the interests of humans and their values and/or beliefs are of main importance (Schultz & Schultz, 2009). The term humanistic relays the notion that all human beings have the potential for growth and that no one is purposely bad or unworthy (Carver & Scheier, 2012). In contrast to psychoanalytical psychologists, humanistic psychologists tend to focus on the strengths of human behavior and not the aspects that make an individual’s
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
The author details the personality structure of humanity that is described by identifying the functioning parts. These five parts include the conscious mind, the unconscious mind, the heart, the will and the emotions. The conscious mind controls the perception and evaluation of the events in the mind. The unconscious mind houses the basic assumptions. The heart represents direction. The will identifies a person’s behavior. Finally, the emotions of an individual detail the capacity for feelings.
It is said that humanistic psychology was developed upon the limitations of behaviourism. The humanistic approach is often referred to as the “third force” in psychology coming after psychoanalysis and behaviourism; it is an alternative approach to psychology (Maslow, 1968). It offered a more wholesome approach to psychology at the time in comparison to behaviourism and psychoanalysis. This essay will compare and contrast behaviourism and humanistic psychology; it will focus on their contributions to psychological theory and their applications in the real world.
The individual’s role in society dramatically changed following the introduction of humanism. The idea that was depicted is still heavily important today and still holds strong within society. Humanism brought forward the thought that everyone is important and the concept of individuality. Humanism created the notion that instead of being part of a whole, everyone is unique. Before this introduction, most just thought about their actions and what consequences it had in the afterlife; Whether that be going to heaven or hell. Following the emergence of humanism, people started to think more about the present, encouraging education in humanity, the study of literature and enhancement of art – all this expanded an individual’s outlook on life and in turn allowed for the development of personal success.
The History of Psychology In order to discuss Psychology's history, it is important to understand that psychology still does not have one unifying approach unlike the natural sciences; even the definition of Psychology and what it truly means is still undecided. However I shall attempt to review chronologically its philosophical origins, include how the science of Physics and Biology were placed in history and how they influenced research and determined the development of Psychology as its recognised today. Beginning with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle (between 428- 347) in ancient Greece, they began to ask
Encarta Dictionary says that Humanism is a system of thought that centers on human beings and their values, capacities and worth. Encarta also goes on the say that, in philosophy, humanism is an attitude that emphasizes the dignity and worth of an individual. A basic premise of humanism is that people are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness. I see myself as a being a humanist through everyday life. I always try to see the good in a person when he/she makes me angry or sad, and say I to myself that maybe that person has had a bad day and living life is difficult at the moment. Socrates was even an early humanist of sorts. He can be quoted as saying, "to know the good is to do the
Human Nature According to Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Psychology As Carl Jung stated “ As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of