Positive Psychology And The Renaissance Of Humanistic Psychology

In counselling and psychotherapy, it is fundamental aspect for practitioners to use theory as a way of informing the way the work with a client.(McLeod). The goal of this essay is to explore the humanistic personality theory of Carl Rogers. The essay will begin by giving a summary

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

to stay on point and manages to sound very scientific. One of the main ways he does this is by

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.

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

In the first part of this essay I will summarise the main features of humanistic counselling and the

Psychotherapy itself comes in many forms, and is based on many different psychological models. Adlerian therapy on the growth model, Gestalt therapy integrates the body and mind, psychoanalytic therapy focuses on the first six years of life, Reality therapy teaches people to control the world around them, and Rational and Cognitive therapy, deals with the cognitive and moral state of the patient. Any one of these could be chosen as a treatment option, but for the purpose of this paper, I will focus on a form of Humanistic Therapy.

In Professor Seligman’s TED Talk he presents to us the state of psychology today. Just what is the state of psychology today? According to Seligman it is good, not good, and not good enough. In the “good” update for psychology today, it is beneficial that psychology is progressing forward. Once what was an extreme science of finding out what is wrong with someone has progressed forward into also finding out how to improve one’s life quality. Seligman states that just sixty years ago no disorder was treatable. However in today’s world of modern psychology not only are fourteen disorders treatable, but two are even curable. In the terms of not good, in Seligman’s opinion, there has been too much of an extreme focus on mental illness. Seligman believes that psychology has gone a pessimistic route and in turn forgotten about improving “normal” lives to make people less miserable. He believes that there should not only be interventions in terms of treating mental illness, but also interventions to make people happier. Seligman lists a few different ways that positive psychology could improve itself to go this route. The main idea is that psychologists should be concerned with both strength and weakness of people, therefore building strengths and repairing weakness. From further research in modern positive psychology has sought to answer just what are happy people and what makes them happy? Seligman explains that

In a humanistic therapy approach or a person-centered psychoanalysis, the therapist’s center of attention is on the conscious of the client to show their awareness. In this environment, such as the therapist displays realism, acceptance and kindness, as an effort in helping the client to openly convey their feelings. These types of sessions allows for information to flow between the client and the therapist in a humanistic genuineness, realness, professional and no façade way. The idea is for the client to freely express their thought and feelings to the psychotherapists so that in return kindness and acceptance is

We often think of psychology with a negative connotation. A reason for this is that for many years, psychologists focused more on the negative side of psychology. This part of psychology deals with peoples’ symptoms, wounds, disorders, and trauma (Morgan & Nemec, 2013). This changed in 2000 when psychologist Martin Seligman founded the science of positive psychology (Schueller & Parks, 2014). Although certain aspects of positive psychology were studied long before the branch was established, they were much less of a focus when compared to its negative counterparts (Morgan &Nemec, 2013). Positive psychology strives to understand “the positive side of human functioning, expanding research on positive behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and character traits (Schueller & Parks, 2014)

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.

Positive psychology is a relatively new, yet rapidly expanding field of study. It is the study of the positive facets of humanity focused heavily around well-being and happiness. Through the studies of positive psychology researchers are attempting to find ways to continuously improve quality of life and flourish as a society. Traditional psychology is obviously very complex and diverse. It is commonly accepted and referred to as the study of the mind and the subsequent behaviour and functions it carries out. Traditional psychology is an over-arching discipline and encompasses numerous different sub-sections such as human development, social behaviour, cognitive processes and health to name a few (McLeod. S., 2011). Positive psychology is another

The quest for happiness is not unique to any subset of gender, generation or population. For most, it is a path sought from the earliest age. It is not uncommon for a journey to find happiness to take individuals on a path that involves, relocation, travel to distant lands, interaction with other individuals and oftentimes, heartbreak. Sadly, the latter result is attributed to an individual’s hinge on attaining happiness through a relationship with another individual. Through application of the humanistic approach in personality psychology, it becomes clear that happiness is very much a realistic possibility for every individual if, certain elements are realized. As presented in Personality (9th Ed.), the humanistic approach to psychology places emphasis on personal responsibility, living in the present also known as the “here and now,” focus on an individual’s experience and lastly, personal growth (Burger, 2014). Humanistic psychology is referred to as the third force in psychology, the first two being psychoanalysis and behaviorism (“Lecture 5,” 2017). Discussed in this paper, will be the approach and perspective of renowned humanistic theorists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, as well as existential psychology, which relates to one’s purpose of existence, as theorized by Victor Frankl and how such research can be applied to the present.

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

Positive Psychology “aims to understand how human strengths can be used to help people flourish and be successful in life” (Bolt 1). The assessments in this chapter help individuals to understand if they are flourishing, how much autonomy we have in our lives, how much we believe an individual can change, our view of what exactly intelligence is, how much personal control we believe we have and finally, how much we challenge ourselves to change and grow.