What is Humanist Psychology bases and foundations

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Sherman Hoover
What is Humanist Psychology bases and foundations

Humanistic Psychology (humanism) is based on the belief that people are good by nature. This type of psychology holds that morals, ethical values, and good intentions are the driving forces of behavior, while adverse social or psychological experiences can be attributed to deviations from natural tendencies..

Humanism incorporates a variety of therapeutic techniques that focus on one's individual potential and emphasize personal self-realization..

Contents

  • The development of Humanistic Psychology
    • Fundamental ideas of Humanist Psychology
  • Principles of Humanistic Psychology
  • Humanistic Psychology in Therapy
  • Contributions of humanism to Psychology
  • Limitations of Humanistic Psychology

The development of Humanistic Psychology

Humanism emerged in the late 1950s as a "third force" in psychology, in response to the limitations that the behaviorism and psychoanalysis schools of thought possessed..

Behaviorism was often criticized for failing to take into account the influence of human consciousness and personality, as well as being overly deterministic, mechanistic, and overly relying on animal studies. Psychoanalysis, for its part, was rejected for its strong emphasis on unconscious and instinctive forces and for being deterministic, too..

In 1957 and 1958, Abraham Maslow and Clark Moustakas met with other psychologists who shared their ideas to establish a professional association that emphasized a more positive and humanistic approach to psychology. The basic principles of this new approach to psychology were: Self-realization, creativity, health, individuality, intrinsic nature and the meaning of life.

After receiving sponsorship from Brandeis University, the American Association for Humanistic Psychology was founded in 1961. Other important contributors to the development of humanistic psychology were Carl Rogers, Gordon Allport, James Bugental, Charlotte Buhler, Rollo May, Gardner Murphy, Henry Murray, Fritz Perls, Kirk Schneider, Louis Hoffman, and Paul Wong..

Fundamental ideas of Humanist Psychology

  • True understanding of human behavior cannot be achieved by studying animals.
  • Free will exists, and individuals must take personal responsibility for their self-growth and fulfillment. The behavior is not predetermined.
  • The subjective experience of the individual is the main indicator of their behavior.
  • Self-realization (the need to reach the maximum personal potential) is something natural.
  • People are fundamentally good and will experience growth if given the right conditions, especially during childhood..
  • Each person and each experience is unique, so psychologists must treat each case individually, rather than relying on averages from group studies.

Principles of Humanistic Psychology

  1. The human being is a totality. This is a holistic approach, whose objective is to study the human being as a whole and not fragmented.
  2. The human being has a structured central nucleus. This nucleus is your "I", your "I" (self) which is the genesis and structure of all your psychological processes..
  3. The human being naturally tends to his formative self-realization. Faced with negative situations, you must transcend them; and if the environment is defined as conducive, genuine and empathetic, as well as non-threatening, its potentialities will be favored.
  4. The human being is a being inserted in a human context, and lives in relation to other people.
  5. The human being is aware of himself and of his existence. Driving in accordance with what was in the past and preparing for the future.
  6. The human being is provided with powers of decision, freedom and conscience to choose and make their own decisions. These faculties make him an active being, builder of his own life.
  7. The human being is intentional. This means that your volitional or intentional acts are reflected in your own decisions or choices..

Humanistic Psychology in Therapy

Humanistic psychologists typically avoid using objective study techniques, such as non-participant observation and scientific experimentation. Humanistic therapists tend to believe that reducing human nature to mere numbers strips them of their richness, so they use qualitative study methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation..

Unstructured interviews allow the therapist to access an individual's thoughts and experiences without directing the interview towards any particular topic or idea. In participant observation, the therapist takes part in the study, facilitating the formation of personal relationships and obtaining information directly from the person. Other forms of qualitative data collection that are used are the analysis of the biography, diaries and letters.

Humanistic psychology integrates multiple therapeutic techniques, such as Carl Rogers Client Centered Therapy, which is also known as "Rogers therapy" and others..

Humanism suggests that each person has been created with different abilities and needs, and must rely on them for healing. Psychologists who practice this method of therapy adopt a non-pathological approach to the individual, instead they have a productive, adaptable and empowering orientation of the positive traits and behaviors of an individual during treatment.

Contributions of humanism to Psychology

The humanistic approach has made significant contributions to the field of psychology. It is a new approach to understanding human nature, with new methods of data collection in behavioral studies, and a wide range of psychotherapy techniques that have been shown to be effective. Some of the main concepts and ideas that emerged from the humanist movement include:

  • Hierarchy of needs
  • Person Centered Therapy
  • Unconditional positive consideration
  • The free will
  • Selfconcept
  • Self-esteem
  • Self realisation

Humanism has inspired many types of therapy. These therapies focus on maximizing the value and options of each person in order to gain a greater sense of power and freedom, increasing self-awareness of emotions to achieve goals that can help promote positive change. Self-actualization is often considered essential to this approach..

Humanistic Psychology emphasizes the inherent worth of human beings and focuses on their ability and willingness to maintain dignity while reinforcing self-esteem and competence. This value orientation is considered responsible for the creation of models of therapy that use interpersonal skills in order to maximize one's own life experience..

Limitations of Humanistic Psychology

The subjective experiences of individuals are tremendously difficult to measure, record, and study. The emphasis on collecting qualitative data makes it almost impossible to verify observations made in therapy. For this reason it is very difficult to compare one set of qualitative data with others, in addition, the lack of quantitative data means that the fundamental theories cannot be supported by empirical evidence..

Other criticisms of the approach include its ineffectiveness in treating serious mental health problems and generalizations made about human nature, as well as the complete rejection of some important behavioral and psychoanalytic concepts. For example, although humanistic psychology holds that animal studies are useless in the study of human behavior, some research done on animals has led to concepts that are applicable to people. Furthermore, humanistic psychology focuses exclusively on free will and consciousness, but research shows that the unconscious plays an important role in human psychology..


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