The Humanistic Perspective

Assumptions of the Perspective
Please use this link to view a brief ppt presentation

- Humans are intrinsically good.
- Humans have free will; not all behaviour is determined
- All individuals are unique and have an innate drive to achieve their maximum potential
- A proper understanding of human behaviour can only be achieved by studying humans - not animals.
- Psychology should research areas that are meaningful and important to human existence, not neglect them because they are too difficult. Psychology should be applied to enrich human life.
- Psychology should study internal experience as well as external behaviour.
- Psychology should study the individual case (idiographic) rather than the average performance of groups (nomothetic).
- The whole person should be studied in their environmental context.

History
See this powerpoint for a brief summary of the emergence of the third force in psychology.

Humanistic psychology emerged as a third force during the late 1950’s in the United States as an alternative to the deterministic orientations of behaviourism and psychoanalysis. There was a powerful element of European existentialism and phenomenology present in the earliest years of development, but humanistic psychology has now developed into an eclectic movement that attracts a diverse range of theorists.
Humanistic psychology’s emphasis on the possibility of personal growth and change found immediate acceptance. The methodology applied by humanistic psychologists tends to use alternatives to those focusing on quantification and scientific rigour, but often produces useful data. The humanistic perspective is not applied universally, perhaps because of its emphasis on the individual and its optimistic view of human potential.

A link for an article on the history and development of Humanism


Read Glassman pages 254-257 Introduction to the Humanistic Approach


What was existentialism? See this link for an overview ppt
A philosophical debate- existence precedes essence

November (2005) Explain the influence of one historical or cultural condition on the rise of the humanistic perspective (8)

Carl Rogers
Read Glassman pages 257-271 for full details of Rogers theory

A simple guide to Rogerian Humanistic psychology- see this link.

Evaluation- Empirical research related to Rogers. See this link.

Abraham Maslow
Read Glassman pages 271-282 for full details of Maslow's theory.
A brief powerpoint explaining Maslow's theory.

A simple guide to the key aspects of Maslow's theory- See this link.
For a more detailed look at his life and his theories- See this link.

Evaluation- Empirical research relating to Maslow. See this link.

A theory of human motivation- Key study by Rogers- See this link.

Viktor Frankl

Read Glassman pages 282-287 for details of Frankl's theory

See this link for a look at the Viktor Frankl institute in Vienna.

Frankl and the humanist perspective- see this link.

Martin Seligman (Learned Helplessness)

Here is a pretty in-depth article on learned helplessness.

Read Glassman pages 287-290 for details of Seligman's and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theories.

Here is a simple overview of Csikszentmihalyi's ideas and some famous quotes.

Rollo May

See this link for an overview of his life and theories.

Applications and Overview

See this link for an overview of humanistic and existentialism.

Humanism and Education-See this link.

Person-Centred Therapy- See this link.

People need help finding what makes them happy- therapy. See this link.

Overview and evaluation- see this link.

See this link for a more complete explanation of the cultural and historical development of humanistic psychology.

Methodology

See this link for information on the person-centred approach.

Q-Sort

Case Studies

Interviews

Applications

Rogers and informal education (link)

Rogerian Therapy (link) and Client Centred Therapy (link)

Motivation and Sports Psychology (link)

Strengths and Weaknesses

Highlights the value of more individualistic and idiographic methods of study.

Emphasizes the importance of self-actualization, responsibility, freedom of choice, and social context in therapy.

Their belief in free will is in opposition to the deterministic laws of science.

They seek the unique aspects of individuals, rather than producing generalized laws of behaviour.

They investigate issues such as emotion and consciousness which are difficult to study objectively.

There is some question as to the cross-cultural relevance of the highly individualistic approach.

Qualitative data provides more holistic information, but also is more difficult to apply.

May 05

a) Identify two contributions of the humanistic perspective to the study of behaviour (2)

b) Explain and evaluate one of the contributions identified in part a (6)

May 03

a) Describe one method used by humanistic psychologists to collect data (4)

b) Explain how the method of data collection described in part a reflects the interpretation of behaviour from a humanistic perspective (4)

Current Standing

Research positive psychology and Seligman.