Humanistic Psychology

Basic Definition:

"Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. It is explicitly concerned with the human dimension of psychology and the human context for the development of psychological theory."

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Basic Summary:

“The humanistic approach has its roots in existentialist thought (see Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre). It is also sometimes understood within the context of the three different forces of psychology; behaviorism, psychoanalysis and humanism.”

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“During the 1950s, humanistic psychology began as a reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism, which dominated psychology at the time. Psychoanalysis was focused on understanding the unconscious motivations that drove behavior while behaviorism studied the conditioning processes that produced behavior. Humanist thinkers felt that both psychoanalysis and behaviorism were too pessimistic, either focusing on the most tragic of emotions or failing to take the role of personal choice into account.
Humanistic psychology was instead focused on each individual’s potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology was that people are innately good, with mental and social problems resulting from deviations from this natural tendency.”

"Criticisms of Humanistic Psychology
• Often seen as too subjective; the importance of individual experience makes it difficult to objectively study and measure humanistic phenomena. How can we objectively tell if someone is self-actualized? The answer, of course, is that we cannot. We can only rely upon the individual's own assessment of their experience.
• Observations are unverifiable—there is no accurate way to measure or quantify these qualities.
Strong Points of Humanistic Psychology
• Emphasizes the role of the individual; humanistic psychology gives more credit to the individual in controlling and determining their state of mental health.
• Takes environmental influence into account; rather than focusing solely on our internal thoughts and desires, humanistic psychology also credits the environment's influence on our experiences.
• Humanistic psychology continues to influence therapy, education, healthcare, and other areas.
• Humanistic psychology helped remove some of the stigma attached to therapy, and made it more acceptable for normal, healthy individuals to explore their abilities and potential through therapy."

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"Humanistic psychologists believe that:
• An individual's behavior is primarily determined by his perception of the world around him.
• Individuals are not solely the product of their environment.
• Individuals are internally directed and motivated to fulfill their human potential."

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My reaction: Based on the 3 sources above, I feel like Humanistic psychology really practices the idea that people like identify with their surroundings. The interaction with their environment and people around them is what affects them the most. That there is some sort of meaning for us as individuals and in order to live our life to its fullest potential, we need to find that meaning and live by it.