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Humanistic psychology. It is known as the third force . The first force : Freudian determinism: your behavior is determined by the unconscious The second force : behaviorism: your behavior is determined by the environment
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It is known as the third force • The first force: Freudian determinism: your behavior is determined by the unconscious • The second force: behaviorism: your behavior is determined by the environment • The third force: embraces human freedom, and forces of self-actualization --includes both humanism and existentialism, and transpersonal psychology
Humanistic Psychology Founders • Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) • Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
Abraham Maslow Main Points • Emphasis on the healthy individual, on what the person can become. • Hierarchy of needs: • deficit needs: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem • Being needs (in self-actualizing person) truth, goodness, beauty, unity, wholeness, and transcendence of opposites, aliveness, uniqueness, perfection and necessity, completion, justice and order, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, playfulness, self-sufficiency, meaningfulness.
Carl Rogers’ Main Points • Self-actualizing tendency present in all • The importance of unconditional positive regard • The presence of conditional positive regard in society and in ourselves causes us to develop an ideal self • The incongruity between our ideal self and our real self makes us sick • Encountering unconditional positive regard (as in client-centered therapy) is healing.
Existential Psychology: • Stresses the importance of choice, even though we may be “thrown” in a particular situation. Freedom is a central concept. • Humans are the only creatures who know that they will die. • Authenticity is a central value.
Existential Psychology: some names • Erich Fromm, 1900-1980 • Rollo May, 1909-1994 • R.D. Laing, 1927-1989 • Viktor Frankl, 1905-1997 The Viktor Frankl Institut
JHP • The Journal of Humanistic Psychology Launched in 1961. Comes out of a series of meetings in the late 50’s by people like Maslow, Rogers and others
Association of Humanistic Psychology • First meeting in Philadelphia in 1963, 75 attendees.
Postulates of Humanistic Psychology (1964) • 1. Human beings, as human, are more than merely the sum of their parts. They cannot be reduced to component parts or functions. • 2. Human beings exist in a uniquely human context, as well as in a cosmic ecology. • 3. Human beings are aware and aware of being aware—i.e., they are conscious. Human consciousness potentially includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people and the cosmos. • 4. Human beings have some choice, and with that, responsibility. • 5. Human beings are intentional, aim at goals, are aware that they cause future events, and seek meaning, value and creativity.
Division of Humanistic Psychology (1971) • Mission of APA division 32 Humanistic psychology aims to be faithful to the full range of human experience. Its foundations include philosophical humanism, existentialism, and phenomenology. In the science and profession of psychology, humanistic psychology seeks to develop systematic and rigorous methods of studying human beings, and to heal the fragmentary character of contemporary psychology through an ever more comprehensive and integrative approach.
Humanistic Psychology (2) • Humanistic psychologists are particularly sensitive to uniquely human dimensions, such as experiences of creativity and transcendence, and to the quality of human welfare. Accordingly, humanistic psychology aims especially at contributing to psychotherapy, education, theory, philosophy of psychology, research methodology, organization and management, and social responsibility and change.
A Fourth Force? • Toward the end of his life, Maslow started a “fourth force”: transpersonal psychology (a holistic approach to psychology, including the spiritual and body-mind processes). • A writer-thinker in this holistic movement (which goes beyond psychology) is Ken Wilber. Q: should we consider Ken Wilber a Francis Galton of sorts?
Explore Transpersonal Psychology today • The Association of Transpersonal Psychology • Graduate programs in Humanistic/Transpersonal Psychology • How would you describe that general approach?