The Humanistic Approach
Introduction
Due to its relative recency the humanistic approach perspective is rather less
well defined than the other perspectives
What was the humanistic approach?
The humanistic approach to psychology was developed mainly by Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow in the US during the 1950’s
Why was the humanistic approach developed?
Not every psychologist felt comfortable with the behaviourist approach and
the psychodynamic approach
The humanistic approach developed in direct opposition to them
Why?
The behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches are determined and
reductionist
The humanist approach totally rejected what they saw as the negative view of
human behaviour put forward by them
How did the humanist approach view behaviourism?
The humanist approach was unhappy with the behaviourist approach because
it disregarded conscious experience
The humanist approach saw behaviourism as being very narrow – reducing
humans to the level of programmable machines, while ignoring the person as a
whole
How did humanist’s view the psychodynamic approach?
The humanist approach disregarder the psychodynamic approach which saw
people as being at the mercy of unconscious forces
They thought Freud’s ideas of behaviour painted a rather pessimistic picture of
human beings and made no allowances for progress and growth
Out of these concerns emerged the humanist approach
, The humanist approach is often referred to as the “third force” in psychology,
although it has less influence in psychology than rather grand title suggests
The humanist approach aimed to restore balance in psychology
How?
By addressing human needs and ordinary human experience with a minimum
of theory
The humanist approach is concerned with:
Subjective feelings and conscious thoughts of the person rather
than unconscious experience
Free will
Holism
Rejection of the traditional scientific approach and experimentation
Humanist psychologists questioned the use of the scientific method as the
most useful one to follow
The scientific method has been dominant in much of psychology and aims at
objectivity
The scientific method is interested in the measurement of behaviour and
exploring cause and effect relationships through rigourously controlled
experiments
Why did humanistic psychologists’ question this?
This may produce statistically significant facts but ones that are humanly
insignificant, lacking real-life validity
Introduction
Due to its relative recency the humanistic approach perspective is rather less
well defined than the other perspectives
What was the humanistic approach?
The humanistic approach to psychology was developed mainly by Carl Rogers
and Abraham Maslow in the US during the 1950’s
Why was the humanistic approach developed?
Not every psychologist felt comfortable with the behaviourist approach and
the psychodynamic approach
The humanistic approach developed in direct opposition to them
Why?
The behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches are determined and
reductionist
The humanist approach totally rejected what they saw as the negative view of
human behaviour put forward by them
How did the humanist approach view behaviourism?
The humanist approach was unhappy with the behaviourist approach because
it disregarded conscious experience
The humanist approach saw behaviourism as being very narrow – reducing
humans to the level of programmable machines, while ignoring the person as a
whole
How did humanist’s view the psychodynamic approach?
The humanist approach disregarder the psychodynamic approach which saw
people as being at the mercy of unconscious forces
They thought Freud’s ideas of behaviour painted a rather pessimistic picture of
human beings and made no allowances for progress and growth
Out of these concerns emerged the humanist approach
, The humanist approach is often referred to as the “third force” in psychology,
although it has less influence in psychology than rather grand title suggests
The humanist approach aimed to restore balance in psychology
How?
By addressing human needs and ordinary human experience with a minimum
of theory
The humanist approach is concerned with:
Subjective feelings and conscious thoughts of the person rather
than unconscious experience
Free will
Holism
Rejection of the traditional scientific approach and experimentation
Humanist psychologists questioned the use of the scientific method as the
most useful one to follow
The scientific method has been dominant in much of psychology and aims at
objectivity
The scientific method is interested in the measurement of behaviour and
exploring cause and effect relationships through rigourously controlled
experiments
Why did humanistic psychologists’ question this?
This may produce statistically significant facts but ones that are humanly
insignificant, lacking real-life validity
