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| DC's self-actualized superhero, Mister Terrific. Silver Age-era art by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson. |
From yee
Wikipedia:
Humanistic Psychology (The Third Force) is a
psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century in
response to
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory.
With its roots running from
Socrates through the
Renaissance, this approach emphasizes an
individual's inherent drive towards self-actualization and
creativity.
In the context of the tertiary sector beginning to produce more than the secondary sector, the
humanistic psychology, which was sometimes referred to as a "
third force," as distinct from the two more traditional approaches to psychology,
psychoanalysis and
behaviorism, began to be seen as
more relevant than the older approaches.
It also led to a new approach to
human capital with the creativity -- previously seen as work prerequisite for
artists only -- beginning for the
first time in human history to be seen as a
work prerequisite for employees that were in an
increasing number working in
cognitive-cultural economy.
Its ideas have influenced the
theory and practice of education and social work, particularly in
North America, as well as the emerging field of
transpersonal psychology.
It typically holds that
people are inherently good. It adopts a
holistic approach to human existence and pays special attention to such phenomena as
creativity, free will, and human
potential. Its principal U.S. professional organizations are the
Association for Humanistic Psychology and the
Society for Humanistic Psychology (
Division 32 of the American
Psychological Association).
Early sources
One of humanistic psychology's early sources was the work of
Carl Rogers. Rogers' focus was to ensure that the developmental processes led to healthier, if not more creative, personality functioning. The term
'actualizing tendency' was also coined by Rogers, and was a concept that eventually led
Abraham Maslow to study
self-actualization as one of the
needs of humans. Rogers and Maslow introduced this
positive, humanistic psychology in response to what they viewed as the
overly pessimistic view of psychoanalysis.
The other sources include the
philosophies of
existentialism and
phenomenology.
Conceptual origins
The humanistic approach has its roots in phenomenological and existentialist thought (see
Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and
Sartre).
Eastern philosophy and psychology also play a central role in humanistic psychology, as well as
Judeo-Christian philosophies of
personalism, as each shares similar concerns about the nature of human
existence and
consciousness.
As
behaviorism grew out of
Ivan Pavlov's work with the
conditioned reflex, and laid the foundations for academic psychology in the United States associated with the names of
John B. Watson and
B. F. Skinner, Abraham Maslow gave behaviorism the name "
the second force".
Historically
"the first force" were psychologists like
Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Otto Rank, Melanie Klein, Harry Stack Sullivan, and others.
In the late 1930s, psychologists, interested in the
uniquely human issues, such as the self
, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality, and
meaning—that is, a
concrete understanding of human existence, included Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and
Clark Moustakas, who were interested in founding a
professional association dedicated to a psychology focused on these features of
human capital demanded by
post-industrial society.
The humanistic psychology perspective is summarized by
five core principles or
postulates of humanistic psychology first articulated in an article written by
James Bugental in 1964 and adapted by
Tom Greening, psychologist and long-time editor of the
Journal of Humanistic Psychology. The five basic principles of humanistic psychology are:
1. Human beings, as human, supersede the sum of their parts. They cannot be reduced to components.
2. Human beings have their existence 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 always includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people.
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.
While humanistic psychology is a specific division within the
American Psychological Association (Division 32),
humanistic psychology is
not so much a discipline within psychology as a
perspective on the human condition that informs psychological research and practice.
For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_psychology
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| Abraham Maslow short book on the Peak Experience. |
