Chapter 14: Humanistic
Psychology
A History of Psychology
(3rd Edition)
John G. Benjafield
Humanistic Psychology
• Both a movement within academic
psychology and an essential part of cultural
trends that characterized the 1960s
– Founders became well-known by the general
public
• Combined influences from European
existentialism and American optimism
• Distinguished themselves from
psychoanalysis and behaviourism
= The ‘Third Force’
Existentialism
• Existentialism: A doctrine that
concentrates on the existence of the
individual, who, being free and
responsible, is held to be what he/she
makes of him/herself
Søren Kierkgaard (1813–1855)
• Preoccupied with the nature of human
choice
• Either/Or
– Presented two ways of living one’s life:
• The aesthetic
– Searching for sophisticated forms of pleasure
• The ethical
– Living by a rigorous set of idealistic principles
– Both ways of living equally justifiable
• One’s choices are one’s own
• Subjective nature of human choice
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
• Observed emergence of nihilism: notion
that there are no absolute truths or values
– Marked the end of Christianity
• Perspectivism: notion that there are any
number of interpretations of reality, all of
which are equally valid
– Rejects the superiority of a scientific
understanding of the world
• Will to power
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)
• Influenced by Edmund Husserl (student of Franz
Brentano)
– Adopted their concept of intentionality: consciousness
is always directed at something other than itself
– Intentions are revealed by our choices
• Being and Nothingness (1943)
• Refused the Nobel Prise for literature in 1964
– Attitude of disdain for established cultural institutions
Martin Heidegger (1899–1976)
• Existential psychotherapy: an alternative to
the psychoanalytic psychotherapy provided
by existentialism
• Student of Husserl’s; influenced Sartre
• Dasein: Being
– A person is fundamentally concerned with the
fact that he or she is a being-in-the-world
– Phenomenological method only way to
investigate nature of being-in-the-world
Ludwig Binswanger (1881–1966)
• Developed an existential approach to
psychotherapy
– Built on Heidegger’s basic ideas
• People are spiritual as well as biological
creatures
• Psychotherapy requires a total
commitment
The Emergence of
Humanistic Psychology
•
•
•
•
Rollo May
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
Symposium on existential psychology at
the 1959 convention of the American
Psychological Association
The Emergence of
Humanistic Psychology
1959 convention:
1. American psychologists believed that
existentialism added important dimensions to
psychology
2. American psychologists disagreed with the
anti-scientific attitude expressed by many
European existentialists
3. In general, the Americans believed that the
Europeans had been too pessimistic
The Emergence of
Humanistic Psychology
• First Invitational Conference on
Humanistic Psychology (November 1964,
Old Saybrook, Connecticut)
• Central question: Can the scientific
functions of a humanistic psychological
science be set forth?
• Theme of the papers:
– Be critical of both behaviourist and
psychoanalytic approaches to psychology
Charlotte Malachowski Bühler
(1893–1974)
Central characteristics of humanistic psychology:
1.
2.
3.
Humanistic psychology studies the person as a
whole
A person cannot be understood within a single time
frame, but only by considering the person’s entire
life history
Intentionality underlies the processes by which a
person sets their goals and values
Rollo May (1909–1994)
• The Meaning of Anxiety
– Elaborated on the nature and importance of
anxiety as a modern phenomenon
– Neurotic vs. normal anxiety
• Love and Will
– Conveys his approach to finding meaning in the
modern world
– Love and will represent those aspects of
ourselves that have been pushed aside
Abraham H. Maslow (1908–1970)
• Studied with Harry Harlow at the University
of Wisconsin
• Employed by E.L. Thorndike at Columbia
Teacher’s College
• 1935–1940: New York
– Studied with Adler, Horney, Goldstein,
Wertheimer, Koffka
• Influenced by anthropologist Ruth Benedict
– Spent a summer doing fieldwork on a Northern
Blackfoot reservation in Alberta
Synergy
• Synergy: the degree to which the needs of
the individual are consistent with the
demands of the culture
– High-synergy culture: being selfish also
promotes the welfare of others
– Low-synergy culture: the needs of the individual
conflict with how the culture wants the individual
to behave
The Hierarchy of Needs
• Needs may be organized hierarchically in
the order in which they must be satisfied
– Physiological needs
– Safety needs
– Love needs
– Esteem needs
– Self-actualization
The Self-actualizing Person
• Self-actualizing person: has managed to
satisfy their basic needs to a very great
extent
• Metamotivations: motives beyond or above
ordinary motives
• Deficiency motives: that of which we are
deprived
• Being values (B-values)
Peak Experiences
• Much in common with mystical experiences
of a oneness with the world
• From peak experiences people become
aware of the centrality of B-values in their
lives
• Intrinsically valuable
• Similar to a childlike way of being-in-theworld
The Psychology of Science
• Response to his critics
• Critique of orthodox science
• Advocated a science with a number of
features not always associated with scientific
psychology
– Taoistic science
– Problem-centred approach
– Experiential methods
Lightner Witmer (1867–1956)
• First person in the United States to define
area of ‘Clinical Psychology’
• Developed conception of clinical
psychology while working in schools
– Was to be used to diagnose and treat
deficiencies
• 1896: founded the first psychological clinic
• Developed courses in clinical psychology
Clinical Psychology
• Clinical psychology: a scientific and
professional field that seeks to increase
our understanding of human behaviour
and to promote the effective functioning of
individuals
– Not defined by any single approach
Carl R. Rogers (1902–1987)
• 1919–1924: University of Wisconsin
– Originally in agriculture; graduated in history
• Union Theological Seminary, NY
– Took some courses at Columbia University with Leta
Hollingworth
• 1940: Ohio State University
– Established a practicum in counselling and
psychotherapy
• University of Chicago
– Established a counselling centre
• 1947: elected president of APA
Client-Centred Therapy
= non-directive psychotherapy
• Unconditional positive regard: openness and
receptiveness on the part of the therapist
• Self-concept: view a person has of themselves
• Ideal self: the way the person wishes to be
• Discrepancy between the person’s self-concept
and their ideal self is a source of discomfort
• Card sorting technique
Eugene T. Gendlin (1926–)
• Student of Carl Rogers
• First editor of the journal Psychotherapy:
Theory, Research and Practice
• Experiencing: the flow of feeling to which
you can attend inwardly at every moment
– Key concept
• Felt meanings: when we attend to our
experiencing directly
Encounter Groups
• Lewin’s T-groups renamed encounter groups
• Vehicles for enabling people to realize their
full human potential
– Setting in which people discussed themselves
as freely and openly as possible
→ Human potential movement
What Happened to
Humanistic Psychology?
• Fit well with Zeitgeist of American popular
culture in 1960s and 1970s
• 1970s: increasing criticism
• Contributing factor to decline:
– Leaders moved out of universities
• Theories left unstudied
• No students
George A. Kelly (1905–1967)
• Approach shared some of the
characteristics of humanistic psychology
but was still distinctive
• Kelly’s psychology explored implications of
notion that people are scientists
The Psychology of
Personal Constructs
• People ultimately seek to anticipate real
events
• To predict events, we need to be able to
represent them
– Constructs: a way in which two events are alike
but different from a third event
– Personal constructs: dimensions that may be
unique to that individual
The Repertory Test
• Method of eliciting an individual’s personal
constructs
• Allows one to get an idea of how a person
thinks about her or his acquaintances
Research in
Personal Construct Theory
• Kelly’s approach taken up by
psychologists in Britain
– Don Bannister
• Flexibility of repertory grid methodology
made it broadly useful in applied setings