The Humanistic Perspective

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The Humanistic Perspective

• Of Personality

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Humanistic Psychology

• In the 1960s people became sick of Freuds
  negativity and trait psychologys objectivity.

• Along came psychologists who wanted to focus on
  healthy people and how to help them strive to
  be all that they can be.

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Abraham Maslows Self Actualizing Person

• Hierarchy of Needs

• Ultimately seek self- actualization (the process
  of fulfilling our potential).

• Maslow developed his ideas by studying what he
  termed healthy people.

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Who did Maslow study?
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Self-Actualized People

• They share certain characteristics

• They are self aware and self accepting

• Open and spontaneous

• Loving and caring

• Not paralyzed by others opinions.

• They are secure in who they are.

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Self-Actualized People

• Problem centered rather than self-centered.

Focused their energies on a particular task.
Few deep relationships, rather than many
superficial ones.
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Self-Actualization

• These are the qualities that make up a mature
  adult.

• These people have found their calling in life.

Is this a goal worth striving for?
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Carl Rogerss Person-Centered Perspective

• People are basically GOOD.

• We are like Acorns

Humans are like acorns. We are hard headed. We
fall from the group. Then we grow up into
something great. Sage words from Scott Wages
(2009)
Need Water, Sun and Nutrients to Grow into a big
Oak Tree.
We need genuineness, acceptance and empathy for
us to grow.
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Genuineness

• Being open with your own feelings.

• Dropping your facade.

• Being transparent and self-disclosing.

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Acceptance

• Unconditional Positive Regard

An attitude of acceptance regardless of
circumstances.
Accepting yourself or others completely.
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Empathy

• Listening, sharing, understanding and mirroring
  feelings and reflecting their meanings.

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Self-Concept

• All of thoughts and feelings about ourselves
  trying to answer the question.

WHO AM I?
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Self-Concept

• Both Rogers and Maslow believed that your
  self-concept is at the center of your personality.

• If our self concept is positive.

We tend to act and perceive the world positively.

• If our self-concept is negative.

We fall short of our ideal self and feel
dissatisfied and unhappy
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How does a Humanistic psychologist test your
personality?

• You would be asked to fill out a questionnaire
  asking to describe yourself both as you would
  ideally like to be and what you actually are.

When the ideal self and the way you currently see
yourself are alike- you are generally happy.
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Possible Selves
What are your possible selves?
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Possible Selves

• Self concept (two parts)
• 1. Real self --The you that you are
• 2. Ideal self -The self we think we
  should be (unattainable)
• e.g. You are not a quality person if you dont
  have a girlfriendsocial situations will be
  threatening
• e.g. Successful people go to collegecareer
  options outside of this will be denied
• Goal Fully functioning Individual (congruency)
• Uniting your real and ideal self

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Self-Esteem

• Ones feelings of high or low self-worth.

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Do minorities have lower self-esteem?

• NOT REALLY

They value the things which they excel.
They attribute problems to prejudice.
They compare themselves to their own group.
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Self-Serving Bias

• A readiness to perceive oneself favorable.

• People accept more responsibility for successes
  than failures.

• Most people see themselves as better than average.

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Does culture play a part in our personality
(according to humanistic psychologists)?

• Individualism giving priority to ones own goals
  over group goals. Defining your identity in
  terms of yourself.

• Collectivism giving priority to the goals of a
  group and defining your identity as part of that
  group.

Is individualism really better?
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Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective

1. Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on
   counseling, education, child-rearing, and
   management.
2. Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague and
   subjective and lack scientific basis.
3. Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of
   age.