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The Humanistic
Perspective
Chapter 13, Lecture 3
“Genuineness, acceptance, and empathy are
the water, sun, and nutrients that enable
people to grow like vigorous oak trees,
according to Rogers.”
- David Myers
Humanistic Perspective
By the 1960s, psychologists became discontent
with Freud’s negativity and the mechanistic
psychology of the behaviorists.
Abraham Maslow
(1908-1970)
Carl Rogers
(1902-1987)
Self-Actualizing Person
Maslow proposed that we as individuals are
motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with
physiological needs, we try to reach the state of
self-actualization—fulfilling our potential.
Ted Polumbaum/ Time Pix/ Getty Images
Obstacles to Self-Actualization
If the tendency toward self-actualization is innate, why
are not more adults self-actualized? Maslow estimated
that only one percent are. He offered four basic
explanations for this low number:
1. Self-actualization is at the top of the motivational
hierarchy. This makes it the weakest of all needs and
the most easily impeded. Maslow wrote, “This inner
nature is not strong and overpowering and
unmistakable like the instincts of animals. It is weak
and delicate and subtle and easily overcome by habit,
cultural pressure, and wrong attitudes toward it.”
Obstacles to Self-Actualization
If the tendency toward self-actualization is innate, why
are not more adults self-actualized? Maslow estimated
that only one percent are. He offered four basic
explanations for this low number:
2. Maslow identified the Jonah complex as another
obstacle to self-actualization. We fear and doubt our
own abilities and potentialities. To become selfactualized, one must have enough courage to sacrifice
safety for personal growth. Too often, fear takes
precedence over the challenge of self-actualization.
Obstacles to Self-Actualization
If the tendency toward self-actualization is innate, why
are not more adults self-actualized? Maslow estimated
that only one percent are. He offered four basic
explanations for this low number:
3. The cultural environment may also stifle selfactualization by imposing certain norms on major
segments of the population. Definitions of
“manliness” may prevent the male child from
developing traits such as sympathy, kindness, and
tenderness, all of which characterize the self-actualized
person.
Obstacles to Self-Actualization
If the tendency toward self-actualization is innate, why
are not more adults self-actualized? Maslow estimated
that only one percent are. He offered four basic
explanations for this low number:
4. Childhood experiences may inhibit personal growth.
Maslow observed that children from warm, secure,
friendly homes are more likely to choose experiences
that lead to personal growth. Excessive control and
coddling is obviously harmful but so is excessive
permissiveness. Too much freedom in childhood can
lead to anxiety and insecurity, which can prevent further
growth. Maslow called for “freedom within limits” in
which there is the right mixture of permissiveness and
regulation.
Person-Centered Perspective
Carl Rogers also believed in an individual's selfactualization tendencies. He said that
Unconditional Positive Regard is an attitude of
acceptance of others despite their failings.
Michael Rougier/ Life Magazine
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Assessing the Self
In an effort to assess personality, Rogers asked
people to describe themselves as they would like
to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real). If the
two descriptions were close the individual had a
positive self-concept.
All of our thoughts and feelings about
ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who
am I?” refers to Self-Concept.
Evaluating the Humanistic
Perspective
Humanistic psychology has a pervasive
impact on counseling, education, childrearing, and management with its
emphasis on a positive self-concept,
empathy, and the thought that people are
basically good and can improve.
Evaluating the Humanistic
Perspective
Criticisms
1. Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague
and subjective and lack scientific basis.
2. The individualism encouraged can lead to selfindulgence, selfishness, and an erosion of moral
restraints.
3. Humanistic psychology fails to appreciate the
reality of our human capacity for evil. It lacks
adequate balance between realistic optimism
and despair.
Homework
Study!
“Humanistic psychology, say the critics,
encourages the needed hope but not the equally
necessary realism about evil.”
- David Myers