Humanistic theories of Personality

The Humanistic Approach was developed after therapists pointed out limitations of Psychodynamic theories, especially psychoanalysis. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow raised concerns that psychodynamic theories did not adequately address issues such as the nature of healthy growth and the meaning of behaviour. What is relevant today is Maslow’s ideas on the Hierarchy of Needs concerning the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualisation). Carl Rogers was against psychoanalytic personality theory. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the ‘dehumanising nature’ of this school of thought. The central tenet of humanistic psychology is that people have drives that lead them to involve in activities for personal satisfaction and a contribution to society that is the actualising tendency of the people.

Introduction to Humanistic Theories 

The Humanistic Approach emphasised people have free will and they play an active role in determining how they behave. Accordingly, humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behaviour. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were proponents of this view, which is based on the “phenomenal field” theory of Combs and Snygg.    

Maslow and Rogers held the view that an individual is an active, creative, experiencing human being who lives in the present and responds subjectively to perceptions, relationships, and encounters.

They opposed the pessimistic outlook of Freudian psychoanalysis theorists and emphasised positive and optimistic proposals which stress the tendency of the human personality toward growth and self-actualisation. Humanistic theorists believed that the progressing self will be the centre of its constantly changing world, a world that will help mould the self but not necessarily include it. 

The self has opportunity for growth in the world the person encounters. It tries to reduce the acceptance of hopeless redundancy and relies on the client for information of the past and its effect on the present. Thus, the client dictates the type of guidance the therapist has to take. An individualised approach to therapy is thus allowed. 

According to Carl Rogers, patients differ in their response to other people. Rogers stressed the reflective or empathetic response as he tried to model a particular approach to therapy. This response type takes the client’s viewpoint and shows his feeling and the context for it. An example of a reflective response would be, “It seems you are feeling anxious about your upcoming marriage”. This clarifies the therapist’s understanding while also encouraging the client to think more deeply and seek to fully understand the feelings they have expressed.    

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