Chapter 14: Humanistic Psychology

1. Chapter 14: Humanistic Psychology A History of Psychology (3rd Edition) John G. Benjafield

2. 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’

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. The Emergence of Humanistic Psychology • Rollo May • Abraham Maslow • Carl Rogers • Symposium on existential psychology at the 1959 convention of the American Psychological Association

10. The Emergence ofHumanistic Psychology 1959 convention: • American psychologists believed that existentialism added important dimensions to psychology • American psychologists disagreed with the anti-scientific attitude expressed by many European existentialists • In general, the Americans believed that the Europeans had been too pessimistic

11. 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

12. Charlotte Malachowski Bühler (1893–1974) Central characteristics of humanistic psychology: • 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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)

18. 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-the-world

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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