Humanistic Approach

Humanistic Approach

Saul McLeod, updated 2020

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Humanistic, humanism and humanist are terms in psychology relating to an approach which studies the whole person, and the uniqueness of each individual.  Essentially, these terms refer to the same approach in psychology.

The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against what some psychologists saw as the limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic psychology. The humanistic approach is thus often called the “third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviorism (Maslow, 1968).

Humanism rejected the assumptions of the behaviorist perspective which is characterized as deterministic, focused on reinforcement of stimulus-response behavior and heavily dependent on animal research.

Humanistic psychology also rejected the psychodynamic approach because it is also deterministic, with unconscious irrational and instinctive forces determining human thought and behavior.  Both behaviorism and psychoanalysis are regarded as dehumanizing by humanistic psychologists.

Humanistic psychology expanded its influence throughout the 1970s and the 1980s.  Its impact can be understood in terms of three major areas:

1) It offered a new set of values for approaching an understanding of human nature and the human condition.

2) It offered an expanded horizon of methods of inquiry in the study of human behavior.

3) It offered a broader range of more effective methods in the professional practice of psychotherapy.

Basic Assumptions

Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumptions that people have free will:

People are basically good, and have an innate need to make themselves and the world better:

People are motivated to self-actualize:

The subjective, conscious experiences of the individual is most important:

Humanism rejects scientific methodology:

Humanism rejected comparative psychology (the study of animals) because it does not tell us anything about the unique properties of human beings:

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The History of Humanistic Psychology

History of Humanistic Psychology

• Maslow (1943) developed a hierarchical theory of human motivation.
• Carl Rogers (1946) publishes Significant aspects of client-centered therapy (also called person centered therapy).
• In 1957 and 1958, at the invitation of Abraham Maslow and Clark Moustakas, two meetings were held in Detroit among psychologists who were interested in founding a professional association dedicated to a more meaningful, more humanistic vision.
• In 1962, with the sponsorship of Brandeis University, this movement was formally launched as the Association for Humanistic Psychology.
• The first issue of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology appeared in the Spring of 1961.
• Clark Hull’s (1943) Principles of behavior was published.
• B.F. Skinner (1948) published Walden Two, in which he described a utopian society founded upon behaviorist principles.

Humanistic Approach Summary

Humanistic Approach Summary

Critical Evaluation

Critical Evaluation

The humanistic approach has been applied to relatively few areas of psychology compared to the other approaches.  Therefore, its contributions are limited to areas such as therapy, abnormality, motivation and personality.

A possible reason for this lack of impact on academic psychology perhaps lies with the fact that humanism deliberately adopts a non-scientific approach to studying humans. Humanistic psychologists rejected a rigorous scientific approach to psychology because they saw it as dehumanizing and unable to capture the richness of conscious experience.

As would be expected of an approach that is ‘anti-scientific’, humanistic psychology is short on empirical evidence. The approach includes untestable concepts, such as ‘self-actualisation’ and ‘congruence’. However, Rogers did attempt to introduce more rigour into his work by developing Q-sort – an objective measure of progress in therapy.

In many ways, the rejection of scientific psychology in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was a backlash to the dominance of the behaviorist approach in North American psychology. For example, their belief in free-will is in direct opposition to the deterministic laws of science.

Another limitation is the humanistic approach is that it is ethnocentric. Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, autonomy and personal growth, would be more readily associated with individualistic cultures in the Western world such as the US.

Collectivist cultures such as India, which emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence, may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology. Therefore, it is possible that the approach would not travel well and is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed.

Also, the areas investigated by humanism, such as consciousness and emotion are very difficult to scientifically study.  The outcome of such scientific limitations means that there is a lack of empirical evidence to support the key theories of the approach.

However, the flip side to this is that humanism can gain a better insight into an individual's behavior through the use of qualitative methods, such as unstructured interviews.  The approach also helped to provide a more holistic view of human behavior, in contrast to the reductionist position of science.

APA Style References

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-96.

Rogers, C. R. (1946). Significant aspects of client-centered therapy. American Psychologist, 1,  415-422.

Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). New York: D. Van Nostrand.

Rogers, C. R. (1946). Significant aspects of client-centered therapy. American Psychologist 1,  415-422.

Rogers, C. R. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the person and the social context. New York: McGraw Hill.