Humanistic psychology

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 01:54, 1 April 2006 by Jennifer Tanabe (talk | contribs) (spell check)
Previous (Humanism)
Next (Humanitarian aid)


Psychology
Senses brain.png
History
Psychologists
Divisions
Abnormal
Applied
Biological
Clinical
Cognitive
Comparative
Developmental
Differential
Industrial
Parapsychology
Personality
Positive
Religion
Social
Approaches
Behaviorism
Depth
Experimental
Gestalt
Humanistic
Information processing

Humanistic psychology is an approach in psychology that emerged in the 1950s as an alternative to both Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis. It seeks to understand human beings as unique among living beings, with consciousness, free will, and responsibility for our choices. The goal of Humanistic psychology is to understand the whole person, and to aid each person in the development of their potential to the fullest, and thus be able to contribute most effectively to the larger society. This approach successfully understands human nature as being on a level qualitatively different from that of other species. However, it lacks an understanding of the fundamental importance of relationships in healthy human development.

Overview

The following five postulates form the foundation of Humanistic psychology (Bugental, 1964):

  1. Human beings cannot be reduced to components
  2. Human beings have in them a uniquely human context
  3. Human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people
  4. Human beings have choices and responsibilities
  5. Human beings are intentional, they seek meaning, value, and creativity

Humanistic psychology emphasizes the study of the whole person, regarding an individual's behavior as directly related to his inner feelings and self-image. Its practitioners explore how people are influenced by their self-perceptions and the personal meanings attached to their life experiences. They consider conscious choices, responses to internal needs, and current circumstances to be important in shaping human behavior.

Qualitative, or descriptive, research methods are preferred over quantitative methods, which run the risk of reducing human behavior to its behavioral elements, and losing essentially human aspects that are not easily quantified. This is part of the field's "human science" approach to psychology: an emphasis on the actual lived experience of persons (Aanstoos, Serlin & Greening, 2000).

Humanistic psychology has roots in the existentialist thought of philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Paul Sartre. It reflects many of the values expressed by the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Renaissance Europeans who attempted to study those qualities that are unique to human life and that make possible such essentially human phenomena as love, personal freedom, lust for power, morality, art, philosophy, religion, literature, and science. Many believe the message of Humanistic psychology is a response to the denigration of the human spirit that has so often been implied in the image of the person drawn by behavioral and social sciences.

The development of the field

In the 1950s there were two opposing forces in psychology: Behaviorism and what has become known as Depth psychology. Behaviorism grew out of Ivan Pavlov's work on learning, particularly the conditioned reflex, and laid the foundations for the approach to psychology in the United States associated with Clark Hull, James Watson, B.F. Skinner, and others. Abraham Maslow later gave behaviorism the name "the first force." The "second force" came out of Sigmund Freud's work on psychoanalysis, and the psychologies of Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Otto Rank, Melanie Klein, and others. These theorists focused on the "depth" or unconscious realm of the human psyche, which, they stressed, must be combined with the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality.

In the late 1950s, two meetings were held in Detroit among psychologists who were interested in founding a professional association dedicated to a more humanistic vision: something that had everything to do with self, self-actualization, health, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality, and meaning. They also aimed to create a complete description of what it is to be a human being, and investigated the uniquely human aspects of experience, such as love and hope. These psychologists, including Abraham Maslow, believed this likely to become the central concern of a new psychological movement, known as the "third force."

These preliminary meetings eventually led to other developments, among those the launch of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1961. This was soon to be followed by the formation of the Association for Humanistic Psychology (AHP) in 1963 and subsequent graduate programs in Humanistic psychology at institutions of higher learning. 1971 saw the establishment of an exclusive division devoted to Humanistic Psychology within the American Psychological Association (APA), which publishes its own academic journal called The Humanistic Psychologist.

Humanistic Psychology Today

During the 1970s, 80s, and beyond, the ideas and values of humanistic psychology spread into many areas of society in the United States.

Counseling and therapy

Humanistic psychology includes several approaches to counseling and therapy. These include the existential psychology of Rollo May, person-centered or client-centered therapy developed by Carl Rogers, Gestalt therapy developed by Fritz Perls, transactional analysis developed by Eric Berne, and marital and family therapies.

The general aim of humanistic therapy is to give a holistic description of the person. By using phenomenological, intersubjective and first-person categories, the humanistic psychologist attempts to glimpse the whole person and not just fragmented parts of the personality (Rowan, 2001).

Humanistic psychology also seeks an integration of the whole person, referred to as self-actualization by Abraham Maslow|Maslow]]. According to humanistic thinking, each individual person already has inbuilt potentials and resources that might help them to build a stronger personality and self-concept. The mission of the humanistic psychologist is to point the individual in the direction of these resources. The therapist is, in some circumstances, closer to a guide, than to a clinician. However, in order to actualize hidden potentials the person might have to give up the safety of a particular stage of the personality in order to embrace a new, and more integrated stage. This is in no way a trivial process as it might include confrontations with new life-choices or existential concerns. Humanistic psychology views psychological instability and anxiety as normal features of human life and development that can be worked through in therapy (Rowan, 2001).

Humanistic psychology, however, is not exclusively optimistic in its view of human development. It includes both the theories of such thinkers as Maslow and Rogers, who are basically optimistic, and of such thinkers as Schneider, May, and Bugental, who are not particularly optimistic (Rowan, 2001).

The Association for Humanistic Psychology continues to represent the interests of Humanistic psychology. However, its influence has grown and it is also represented in a variety of other APA divisions concerned with psychotherapy and issues of social concern.

Transpersonal psychology

Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transcendent, or spiritual dimensions of humanity. Among the thinkers who are considered to have set the stage for transpersonal studies are William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, and Roberto Assagioli (Cowley & Derezotes, 1994; Miller, 1998; Davis, 2003). A major motivating factor behind the initiative to establish this school of psychology was Abraham Maslow's work on "peak experiences." Maslow's work grew out of the humanistic movement of the 1960's, and gradually the term "transpersonal" was associated with this distinct school of psychology within the humanistic movement.

A short definition from the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology suggests that transpersonal psychology "is concerned with the study of humanity’s highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness" (Lajoie and Shapiro, 1992:91). Among these topics we find such issues as self-development, peak experiences, mystical experiences and the possibility of development beyond traditional ego-boundaries. Thus transpersonal psychology is concerned with human experiences which apparently are 'trans-personal,’ or 'trans-egoic'.

Transpersonal psychology had its formal beginnings in 1969, when Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich initiated the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. This was soon to be followed by the founding of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) in 1972. In the 1980s and 90s the field developed through the works of such authors as Stanislav Grof, Ken Wilber, Michael Washburn, Frances Vaughan, Roger Walsh, Stanley Krippner, Michael Murphy, Charles Tart, David Lukoff and Stuart Sovatsky. While Wilber has been considered an influential writer and theoretician in the field, he has since personally dissociated himself from the movement in favor of what he calls an integral approach.

Today transpersonal psychology also includes approaches to health, social sciences and practical arts. Transpersonal perspectives are also being applied to such diverse fields as psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, sociology, pharmacology, cross-cultural studies (Scotton, Chinen and Battista, 1996; Davis, 2003) and social work (Cowley & Derezotes, 1994).

Transpersonal Psychology has brought clinical attention to a number of "psychoreligious" and "psychospiritual" problems. Psychoreligious problems have to do with possible psychological conflict resulting from a person's involvement with the beliefs and practices of an organized religious institution. Among these we find problematic experiences related to conversion, intensification of religious belief or practice, or a loss of faith.

Psychospiritual problems are experiences of a different category than religious problems. Cowley & Derezotes (1994) notes that transpersonal theory has an understanding of spirituality as a dimension that is integral to human nature, that is, an essential aspect of being. Thus, psychospiritual problems have to do with a person's relationship to existential issues, and issues that are considered to transcend ordinary day-to-day reality. Among these problems we find psychiatric complications related to loss of faith, near-death experience, and mystical experience. Complications that are considered to present problems of a combined religious and spiritual nature are issues related to serious and terminal illness (Lukoff et.al, 1998).

The term "Spiritual Emergence" was coined by Stanislav and Christina Grof (1989) in order to describe a gradual unfolding and appearance of psychospiritual categories in a person’s life. In cases where this spiritual unfolding is intensified beyond the control of the individual it might lead to a state of "Spiritual Emergency." A Spiritual Emergency might cause significant disruptions in psychological, social and occupational functioning, and many of the psychospiritual problems described above might be characterized as spiritual emergencies (Lukoff et.al, 1998).

At the beginning of the 1990s, the transpersonal community proposed a new diagnostic category entitled "religious or spiritual problem." This category was later included in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) under the heading "Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention", Code V62.89 (American Psychiatric Association, 1994; Lu et.al, 1997).

Integral psychology

In the 1940s Indra Sen, a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, established the field of Integral Psychology, based on Sri Aurobindo's teachings. Aurobindo's integral yoga involves transformation of the entire being, rather than, as in most other teachings, a single faculty such as the head or the heart or the body.

A further interpretation of Integral psychology was developed by Haridas Chaudhuri, who postulated a triadic principle of uniqueness, relatedness and transcendence, corresponding to the personal, interpersonal and transpersonal domains of human existence (Chaudhuri, 1977).

Bahman Shirazi of the California Institute of Integral Studies has defined Integral Psychology as

a psychological system concerned with exploring and understanding the totality of the human phenomenon....(which) at its breadth, covers the entire body-mind-psyche-spirit spectrum, while at its depth...encompasses the previously explored unconscious and the conscious dimensions of the psyche, as well as the supra-conscious dimension traditionally excluded from psychological inquiry (Shirazi, 2001).

Thus, integral psychology can be understood as a psychology that is inclusive or holistic rather than exclusivist or reductive. Multiple explanations of phenomena, rather than competing with each other for supremacy, are to be valued and integrated into a coherent overall view. An integral view is one that incorporates and honors ancient and modern knowledge, spirituality and scientific research.

Ken Wilber researched and synthesized around 200 theories of human development (ancient, modern, eastern, and western) that worked toward an integral view. Based on this research, his book, Integral Psychology, identifies an "integral stage of consciousness" which exhibits "...cognition of unity, holism, dynamic dialecticism, or universal integralism..." (Wilbur, 2000).

Wilber is a holist: he believes that reality does not consist merely of matter, or energy, or ideas, or processes. Instead, it consists of "holons." Although we are made of parts (nervous system, skeletal system, etc.), we are also a part of our society, our nation-state, our planet. Each "holon" has an interior perspective (an inside) and an exterior perspective (an outside). It also has an individual perspective and a collective (or plural) perspective. If you map these into quadrants, you have four quadrants, or dimensions.

Upper-Left

Quadrant (UL)
"I"

Interior-Individual
Intentional

 Upper-Right

Quadrant (UR)
"It"

Exterior-Individual
Behavioral

Lower-Left

Quadrant (LL)
"We"

Interior-Collective
Cultural

 Lower-Right

Quadrant (LR)
"Its"

Exterior-Collective
Social

Wilber provides a comprehensive understanding of human development through the application of this Four Quadrant approach, which encompasses the individual, cultural, social, spiritual, and political realms. All four quadrants interact and thus all of them are required in order to understand the full scope of human development, motivation and growth. A theory is said to be "AQAL" (where "AQAL" stands for "All quadrants, all levels", and equally connotes "all lines, all states, all types"), and thus integral, if it relates to all four quadrants.

  • Upper Left Quadrant (individual, subjective, intentional): emotional, mental and spiritual development.
  • Upper Right Quadrant (individual, objective, behavioral): physical body, neurological brain and states of consciousness.
  • Lower Right Quadrant (social, interobjective): systems, political and civic institutions.
  • Lower Left Quadrant (cultural, intersubjective): relationships with family, friends and community; moral development, and contribution to society.

Integral psychology promotes health and wellness through attention to and development of all four quadrants of one's life. In addition, the development in one quadrant reinforces the effectiveness of the others. The more categories that are engaged, the more effective they all become because all are intimately related. This holistic approach and broad view of human development has been brought to bear on an astonishing variety of disciplines: including medicine, social services, ecology, finances, politics, business and others.

Criticism and evaluation

One of the earliest and most serious criticisms of the Transpersonal psychology was issued by the Humanistic psychologist Rollo May, who disputed the conceptual foundations of transpersonal psychology (Aanstos, Serling & Greening, 2000). May was particularly concerned about the low level of reflection on the dark side of human nature, and on human suffering, among the early transpersonal theorists. A similar critique was also put forward by Alexander (1980) who thought that Transpersonal Psychology, in light of the thinking of William James, represented a philosophy that failed to take evil adequately into account. Later Transpersonal theorists have been more willing to reflect on these important dimensions of human existence (Scotton, Chinen and Battista, 1996).

Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi (2000) noted that the early incarnations of Humanistic psychology lacked a cumulative empirical base, and that some directions encouraged self-centeredness. Such suspicions are understandable since a large amount of time is spent on discussing such issues as the self and self-actualization. However, Humanistic psychology does not promote such ideas as the narcissistic self, egotism or selfishness (Bohart & Greening, 2001; Rowan, 2001). The idea of the humanistic perspective is actually to go beyond such narrow categories and to develop a movement towards a fuller sense of self (Rowan, 2001).

In fact, humanistic psychologists have not only focused on promoting self-actualization and individual fulfillment, they have also addressed such topics as the promotion of international peace and understanding, the reduction of violence, and the promotion of social welfare and justice for all Bohart & Greening (2001). Thus, despite the apparently self-centered focus, humanistic psychology is actually concerned with how each individual can fulfill his or her own potential so that they can make their most valuable contribution to the larger society.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. 2000. "History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychological Association." In D. Dewsbury (Ed.), Unification through Division: Histories of the divisions of the American Psychological Association, Vol. V. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Bugental, J.F.T. 1964. "The Third Force in Psychology," Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 19-25.
  • Alexander, Gary T. 1980. "William James, the Sick Soul, and the Negative Dimensions of Consciousness: A Partial Critique of Transpersonal Psychology." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, XLVIII(2):191-206.
  • American Psychiatric Association. 1994. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing. ISBN 0890420254.
  • Bohart, Arthur C. & Greening, Thomas. 2001. "Comment: Humanistic Psychology and Positive Psychology." American Psychologist. Jan, Vol. 56(1) 81-82.
  • Chaudhuri, H. 1989. The Evolution of Integral Consciousness. Theosophical Pub House. ISBN 0835604942.
  • Cowley, Au-Deane S. & Derezotes, David. 1994. "Transpersonal Psychology and Social Work Education." Journal of Social Work Education, 10437797, Winter, Vol. 30, Issue 1.
  • Davis, John V. 2003. "Transpersonal psychology" in Taylor, B. and Kaplan, J., (Eds). The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Continuum.
  • Grof, Stanislav & Grof, Christina. 1989. "Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis" in New Consciousness Reader. Los Angeles: J.P Tarcher.
  • Lajoie, D. H. & Shapiro, S. I. 1992. "Definitions of transpersonal psychology: The first twenty-three years." Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 24.
  • Lu, F.G., Lukoff, D., Turner, R. 1997. "Religious or Spiritual Problems." In DSM-IV Sourcebook, Vol. 3. Widiger TA, Frances AJ, Pincus HA et al., (eds). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, pp 1001-1016.
  • Lukoff, David, Lu, Francis G. & Turner, Robert P. 1998. "From Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Problem - The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category." Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 38(2), pp. 21-50
  • Miller, John J. 1998. "Book Review: Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology." Psychiatric Services 49:541-542, April 1998. American Psychiatric Association
  • Rowan, John. 2001. Ordinary ecstasy: the dialectics of humanistic psychology. Hove: Brunner-Routledge.
  • Scotton, Bruce W, Chinen, Allan B. and John R. Battista, Eds. 1996. Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0465095305.
  • Seligman, Martin E. P. & Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 2000. "Positive psychology: An introduction." American Psychologist. Jan, Vol 55(1) 5-14.
  • Sen, Indra. 1986. Integral Psychology: The Psychological System of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. ASIN B0007BY850.
  • Shirazi, Bhaman. 2001. "Integral psychology, metaphors and processes of personal integration", in Cornelissen, Matthijs (Ed.) Consciousness and Its Transformation, Pondicherry: SAICE online
  • Wilber, Ken. 2000. Integral Psychology. Shambhala. ISBN 1570625549.

External links


Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Humanistic_psychology&oldid=31593

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki