Humanism occupies a significant place in the psychology field, and it is known as third-force psychology. It is so because this school of thought is essentially different from two others, including psychobiology and cognitive psychology, that rely on deterministic ideas. In turn, humanism indicates that individuals have free will, which fundamentally impacts how psychology is investigated. Multiple researchers analyze this issue from different points of view, and the peer-reviewed articles by Dillon (2020) and Robbins (2016) are among them. On the one hand, Dillon (2020) argues that humanistic psychology draws significant attention to the notions of happiness and good life. In an attempt to achieve these goals, people rely on freedom, their inner nature, culture, and others (Dillon, 2020). On the other hand, Robbins (2016) stipulates that love and dignity are the principal values of humanistic psychology. The researcher clarifies that individuals can understand and respect others’ dignity when they wish the good for others (Robbins, 2016). This claim reveals the difference between human beings and animals or objects. This information shows that the two articles focus on humanistic psychology, but they offer some distinguishing conclusions. The difference refers to the fact that the study by Robbins (2016) was written four years earlier than Dillon’s (2020) work. Thus, Robbins’ (2016) conclusions only refer to love and dignity, while Dillon (2020) expands on the topic and addresses the notion of the common good, including freedom, culture, and others.
The two studies offer useful information to understand human behavior through a humanistic psychology lens. The scholars emphasize that individuals do not need any external stimuli or motivating factors that shape their behavior (Robbins, 2016; Dillon, 2020). For example, Robbins (2016) states that human dignity and love determine individuals’ behavior. In this case, people have free will to choose their own behavioral models, which is different from psychobiology and cognitive psychology, where people are considered dependent creatures. This new humanistic concept explains that psychology starts drawing more attention to people’s inner world than their environment. Simultaneously, it has already been mentioned that Dillon (2020) also highlights the importance of internal nature and freedom in humanistic psychology. These concepts demonstrate that people’s behavior is the reflection of their own thoughts, beliefs, desires, and feelings. The synthesis of this evidence shows that the two researchers offer almost identical views regarding how humanistic psychology should interpret behavior and why these concepts are new in the psychology field.
In conclusion, it is also reasonable to comment on how scientists ask questions and conduct research in humanistic psychology. Considering the information above, it is not a surprise that the given school of thought typically relies on qualitative research methods and rejects experiments. It is so because humanistic values refer to the people’s inner world, meaning that personal conversations are the most suitable methods to understand and investigate them. Specific examples from the articles are sufficient to justify this claim. On the one hand, Robbins (2016) stipulates that observations show that people’s dignity and love are determinants of their behavior. On the other hand, Dillon (2020) attempts to identify the concepts of humanistic behaviors by performing a qualitative analysis of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works. The paper has synthesized the information and demonstrated that the articles by Robbins (2016) and Dillon (2020) address the same issue of humanistic psychology, and they offer both similarities and differences in describing the topic.
References
Dillon, J. (2020). Humanistic psychology and the good: A forgotten link. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48(3), 244-256. Web.
Robbins, B. D. (2016). The heart of humanistic psychology: Human dignity disclosed through a hermeneutic of love. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 56(3), 223-237. Web.