Introduction
The Humanistic psychology school of thought began in early 1950 believes in using a human context to develop humanistic theory of psychology. The theory places humans as unique beings that cannot be regarded as mere objects and components. The theory has been widely used in developing models for person centered and the client centered counseling and therapy. The paper provides a discussion and analysis of key features of the school of thought.
Core Points
Bohart (2001) has suggested five postulates that best summarize the humanistic theory and the first two suggest that human beings should not be reduced to mere components since they have certain unique and extremely individualistic human context. The other postulate is that the human consciousness also encompasses an awareness of the own self in the context of others. The fourth postulate is that people have a set of non desired responsibilities as well as the choices and the fifth postulate is that human beings seek value creativity and meaning in whatever they do and that the actions are intentional. The author suggests that the school of thought needs to be understood as being influenced by humanism, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. As suggested by the author, behaviorism school of thought came with the work of Ivan Pavlov and the conditioned reflex studies. The foundation for Humanistic theory was later developed by Abraham Maslov who founded the behavior school of thought and this was regarded as the first force. Freud, Carl Jung and other performed further studies and came up with the theory of psychoanalysis and it was regarded as the second force. Humanistic psychology later emerged as the third force when Maslov, Carl Rogers and other met to lay the foundation for a new school of thought.
Ellis (1973) has suggested that humanistic psychology differs from other similar schools of thought such as the social cognitive theory and the biological perspective theory. According to Ellis, the humanistic theory gives an emphasis on certain feelings that are uniquely human. Some of the feelings and issues that the theory examines are self-actualization and an understanding of the self, wellness feelings such as love, hope and health, the urge to express creativity, interest in nature and the self realization issues related to becoming, being and the individuality. The theory tries to develop an understanding of what is the meaning of a human being. While cognitive theory believes that the personality is developed in response to an individuals environment, the biological perspective suggests that the personality is developed through certain biological and specifically genetic traits. Ellis has suggested that the humanistic school of thought has given rise to a number of counsel ling and therapy models and some of them are the Maslovs theory of needs and motivation, the existential psychology theory of Rollo May, the person or client centered therapy that was developed by Carl Rogers and the Gestalt therapy. Other therapies that have been on this theory include the depth therapy, humanistic psychotherapy, marital and family therapies, encounter groups, holistic health, sensitivity training, existential psychotherapy and others
Clay (2002) has provided some criticism of the humanistic theory and argued that the theory is in error for believing that people are by nature good and they have a keen desire to to good things and the author argues that empirical evidence strongly shows that people tend to display negative and antisocial behavior such as fighting, telling lies, taking up violence and abusing others. The author has also argued that the theory maintains the political and social conditions and does not speak of the social change concept. There is also a lack of predictive power and a specific behavior pattern of a patient can be interpreted as both positive and negative, depending on what the counselor decides.
Bohart (2001) has suggested that the humanistic theory has been widely used in various clinics and institutions for counseling and rehabilitating disturbed individuals. The theory has also been used in many organizations for employee counseling and training.
References
Bohart, Arthur C. & Greening, Thomas (2001). Comment: Humanistic Psychology and Positive Psychology. American Psychologist. Volume 56. Issue 1. pp: 81-82.
Clay, Rebecca A. (2002). A renaissance for humanistic psychology. The field explores new niches while building on its past. American Psychological Association Monitor. Volume 33. Issue. 8.
Ellis, A. (1973). Humanistic Psychology: The rational-emotive approach. New York: Julian Press.