The humanistic approach to personality Humanistic psychology A

The humanistic approach to personality

Humanistic psychology A strong reaction to both behaviorism and psychodynamics We make conscious decisions about the direction of our lives We look forward, not controlled by a past history of reinforcement/punishment or repressed trauma

Key Characteristics Discards the limits of behaviorism – no experiments Denies the negativity of psychodynamics – we are, at our core, good and striving to get better Focuses on our natural progress towards fully developing our potential

ABRAHAM MASLOW • • April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970 1 of 7 children Jewish, parents uneducated Married Bertha Goodman, first cousin Received BA (1930), MA (1931) and Ph. D (1934) all from University of Wisconsin Professor at Brooklyn College (1937 -51) and Brandeis University (1951 -61) Considered to be the founder of humanistic psychology.

Abraham Maslow Initially sold on behaviorism Questioned when he read Freud Everything changed after the birth of his first child, he looked beyond both Decided that we spend too much time on the mentally ill to understand mental health Focus on the strong.

Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs Self. Actualization Esteem Needs Belongingness & Love Needs Safety Needs Physiological Needs

Hierarchy of Needs The hierarchy has five levels: Physiological Needs: oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium and other minerals and vitamins, shelter and sleep etc. Safety Needs: security, stability, protection from physical and emotional harm Belongingness & Love Needs: affection, belonging, acceptance, friendship, community Esteem Needs: (Internal ones are need for self-respect, confidence, autonomy, and achievement. External ones are need for respect of others, status, fame, glory, recognition and attention. ) Maslow feels these are the roots to many, if not most of our psychological problems. Self-actualization: (doing that which maximizes one’s potential and fulfills one’s innate aspirations)

DEFICIT (D-NEEDS) If you don’t have enough of something you have a “deficit” (need) Maslow's hierarchy seems to follow the life cycle. A baby's needs are almost entirely physiological. As the baby grows, it needs safety, then love. Toddlers are eager for social interaction, attention and affection. Teenagers are anxious about social needs, young adults are concerned with esteem and only more mature people transcend the first four levels to spend much time self-actualizing. Under stressful conditions, or when survival is threatened, we can “regress” to a lower level need.

Safety Needs Second from bottom of hierarchy Structure, order, stability, predictability More important to children than normal adults

Belongingness and Love Needs Middle of hierarchy Intimate and social relationships

Esteem Needs Fourth from bottom of hierarchy 2 forms of esteem needs: From ourselves: feelings of self-worth From others: status, recognition, social success

BEING NEEDS (SELF-ACTUALIZATION) Needs that do not involve balance Once engaged, they continue to be felt Continuous desire to fulfill potentials (“be all you can be”) You need to have lower needs taken care of, at least to a considerable extent Only a small percentage of the population is truly, self-actualizing (approximately 2%)

Conditions for Self. Actualization Free of constraints Not distracted by lower needs Secure self-image and relationships Realistic knowledge of strengths and weaknesses

Characteristics of Self. Actualizers Efficient perception of reality Acceptance of selves, others, nature Spontaneity, simplicity, naturalness Focus on problems outside of themselves Social interest Creativeness Peak experiences: religious, mystical experiences Profound interpersonal relationships Resistance to enculturation Extremely rare- seen in less than 1% of the population

Carl Rogers (1902 -1987) Humanistic-Existential Paradigm Self Theory

THE PAST HAS ITS CHARMS, BUT NOTHING NEW EVER HAPPENS THERE

History Born in 1902 in Illinois-Midwestern conservative religious upbringing Started training for the ministry but rejected it as too rigid, but those values evident in his approach A key advocate of humanistic psychology. .

Rogers Self Theory When the way we actually are and our selfconcept, our ideal self, are the same (congruence) the person is self-actualized. When the way we actually are and our selfconcept, our ideal self, are different the person experiences confusion, tension and maladaptive behavior (incongruence). We will grow up congruent if we are accepted, prized and loved for what we are (unconditional positive regard).

Parental Characteristics which foster Healthy Self-structure Formulation Ability to accept the child’s feelings and strivings. Ability to accept our own feelings that certain of the child’s behaviors are undesirable. Communication as a person. Avoid of acceptance of the child conditions of worth

The Six Conditions Necessary for Personality Change Two persons are in psychological contact. The first person, the client, is in a state of incongruence. The second person, or therapist, is congruent. therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client.

The Six Conditions Necessary for Personality Change. . . The therapist experiences an emphatic understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client. The communication to the client of therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard must be minimally achieved.

Characteristics of Psychological Health Primary characteristics Openness to experience Ability to live in an existential fashion Trust in one’s own organism Secondary characteristics Unafraid of one’s own feelings Not determined Creative

Other Characteristics q Transparency involves expressing your deep feelings, as your feelings rather than as facts about another, revealing yourself as a person, real and imperfect as You are, in your relationship with another. q Unconditional positive regard. To give a person your full, caring attention without judging or evaluating them. "It is a kind of liking which has strength, and which is not demanding. "

Other Characteristics Ø What is most personal is most general. The most private, personal feelings are often those which, if shared, would speak to others most directly. Ø Willingness for another to be separate: Allowing others to have different beliefs, feelings, values,