Humanistic Theories
Humanistic Psychology is so called due to its belief that humans are basically good at heart and have respect. It is based on existential psychology, or understanding and accepting one’s being and obligation. It is a psychological viewpoint emphasizing upon the study of a person as a whole. In this realm a human behavior is looked at both through the observer’s and the doer’s eyes and it is believed that a person’s behavior has a connection with his feelings and self-esteem. Humanistic psychologists differ from the behaviorists in that the latter believes that rather than people being just a product of their surroundings, they are molded by their self-perceptions and experiences. The four most important theorists who formed the basis of humanistic psychology through their theories are Otto Rank, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Rollo May.
Otto Rank
Rank was one of the first humanistic theorists who came up with the idea of therapy which would help in learning new things and trying to forget the negativity which had happened with a person in the past. Therapies allow a person to be more creative and have a wild imagination which allows him to feel better. Patients are made to forget the problems they had been facing otherwise would lead to harm if not treated immediately. Sometimes people think they are not useful to the world and have suicidal thoughts which can be very dangerous for the patient himself and his surroundings.
Action learning is a process suggested by Rank in which a group works as a team in order to solve the problems. After this, Robert Kramer came up with the idea of Transformative action learning in which the real people are involved in deciphering real world problems. Group members would come up with new ideas and show a different perspective of life.
He was the first psychologist to suggest separation. From birth to death, we go through different stages of life and finally die which signifies the final separation. A human faces the biggest shock when he is separated from the mother’s womb. Later, as he grows, he has to experience separation often (Rank and Kramer 4).
Rank can be seen as one of the great pioneers in the fields of leader development, organizational learning, mythology, spirituality, humanistic psychology, existential psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy; object relations theory, psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, terror management theory and transpersonal psychology.
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow is a very popular figure in humanistic psychology, known for his behavior theory. According to Maslow there is more to a human life than simple external reinforcement and his idea was that all people have some kind of a direction or worth.
Maslow recognized the unconscious but differed with Freud about the latter’s ideas of humans being unaware of themselves, rather being buried deep within. According to Maslow we are very much conscious of our desires and if there were no hindrances in life our psychological health would be excellent with us understanding ourselves deeply and accepting our surroundings. Unlike Freud, Maslow had very …
