PST - Humanist Theory Lesson

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Humanist Theory

In stark contrast to Freudian theory stand the Humanists, who do not believe that a human's past experiences determine their future selves. Humanists believe that people are innately good, and that each person is on a quest to grow personally through free will and self-awareness. According to the humanists, the most important factor of personality is an individual's conscious perception of herself or himself.

Abraham Maslow: According to his theory, a person must fulfill the lower needs before attempting to fulfill the higher levels of needs. Maslow developed his idea by studying people that he thought had reached the highest level: self-actualization.

One of the first Humanist thinkers was Abraham Maslow, who developed a theory of personal growth that he called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. You may remember this from the unit on Motivation. According to his theory, a person must fulfill the lower needs before attempting to fulfill the higher levels of needs. Maslow developed his idea by studying people that he thought had reached the highest level: self-actualization. He believed that every person ultimately seeks the fulfillment of his/her fullest potential, but many people get stuck on a lower need.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion. Safety: security of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property. Love/belonging: friendship, family, sexual intimacy. Esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others. Self-actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts.

Another important contributor to Humanist Theory is Carl Rogers. Rogers also focused on self-actualization, which he saw as the innate drive to reach one's full potential. He believed that to reach self-actualization, a person needs genuineness, empathy and acceptance. Genuineness refers to being willing to be one's real self instead of trying to be the image of what others expect of us. Empathy is the ability to listen and understand other people's positions and feelings. Acceptance means accepting ourselves and others without judgment or reservation.

Carl Rogers: He believed that we are motivated to act in accordance with how we see ourselves.

The cornerstone of Rogers' theory revolves around the idea of a self-concept. He believed that people are motivated to act in accordance with how they see themselves. The self-concept begins early in life is and is molded through life enhancing experiences.

Humanists believe that each person is special and unique, with a full potential to give back to society, if a person can ever reach that point.

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