![Humanistic personality theory](https://quietmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/INTJ-5w4-750x420.webp)
Behaviorism and psychoanalytic theories were popular till the 1950s. Behaviorism states that behavior arises from our environmental circumstances. And psychoanalytic theory says that behavior influences our unconscious.
After that, around the mid-twentieth century, a humanistic perspective arose, which focused on the human’s free will, uniqueness, and drive toward self-actualization.
This article will cover all the essential facts related to humanistic personality theory.
What is humanistic personality theory?
Humanistic personality theory is referred to as a third force that focuses on the potential and uniqueness of humans. It states that every human is intrinsically born good and strives hard to develop and achieve self-actualization in life.
The humanistic theory considers behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory as greatly pessimistic or mechanics, which snatched the basic freedom of choice from humans. Therefore, they stress the optimistic aspects of a human’s personality.
Humanists focus on the ideas of free will, self-reliance, and the capacity of humans for personal growth. They believe that individuals have the natural tendency to attain personal growth. Hence, people struggle their whole lives to learn something new and to try different things to become a better version of themselves.
Origin of humanistic theory
The history of humanistic theory can be traced back to the Middle ages when the humanism school of thought was born. But, the modern humanistic theory, was established in the mid-twentieth century.
The two most notable figures in the development of this theory are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. In 1943, Maslow wrote “A hierarchy of needs” paper and further discussed this topic in his book “Motivation and personality” in 1954.
In 1951, Carl Rogers presented his “Client-centered therapy” which mainly discusses that people can grow personally under unconditional positive regard if they get a chance. John Cohnennad published his first book “humanistic psychology” in 1958 on the humanistic approach.
The American Association for Humanistic Psychology was established in 1962. And then, in 1970 the first international conference was held by the American Association in Holland.
Prominent names related to humanistic personality theory
Many genius psychologists have presented their theories related to humanistic personality theory. In the context of twentieth psychology, major names are:
- Gordon Allport
- Abraham Maslow
- Carl Rogers
- Rollo May
- James Bugental.
Carl Rogers’s humanistic theory of personality
Carl Rogers was an American psychologist and is considered one of the pioneers of the humanistic approach. He supported the theory of Maslow and gave great importance to the positive environment.
According to Rogers: “To become a healthy person, a genuine (Self-disclosure), accepting (being perceived with unconditional positive regard), and empathic (Being understood) environment is required which helps to discover the hidden treasures of a person.”
In other words, every person can achieve dreams, goals, desires, and ultimately self-actualization. All people are unique and creative and live in the present. He focuses on human potential and freedom of choice for goodness in people.
Let’s discover Carl Rogers’s theories related to humanistic psychology:
- Carl Rogers and personality development
Carl Rogers stresses the concept of self. According to him, the world is full of experiences. The external object or people (external factors) and inner thoughts or emotions (internal factors) play a notable role in shaping our personalities.
Humans like to behave in a way that aligns with their concept of goodness. While achieving their goals and gaining the highest potential, humans formulate a self-concept about themselves.
![Phenomenal field in Roger's humanistic approach](https://quietmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image001.png)
Self-concept
Self-concept is an idea or notion that we form about ourselves. It is the answer that we get after the question “Who am I?” Carl Rogers discovers this idea by dealing with patients who are suffering from emotional disorders. He came to know that most people have a negative self-concept.
According to him, three factors influence our self-concept:
- Parent behavior towards their children which is the earlier environment of humans
- The ideas or beliefs that we hold about ourselves, which is the internal environment
- What we think about others is our external environment.
If we have a negative self-concept, that means we are insecure and unhappy about ourselves. But, if our self-concept is positive, it means we are satisfied and optimistic about ourselves. The world is a secure place for us.
- Carl Rogers and ideal Vs real self
Carl Rogers presented the concept of the ideal and real self. The ideal self is the person that you want or aspire to become. Your ideal self is the one who can achieve all your goals and ambitions.
The real self is the person you actually are. A person who is consistently striving to gain his/her ambitions in life. Incongruence is the difference between our real and ideal selves.
While congruence is the overlapping of our real and ideal life. When our actual experiences and ideal self have very little difference and more similarity with our real self, it implies that we are near our journey towards self-actualization.
Rogers says that the closer the person’s ideal self and real self, there is more chance of having self-worth and confidence, which leads to a productive and happy life.
![Roger's humanistic personality theory and ideal vs real self](https://quietmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image002-1.png)
- Carl Rogers and unconditional positive regard
According to Carl Rogers, parents can assist their children in achieving self-actualization or a positive self-concept through unconditional positive regard.
Unconditional positive regard or unconditional love is the positive response you provide the children irrespective of the significant conditions.
Conditional positive regard is the appraisal of parents towards children under specific conditions when they behave in the ways that parents think are correct. Rogers has the opinion that this condition leads to low self-esteem in children.
While unconditional positive regard casts positive effects and helps children in achieving self-actualization. In client-centered therapy, Rogers greatly emphasized the development of self and called his therapy “non-directive counseling.”
- Carl Rogers and fully functioning person
The world is full of different experiences. And according to Rogers, each person can gain his/her goals or dreams in life. Carl Rogers presented that a fully functioning person should have the following qualities:
- Fully functioning people are open to experiences, whether they are positive or negative. They can work through negative experiences decently.
- Existential lifestyle:- They are living every moment fully, living in the present, and never stressing about the regret of the past or fears of the future.
- They trust others, are confident about their judgments, and believe in their gut feelings.
- These people have creativity and never hesitate to take risks in their lives.
- They are reliable and live a satisfied life where they appreciate the upcoming challenges and lead happy life.
Related: How to boost your personal growth based on your MBTI?
- Carl Rogers and client-centered therapy
Carl Rogers developed client-centered or person-centered therapy during the 1940s and 1950s. It’s a non-directive form of counseling in which the client acts as an active partner, and the therapist remains non-directive.
The therapist shows unconditional positive regard towards the clients during the therapy. Therefore, the feelings of being listened to and understood assists clients in fully expressing themselves.
This therapy can help people who are suffering from:-
- Depression
- Dementia
- Anxiety
According to a study, he applied this method in leadership, politics, the group in conflicts, etc.
Related: Choose the best career based on your Myers Briggs personality type
Abraham Maslow’s humanistic personality theory
Abraham Maslow is sometimes considered the “Father of humanistic psychology” due to his great contributions. He believed in the limitless potential of human beings. Maslow presented his point of view, which is contradictory to behaviorism and psychoanalysis.
He is most famous due to his theory named “Hierarchy of human needs.”
- Hierarchy of human needs
![Hierarchy of needs in Maslow's humanistic approach](https://quietmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image003-1-jpg.webp)
Maslow hierarchy of human needs is a motivational theory in psychology that states that humans get the motivation to pursue their different levels of needs.
The needs are psychological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. The first four levels of needs are referred to as deficiency needs (D-needs), and the top level is called a growth or being needs (B-needs).
Deficiency needs arise due to the lack of something. People get the motivation to achieve these needs when they are unmet. While growth needs arise when someone wants to grow as a person.
Cognitive needs, self-actualization, and transcendence are the progressive levels of growth needs.
- Psychological needs
The first and foremost level of the hierarchy of needs is psychological needs. It includes air, warmth, shelter, food, health, and water.
In an environment, psychological needs are necessary for survival. These are the instinctive needs that require to be fulfilled before moving towards the higher level.
- Safety needs
The second level includes the basic safety needs of people. Personal, physical, financial, and employment safety comes under the security needs of humans. To become physically safe, a person seeks safety from violence, health stress, and sickness. While for financial safety, people want the security of jobs and finances.
- Love and belonging needs
As social creatures, humans need interaction with their surrounding people. At this level, there is a need for friendship, romantic relationships, and love. The desire for this love and belonging is dominant in childhood.
The deficiency of love and the feelings of belonging to a group lead to depression and anxiety in humans.
Related: How to improve relationships based on MBTI?
- Esteem needs
The esteem needs include self-worth, recognition, and accomplishment. Every man has an intense desire to feel respected and valued in their environment.
There are two kinds of esteem needs: One is the need to get respect from their surrounding individual which includes getting prestige, fame, recognition, etc. And the other is the need to get respect from oneself which includes having confidence, high self-esteem, autonomy, dignity, etc.
- Self-actualization needs
The topmost level is self-actualization needs, which means having a purpose and meaning in life. At this level, people strive to achieve their highest potential. Self-actualization can vary from person to person.
For example, some strive hard to become the best athletes while others want to excel at painting or photography. It can include obtaining skills, pursuing specified goals, solving complicated problems, living ethically, seeking happiness, etc.
Related: How to unlock your potential at work according to your MBTI?
Maslow had the opinion that most mentally healthy people have a path, growth motivation, that enables them to actualize their true potential.
Strengths of humanistic personality theory
Humanistic personality theory gains prestige and contributes a lot to the history of psychology. Here are the main strengths of humanistic personality theory:
- Focus on individual choice: One of the main strengths of humanistic theory is that it mainly focuses on the individual instead of the environment, unconscious, etc.
- Promote self-actualization: This theory assists in achieving the highest potential and having an interest in the learning process.
- Person-centered therapy: Carl Rogers’ person-centered therapy improves the relationship between client and therapist. The client feels more comfortable discussing his/her problems without fear of judgment.
- Holistic approach: The humanistic approach is holistic because it mainly stresses the development of the individual.
Limitation of humanistic personality theory
Like all other theories, humanistic personality theory also receives a lot of criticism. Some prominent objections which are drawn by psychologists are the following:
- Unrealistic: Critics say that it is difficult to objectify the subjective assumptions of humanistic personality theory. The experiences of one individual can be different from the other. That’s why this theory is unrealistic and naive about human nature.
- Unscientific: Since humanistic theory lacks an objective approach therefore it is considered unscientific and is tough to define operationally.
- Clients face issues: Since in client-centered therapy clients have to think and are accountable for themselves, some clients find it frustrating.
- Narrowness: Humanistic personality theory is considered narrow due to its limited application in psychology. It also only describes the human personality instead of fully explaining it.
Conclusion:
Humanistic personality theory contributes a lot to psychology by explaining the human personality. It mainly focuses on the individual’s freedom of choice, autonomy, self-actualization, and goodness. The hierarchy of needs by Maslow and client-centered therapy by Rogers play a key role in the humanistic approach.
![mariam](https://quietmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/mariam.jpeg)
Mariam is a freelance writer, has an educational background in English literature. She loves to read books about complexities of human relationships. She’s passionate about sharing knowledge related to psychology and self-improvement with others.
Leave a Reply