Humanistic psychology:person as a whole.

Humanistic Psychology: A person as a whole.

The term Humanistic was coined by a group of psychologist under the leadership of Abraham Maslow. It was an approach to provide an alternative theory to the most influential force or school in psychology, that is the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and Behaviorism of Thorndike, Skinner. Maslow called it the fourth force of psychology.

Since 1950, these psychology schools were criticised on the ground that behaviourism lack interest in a real understanding of human beings. It fails to recognise the individual growth, potential and self-actualization that distinguish him from laboratory animals whereas psychoanalysis was criticised on the ground that it considered man as the product of instincts and conflicts only.

Its main focus is upon abnormal people than how can psychoanalysis explain the behaviour of normal and mentally healthy people. Humanistic psychology presents a radically different picture of human nature emphasizing upon potentials for healthy and creative growth of human beings, personal responsibility and innate tendencies toward personal growth. If the environmental conditions are the favourable individual will radically move towards the realization of underlying potentialities and abilities.

Humanistic psychology shows more optimistic ideas about human nature. Humanistic theories emphasize personal responsibility, It means we are the one who is largely responsible for what happens to us. Our fate is mostly in our hands; we are not merely ruled by any dark forces within our personality. It says individuals have vast potential to understand themselves and all the problem around them. One can also deal with all the problem on their own.

People are trustworthy. People should live life to the fullest and trust our feelings. Humanistic psychology teaches us that the past experiences are important, we may be influenced by traumatic events early in life but we should focus on the present. Traumatic events can’t shape our entire adult lives and we can overcome them.

We can become more real and powerful. Humanistic theories stress the importance of personal growth. People are not content with merely meeting their current needs. They wish to progress towards some individual goals as becoming the best they can be and meet their real potential. An individual has enough inner resources for self-heal and growth.

Humanistic theories are not organized, it corporates psychologists of different thoughts but there are some common features in their line of thoughts which can be named as basic tendencies of humanistic psychology:

• Personas a whole:   So the person is an integrated unique and organised as a whole with this thought of humanistic psychologists emphasise upon understanding human behaviour rather than explaining them.
• Emphasis upon whole life history: For understanding the person as an integrated whole, it is essential that the entire life history of a person is taken into account, the experiences of the person, events related him, regarding his whole identity.
• Self-actualization as life goals: Humanistic psychology is not only concern with the satisfaction of biological needs and instincts but it is also concern with self-realization or self-actualization as the basic life goals. Meslow said such a goal to be highly motivating for the person inner nature. contrary fried; Meslow and other humanistic psychology say Man’s nature is good the evil and destructive forces in a person arise from a bad environment.
• Deemphasize upon animal researches:- In contrary to behaviorism Humanistic psychology has emphasized upon animal researches. This they have considered relevant, The reason that animal responses ignore the basic character of human nature like ideal, character, values, art, humour, etc.
• Creative potentialities:- Meslow said creativity is potentially present in all persons from the time of birth it becomes a universal human function that leads to a difficult form of self-expression.

Humanistic psychology analysis Freudian psychoanalysis saying that its only concentrate upon the abnormal part of human behaviour and Meslow said, even the mental illness cannot be understood without understanding the mental health of the individual so making the basis for understanding human behaviour it is necessary to study the self-actualizing and psychologically healthy persons and not only tripled and immatured persons.

Abraham Maslow proposed the humanistic theory of psychology related to self-actualization. His concept of hierarchy theory suggests that humans needs from bottom to top are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization. self-actualization is a state in which individuals reach their fullest true potential. According to Maslow; self-actualized people accept themselves for what they are, they understand their weakness and as well as their strengths. self-actualized people respect the norms of the society but they are aware of their thoughts too.

They are more appreciative of lives, less concerned with daily life problems.Carl rogers played an important role in the emergence of humanistic psychology.  His works and theories remain influential even today. Rogers’s theory said that human beings show many positive characteristics and move, throughout their lives, towards becoming fully functioning persons. Rogers suggested that people who live here and now, who trust their feelings, who strive to experience life to the fullest, are sensitive to needs and rights of others, but don’t allow society to shaped or mould their believes and feeling; they are fully functioning people.

They are not saints but they experience life more deeply than most other people. Rogers also said that the larger the gap between an individual’s self-concept and reality, the poorer this person’s psychological adjustment. Though all the humanistic theories had a lasting impact on psychology some of them also strongly criticized.many key concepts of humanistic psychology are not well defined. But, despite such criticisms; humanistic theories has a huge contribution to our understanding of human personality.