Transcript HUMANISTIC APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY

PERSONALITY PSY234
Lecture 4:
Humanistic Theories
Dr Simon Boag
Email: [email protected]
Readings
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Carver, C. S. & Scheier, M. F. (2004).
Perspectives on Personality. (pp. 382-411)
Additional (non-assessable)
• Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a Person.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Maslow, A. H. (1962). Towards a Psychology
of Being. New York: Van Nostrand.
Lecture Outline
I. Introduction to Humanistic Psychology
II. Carl Rogers’ theory
• The Actualising tendency & the Fullyfunctioning person
• Evaluation
III. Abraham Maslow’s theory
• The Hierarchy of needs & Selfactualisation
• Evaluation
Learning Outcomes
After this lecture you should be able to:
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Outline what distinguishes humanistic
psychology as the ‘third force’
Explain & describe Roger’s theory of the
fully-functioning person & the
development of psychopathology
Explain & describe Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs & its relationship to selfactualisation
I. Humanistic Psychology
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“Third force” in psychology
(Cf. psychoanalysis & behaviourism)
Focus on “higher” end of human
experience
eg. creativity, human potential
Phenomenological (subjectivity)
Introspective
Values unique person (idiographic)
Non-deterministic: advocates free-will
II. Carl Rogers’ theory
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
The Actualising Tendency
“… the directional trend which is evident in
all organic & human life—the urge to
expand, extend, develop, mature—the
tendency to express & activate all
capacities of the organism, or the self”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 351).
• ‘Acorn to oaktree’ model
• Human motivation is fundamentally
growth-directed & healthy
The Core of Personality is Positive
“One of the most revolutionary concepts
to grow out of our clinical experience is
the growing recognition that the
innermost core of man’s nature, the
deepest layers of his personality, the
base of his “animal nature,” is positive
in nature—is basically socialised,
forward-moving, rational and realistic”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 91).
Why Human Problems?
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Negative socialisation
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Conditional positive regard:
Children accepted by parents when ‘good’
& rejected when ‘bad’
We develop the view: ‘I ought to be good’,
‘I have to be good’
We lose touch with our true nature (‘real
self’ & actualising tendency)
Develop an Ideal self: Who we feel we
should be (cf. superego)
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Incongruity
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Conflict between real & ideal self
‘I am this but I should be that’
Real self evaluated as a threat
Psychopathology & defence mechanisms
Defensive masks (False selves)
Repression/denial: denying awareness to
ourselves of who we really are
Therapy: reconnecting with who we really
are
Defensive Living Unsatisfying
“It seems to me that at bottom each
person is asking, “Who am I, really?
How can I get in touch with this real
self, underlying all my surface
behaviour? How can I become
myself?”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 108).
Unconditional Positive Regard
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Healthy/positive socialisation
Parent etc. regards the ‘person’ positively
irrespective of their behaviour
‘Person’ distinct from ‘behaviour’
Allows child/client to explore their
experience & potentials
Outcome:Fully functioning person
“… the therapist feels this client to be a
person of unconditional self-worth: of
value, no matter what his condition, his
behaviour, or his feelings”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 185)
Fully-Functioning Person
(1) Openness to experience
• Non-censoring/non-defensive attitude
• Receptive to both subjective/objective
experience
(2) Existential living
“… an increasing tendency to live fully in
each moment” (Rogers, 1961, p. 188)
• Living in the present; not past or future
• Non-static, constant process of becoming
• “… a direction, not a destination” (p. 186)
Fully-Functioning Person (cont).
(3) Organismic trusting
• Trusting oneself; not relying on others
• “… doing what ‘feels right’” (Rogers,
1961, p. 189)
(4) Experiential freedom
• Subjective freedom of choice in each
moment
(5) Creativity
• Creative products: eg. arts, science
• Creative living: living non-habitually
Evaluation of Roger’s Theory
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“It has been my experience that persons
have a basically positive direction”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 26).
Naïve, overly-optimistic view of human
nature?
What of wars, brutality etc?
Rogers’ Response:
“I am quite aware that out of defensiveness
& inner fear individuals can and do
behave in ways which are incredibly cruel,
horribly destructive … anti-social, hurtful.
Yet one of the most refreshing and
invigorating parts of my experience is to
work with such individuals and to discover
the strongly positive directional
tendencies which exist in them, as in all of
us, at the deepest levels”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 27).
Evaluation of Roger’s Theory
“Unconditional positive regard
irresponsible”
• eg. Greater drug experimentation in
children
Client-centered Therapy:
• Contributed therapeutic techniques
• eg. uncond. pos. regard
• Testable therapeutic concepts
• eg. measurement of self-perception,
ideal-self, and therapeutic effectiveness
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Abraham Maslow’s Theory
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
Maslow’s Approach
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Rejection of mainstream psychology &
scientific method
Science too limited for studying human
nature
‘Scientific attitude’ pathological (eg.
Skinner’s)
Began psychology career studying
‘dominance’ in monkeys
“Psychopathology of the average”
Psychopathology of the Average
“Certainly it seems more & more clear
that what we call “normal” in
psychology is really a psychopathology
of the average, so undramatic & so
widely spread that we don’t even
notice it ordinarily”
(Maslow, 1968, p. 21)
Maslow’s Approach
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We need to study psychologically
healthy people to understand human
nature, not psychopathological ones (cf.
Freud)
Identified colleagues & historical figures
that he considered psychologically
healthy (reaching ‘full potential’)
eg. George Washington, Albert Einstein
Looked for common elements &
identified self-actualising qualities
Self-Actualisation & the Hierarchy
of Needs
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Self-actualisation:“… to become
everything that one is capable of
becoming” (Maslow, 1968, p.46).
Persons must pass through various lower
levels before attaining this highest stage
Each level has a basic need that must be
met before moving up the hierarchy
If lower needs are not met then growth
stops
Hierarchy of Needs
Self-actualisation
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Esteem needs
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Love & belongingness needs
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Safety needs
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Physiological needs
Deficiency Motivation
Each need involves overcoming deficiency
(1) Physiological needs
• Food, water, sleep, sex etc.
(2) Safety needs
• Safe environment
(3) Belongingness & love needs
• Love, friendship, social life
(4) Esteem needs
• Respect from others & self-respect
Frustration & Anti-social
Behaviour
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Like Rogers, humans are basically good
natured & growth directed
Human problems arise not simply from
socialisation (ie. Rogers’ theory)
Frustration of deficiency needs leads to
anti-social emotions (eg. hostility,
jealousy etc)
Choice b/w safety & growth (free-will)
Jonah Complex: belief that we cannot
achieve anything important
‘Being’ Motivation
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(5) Need for Self-actualisation
Requires first meeting deficiency needs
Pinnacle of development
Person needs to ‘actualise’ their potential
Aesthetic & truth potentials
Maslow (1968): 1 in 3000 uni students
>1% of population
Metapathologies: depression, alienation,
cynicism
Self-Actualisers
(1) Efficient perception of reality
• Seeing the world accurately
• Judging people accurately/detecting
deception
(2) More accepting
• More accepting of themselves & others
(3) Spontaneous
(4) Problem-centred
• Not self-centred; focus on problem’s
outside of themselves eg. environmental
concerns
Self-Actualisers (cont).
(5) Need privacy (solitude)
(6) Enjoy intimate relationships
(7) Act Independently of culture
• Non-conformists
(8) Peak experiences
• Intense experiential states of harmony,
joy, beauty
(9) Creative
(10) Humour
Evaluation of Maslow’s Theory
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Maslow’s methodology: identified selfactualisers based on his own personal
preference/bias
Hierarchy of needs: some empirical
support that lower level needs are
stronger than high-level when deprived
(eg. Wicker et al, 1993; Hagerty, 1999)
Exceptions to the hierarchy of needs
eg. ‘starving artist’
Summary
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Humanistic psychology is the ‘third force’
in psychology
Emphasises mental health: fullyfunctioning (Rogers); self-actualising
(Maslow)
In Roger’s theory, negative socialisation
(conditional positive regard) prevents
mental health
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proposes that
lower needs must be met before higher
levels are obtained