PowerPoint® Presentation by Jim Foley Personality PowerPoint® Presentation by Jim Foley © 2013 Worth Publishers

Module 41: Humanistic Theories of Personality

Developing a healthy, genuine human personality Maslow: Becoming a self-actualized person Rogers: Growing, in a social environment of: Genuineness Acceptance Empathy Assessing the self Evaluating Humanistic Theories: What about Evil? Too much individualism? No animation.

Humanistic Theories of Personality Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers In the 1960’s, some psychologists began to reject: the dehumanizing ideas in Behaviorism, and the dysfunctional view of people in Psychodynamic thought. Maslow and Rogers sought to offer a “Third Force” in psychology: The Humanistic Perspective. They studied healthy people rather than people with mental health problems. Humanism: focusing on the conditions that support healthy personal growth. Click to reveal bullets.

Maslow: The Self-Actualizing Person In Maslow’s view, people are motivated to keep moving up a hierarchy of needs, growing beyond getting basic needs met. At the top of this hierarchy are self-actualization, fulfilling one’s potential, and self-transcendence. In this ideal state, a personality includes being self-aware, self- accepting, open, ethical, spontaneous, loving caring, focusing on a greater mission than social acceptance. Click to reveal bullets.

Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective Rogers agreed that people have natural tendencies to grow, become healthy, move toward self-actualization Genuineness: Being honest, direct, not using a façade. Acceptance, a.k.a Unconditional Positive Regard: acknowledging feelings, even problems, without passing judgment; honoring, not devaluing. The 3 conditions that facilitate growth (just as water, nutrients, and light facilitate the growth of a tree): Click to show three boxes and text on the right. Note: Empathy is NOT sympathy: what is important to nurture growth is to have someone understand you, consider your feelings and hold them for you. This is more vital to growth than having someone feel sorry for you. Empathy: tuning into the feelings of others, showing your efforts to understand, listening well (NOT sympathy: people need to be heard, not to be pitied)

Assessing the Self in Humanistic Psychology: Ideal Self vs. Actual Self Questionnaires can be used, but some prefer open interview. Questions about actual self: How do you see yourself? What are you like? What do you value? What are you capable of? If the answers do not match the ideal, self- acceptance may be needed, not just self-change Click to reveal bullets. In the humanistic perspective, the core of personality is the self- concept, our sense of our nature and identity People are happiest with a self- concept that matches their ideal self Thus, it is important to ask people to describe themselves as they are and as they ideally would like to be.

Critiquing the Humanist Perspective What about evil? Some say Rogers did not appreciate the human capacity for evil. Rogers saw “evil” as a social phenomenon, not an individual trait: “When I look at the world I’m pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.” – Rogers Click to reveal bullets. About the capacity for evil, it doesn’t necessarily contradict the humanistic model: it is possible to say that some people are not moving far up the hierarchy, are stuck pursuing basic survival and security needs even if they already have enough money to survive, or are stuck seeking and defending self-esteem. Humanist response: Self-acceptance is not the end; it then allows us to move on from defending our own needs to loving and caring for others.

Critiquing the Humanist Perspective Too much self-centeredness? Some say that the pursuit of self-concept, an accepting ideal self, and self- actualization encouraged not self-transcendence but self- indulgence, self- centeredness. Humanist response: The therapist using this approach should not encourage selfishness, and should keep in mind that that “positive regard” means “acceptance,” not “praise. Click to reveal bullets.