 Pioneered by Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers.  Focused on ways “healthy” people strive for self-determination and self-realization.  Emphasized human potential

 Developed his ideas by studying healthy, creative people rather than troubled clinical cases.  Proposed that we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs.

 If our physiological needs are met, we become concerned with safety needs  If we achieve a sense of security, we then seek to love and be loved.  And so on up the hierarchy.

 Self-actualization › The process of fulfilling one’s potential.  Self-transcendence › Meaning, purpose, and communion beyond the self.

 Believed people are basically good and have self-actualizing tendencies.  People nurture our growth by being › Genuine › Accepting › Empathic

 Unconditional positive regard › An attitude of total acceptance. › An attitude that values us even when we fail.

An example of a father NOT offering unconditional positive regard.

 “as persons are accepted and prized, they tend to develop a more caring attitude toward themselves”  As persons are empathically heard, “it becomes possible for them to listen more accurately to the flow of inner experiences.”

Ideal Self Take a few minutes to fantasize and describe the self you would like to be. Perceived Self Take a few minutes to reflect and describe how you see yourself now.

 Believed a central feature of personality is one’s self-concept › All the thoughts and feelings we have in response to the question, “Who am I?”  If our self-concept is positive, we tend to act and perceive the world positively.  If it is negative – if in our own eyes we fall far short of our ideal self, we feel dissatisfied and unhappy.

 Humanistic psychologists used questionnaires that would evaluate a person’s self-concept. › When the ideal self and the actual self are nearly alike, the self-concept is positive.  Because questionnaires could be depersonalizing, some humanistic psychologists used interviews and personal conversations.

 Maslow’s and Roger’s ideas have influenced counseling, education, child- rearing, and management.  Criticism › Humanistic psychology fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for evil.

 Can students learn when they are hungry?  Why do people go on hunger strikes to protest a cause they believe in?  Why are there such things as “starving artists”?