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“Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
CONNECTING, ACTING, AND EVOLVING
The contemporary understanding and definition of Humanism has evolved over the past 100 years alongside the development of Humanistic Psychology. Throughout history what we call today humanist philosophies existed that upheld the value of human good, contribution, and dignity. In this blog, I will take a look at how humanism and psychology intertwined and evolved to a 21st century approach.
The history of psychology is often divided into various “forces.” The first force is the founding contribution of the discipline of psychology by Sigmund Freud; the second force includes Carl Jung, Melanie Klein, Otto Rank, and Harry Stack Sullivan who advocated integration of the conscious with the deep rooted aspects of the human psyche to move towards health; and the third force includes Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow who emphasized self-actualization, health, creativity, becoming, and meaning making.
Hand-in-hand with the development of Humanism is an emphasis on social change and social justice. In other words, Humanism affirms that our humanity requires us to attend to suffering (and I would argue this extends to any and all life). It is a call to service or responsibility that promotes the understanding of one-self, making constructive personal choices, and caring and supporting other groups.
Humanism as applied to psychotherapy is grounded in science and practice with an ongoing inquiry and understanding of the role culture, values, attitudes, beliefs, and meaning play in individual and social life. Thus, the third-force approach to psychotherapy worked to understand the whole person. This holistic approach grew under Rogers’ Person-Centered Therapy model, Rollo May’s Existential Psychoanalysis, and Fritz Perls’ Gestalt Therapy. This was in the foundation to formalizing “Positive Psychology” which reaffirmed the importance of understanding that which is strong and healthy in human behavior (as opposed solely the pathology of a patient).
Here is a synopsis of these researchers’ and practitioners’ work:
Carl Rogers:
Rogers’ person-centered approach promotes the client’s ability for insight into the self, as well as self-understanding and problem solving to move towards desired goals and outcomes.
Abraham Maslow:
Maslow introduced the importance of needs and motivations through his hierarchy of needs. Modern research has validated that after a certain level of food, shelter, and security exists, humans look towards self-actualization opportunities.
Rollo May:
May acknowledged the difficulty of life and that individuals can create a meaning of life and purpose through self-definition and agency.
Fritz Perls:
Perls’ Gestalt therapy challenges the client to understand how the past impacts the here and now. Perls included role playing and attention to non-verbal behavior to assess how the client is feeling.
In reviewing existing materials on modern Humanistic psychology, Saul McLeod wrote a very thorough working definition: “Humanist psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but also through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.” This approach allows for individual social construction of meaning rather than a meaning being imposed on the individual. This allows for a broadened understanding of human being. Humanistic Psychology includes the following qualities:
- Assumes individuals are basically good and want to be good
- Values individual development and self-understanding
- Promotes empirical evidence of how individuals and groups attain greater wellbeing such as courage, hope, optimism, and resiliency
- Frames the therapeutic process with compassion, kindness, respect, and support
- Understands the self from a strengths-based perspective
- Identifies a client’s values, passions, interests, skills, and goals to create a holistic understanding
In future blogs, I will take a look at the individual Humanistic approaches of Rogers, Maslow, May, and Perls and how their theories can be deployed for 21st century for Humanistic counseling and therapy.
