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Humanism

Author: Sophia
what's covered
This lesson is going to look at the humanistic approach to personality by covering:

  1. Humanism
    1. Subjective Experience
    2. Positive Self-Regard/Self Esteem


1. Humanism

Humanism is a theory of psychology that emphasizes a person's perspective and the growth potential of people; it is the psychology of human nature. Human nature refers to all the traits, behaviors, and potentials that are unique to us as human beings.

Humanism is what evolved into the positive psychology movement. This movement focused on human strengths, virtues, creativity, and free will. This is opposed to ideas of behaviorism and psychodynamic theory, which are focused on negative aspects, and put human behavior outside of a person’s control. Humanism focuses on people as agents within their own lives that are able to help themselves in some way.

The two major figures in humanism are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. They are the ones who developed a lot of the initial theories. They were American psychologists in the mid-1900s that focused particularly on psychotherapy and improving people's lives.

Within humanism, there are two important areas to focus on:

  • Subjective experience
  • Positive self-regard
term to know

Human Nature
The traits, behaviors, and potentials unique to human beings

1a. Subjective Experience
The first area to discuss is on subjective experience and how it can be important to a person. Subjective experience is a person's point of view about an experience. It is not focused solely on what happened, but how a person perceived it to happen. This can be just as important in psychology as the actual event itself.

EXAMPLE

For instance, a person who is depressed might be having negative thoughts about all things around them. These negative thoughts might not necessarily be true, but these thoughts may still cause that person psychological harm.

term to know

Subjective Experience
A person’s point of view of an experience; not just what happened, but what you think happened

1b. Positive Self-Regard/Self Esteem
A person’s subjective experience can also influence their views of themselves. This is important in humanism because it can lead to understanding how to become a better person.

This leads to the second concept, which is positive self-regard/self esteem. Self esteem is considering yourself to be a good, worthwhile person, or having positive views about yourself.

Early childhood experiences can especially be important in the development of feelings about self and the standard by which person judges their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to be good. These are what are known as conditions of worth, which can affect a person’s positive self-regard.

EXAMPLE

For example, being told as a child that it's bad to cry can lead a person to have bad feelings about themselves when they feel the urge to cry later on in life.

The opposite of having these conditions of worth is what Rogers referred to as unconditional positive regard. This is approval or acceptance of a person, regardless of what they do or say. Rogers considered this to be the ideal for development because it makes a child feel worthwhile regardless of their actions. It encourages positive growth over time.

term to know
Positive Self-Regard/Self Esteem
Thinking of one’s self as a lovable, good, worthwhile person


summary
Humanism is a theory that focuses on a person’s perspective and growth potential. This is different than behaviorism and psychodynamic theory because it states that people are the agents of their own lives. There are two important areas of the theory to focus on. Subjective experience is the view a person has on an event or experience. This looks at how the viewpoint can be just as important as the actual event itself.

Positive self-regard is the positive view of self. Early childhood experiences can have an important impact on feelings of self and the standards by which people judge themselves. Conditions of worth can affect a person’s self-esteem, and unconditional positive regard is considered to be ideal for developing positive growth.

Good luck!

Source: This work is adapted from Sophia author Erick Taggart.

Terms to Know
Human Nature

The traits, behaviors, and potentials unique to human beings.

Positive Self-Regard/Self Esteem

Thinking of one’s self as a lovable, good, worthwhile person.

Subjective Experience

A person’s point of view of an experience; not just what happened, but what you think happened.