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