Humanistic psychology is a sub-field of psychology that emphasizes the whole person rather than simplification to focus on a dysfunction. As a primer for developmental psychology, humanism principles hold a big influence for the work provided by Madzook’s four-pillar philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of humanistic psychology is a man named Carl Rogers. Rodgers was an American academic and practitioner born in 1902 and passed in 1987.
Humanistic psychology places emphasis on finding one’s true self by creation of that person through the choices and practices each individual activates in their lifetime. Maslow is famous for his Hierarchy of Need Pyramid that extends to a point of self-actualization as a pinnacle of a person’s optimal functionality. Self-actualization can be defined as a state where the humans desire and participation has reached a level of acceptance and skill development by becoming integrated with all elements of body, mind, and spirit into one point of optimal expression and acceptance of owns own capacity. Rodgers and Maslow differentiated on their approach to this state of being.
Humanistic psychology is said to be one of the four houses of personality along with psychoanalytical, trait, and social cognitive approaches to understanding how people display and interact or create their personality. Humanistic psychology, specifically the works of Carl Rodgers holds an intention to assist each person as a individual by creating environments and situational awareness for the person to develop to a fuller potential (saying someone could develop to their “full” potential is counterintuitive in our opinion - we can each develop a a bit further and fuller as time, and circumstances and exposure will continue to move in all of our lives). The main differences between Maslow and Rodgers was the approach to reaching self-actualization, Rodgers believed a more internalized perspective while Maslow believed more external forces held influence. Rodgers opined that each and every human has an opportunity to reach a measured point of self-actualization as a result of their own actions and choices. Maslow opined that only a few advanced persons could make their way to the top of his famed pyramid, reaching self-actualization.
The core tenants of Rodgers work as a practitioner, one with a focus on assisting clients with their own personal development was his contribution to the field advancement with his introduction to client-centered therapy. A widely used practice still in action today by counselors, consultants, trainers, psychologist, and psychiatrist. These core requirements for a practitioner include:
1.) Empathy for the client – a true objective must be seeking a way to understand the client, and their position or reasoning.
2.) The practitioner must be genuine and candid at all times
3.) A space or environment where no judgements are passed on the client. Discussion must come from the space where the client’s reality is formed.
Some quotes of Carl Rodgers:
“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.”
“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and is willing to make relative changes where necessary.”
As we always like to remind you that these blog posts on Madzook are for introductory level information. The work of Carl Rodgers holds influence on much of the personal development approaches in the marketplace or field of practice today. One would do a great personal service for one’s self by finding more to read and understand about Carl Rodgers and his contributions to humanity!