Humanistic Approaches

Biological and Humanistic Approaches Personality Assessment

Tina Thomas

University of Phoenix Online

PSY 250

David Dakroub

September 27, 2010

Biological and Humanistic Approaches Personality Assessment

The purpose for this paper is a brief overview of Biological, Humanistic and Maslow’s theories and how they pertain to the development of personality. During this brief overview we will cover a comparison and contrast between the biologic and humanistic approaches to personality. We will also examine characteristics of both, the biological and humanistic approaches that are commonly accepted and those that are disputed, as well as the influence of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how they influence one’s personality. Finally we will discuss the theory that best describes Tina Thomas’s personality before the conclusion of the paper.

Comparison and Contrast of theory characteristics

The humanistic approach was developed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers in the mid 1960’s during a time of war. The humanistic theory is a simplistic view of human nature and is one of the most popular self-help topics in literature (Boeree, C., 2006).

The basis of the humanistic theory comes from a place where all people are basically good, whereas the genetic approach views humans from a disconnected view, a collection of cells that may contain damaged information thus making the individual flawed from a cellular level and having a direct bearing on one’s behavior.

The benefit of the humanistic theory is that it focuses on the encouragement of free will, empowering the individual to bring about personal change, whereas the biological theory has no remedy to a damaged or flawed genetic connection. Drug therapy is the only option for clients who have issues or concerns that have a direct connection to their genetic makeup. Drug therapy however, only treats the symptoms and does not cure or correct the original problem (Nestler, 2000).

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The possible negative ramifications...