Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic psychology (the third-force)

The term ‘third force’ is actually a general categorisation of several orientations and emphases within psychology. The third force may be anything, which is not behaviourism or psychoanalysis. Elements of this third force are humanism, phenomenology, or existentialism. This movement is multifaceted in nature: it consists of diverse, even conflicting components. It is both a reaction to and an extension of behaviourism and psychoanalysis. It is both an abstract entity and a practical guide for living. Membership in the movement is by self-proclamation, not by acceptance of a set of monolithic principles and beliefs. The most general and neutral term for the movement is humanistic psychology. Phenomenological and existential psychologies can be seen as subkinds of humanistic psychology and as antecedents of the more recent strictly American versions of humanism professed by psychologists as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers who were not, however, the first psychologists to have an essentially humanistic orientation. Elements of humanism can be found in the psychoanalytic thought of Fromm, Horney, and even Jung and Adler and the American existential psychologist, Rollo May, anticipated many of the tenets of humanism. Humanism is an attempt to reorient psychology to more person-oriented objectives. For a proponent of humanism, the new movement represented a return to a true concern for consciousness after 50 years of behaviourally oriented experimental psychology and by analytically oriented depth psychology (psychoanalysis). In a sense, humanism adopted the phenomenal orientation of Gestalt psychology, but extended it from the realm of more perceptual consciousness to cover the organism’s entire personality or state of being. Humanism deals with the state of a person’s awareness or conscious feelings in an understanding context. The following is characteristic of humanism: • Presumes a nonmechanistic view of man, • Does not...