Humanistic Psychology as a Historical Force in American Psychology - Research Paper Example

? Humanistic Psychology as a Historical Force in American Psychology Many aspects of American psychology can be explained by several forces.One force, the humanistic-existential force of psychology was able to show that humans are capable of having a drive for self-fulfillment. Humanistic psychology can be best explained by Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy. The strong motivation for people’s actions is the result of unfulfilled needs. Once the need is satisfied, the person ceases to become motivated. Thus is the main reason why people are able to create goals as well as being able to reach then, and also the same reason why some people become complacent once they do not get motivated anymore. Humanistic Psychology as a Historical Force in American Psychology Ever since the beginning of the psychological field in the United States, there has been a strong boom of different theories as well as corresponding experiments to prove each one. Among the four forces of American psychology, one field, Humanistic psychology is one of the strongest forces that were able to shape the prevailing culture in the country back then, and the impact of this force is still apparent up to now. The appearance of this movement is due to the disillusionment of many psychologists with psychoanalytic movement and behaviorism (Boyle, 2006). The psychoanalytic movement mostly dealt with people that had their minds disabled by numerous compounded problems, and behaviorism was found to be rather narrow due to its limited scope. Thus the emergence of another movement in psychology that dealt with the reasons for human motivation as well as other aspects of humanity such as the concept of building up experiences was a relevant and an entirely new idea which focused more on normal-functioning human beings (Boyle, 2006). The creation of goals is one of the desires of humans in order to fulfill a void in their needs, and by pursuing such a fulfillment gives people a sense of purpose. Abraham Maslow is one of the most well-known figures in the field of humanistic psychology, and he is able to build the theory of hierarchy of needs in order to explain what drives humans to commit actions that are mostly based on ascending importance (Koontz & Weihrich, 2006). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on somatic drives in an organism which focus on ultimate or basic goals, as well as the fulfillment of such needs regardless of the means (Maslow, 1943). The hierarchy is based on the progressive needs of a person, starting from the basics such as food and shelter, moving on to safety needs, need for belonging, esteem needs, and ultimately a need for self-actualization (Pandey, 2005). The fulfillment of each need is sequential, in the sense that once the most basic needs are realized, only then would the next in the line of needs would become motivators for action (Koontz & Weihrich, 2006). For example, once a person is able to find a source of income (e.g. employment) to provide food or shelter, the next possible motivator would be on staying employed or keeping the source of income. People with high-ranking needs are mostly individuals who were able to fulfill most of their basic needs earlier in their lives, thus their motivations are mostly intrinsically-fuelled, such as needs to feel important, purposeful and loved. However, Maslow was also careful to add that while the basic structure of the hierarchy of needs can be applied to most people, for some the arrangement of the hierarchy can be flexible and accommodating to people who think different (Maslow, 1943). Some people might put more emphasis in the fulfillment of the need for being accepted, rather than completing their basic needs first. Another is that some people put emphasis in attaining a positive self-esteem before obtaining love (Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 1970). Because people have a strong tendency of habituation, they have a nature of being able to swim against the tide of public opinion to stand up for the truth at a personal cost, and this is possible through the early fulfillment as well as the satisfaction of basic needs throughout their lifetimes. Due to the innovation of Maslow in creating his hierarchy of needs theory, it was very well-received by most, especially those who are much more familiar to philosophical approaches rather than psychoanalytic ones (Shook, 2005). His style was able to cater not only those under philosophical disciplines but also those under psychological discipline that were not satisfied with the mechanical approaches as well as too much detachment from humanity. Also, one of the possible scopes of humanistic psychology is being able to understanding the processes of human dignity, helping individuals attaint their full potentials, and being able to search for the true meaning of life (Boyle, 2006). Maslow was able to show that the field of psychology can also be capable of being attuned to normal human traits, and that the human experience can be seen as a strong motivator in performing holistic, dynamic and purposive actions as well as achieving goals in such fashions, making psychology much more relevant. Reflections Based on some of the resources that I saw, American psychology based on the humanistic has been attentive to some issues especially the fulfillment of basic needs. This may be one reason why some projects set by the government were primarily aiming to give most people resources in order to give completion to their unrealized basic needs. In my opinion, this is one application of using humanistic approaches in psychology, especially when studying what motivates people to do certain actions. By being able to focus on realizing the basic needs, people can move on from fulfilling their needs up to fulfilling the needs of others. Such movement of hierarchies becomes the seed for a culture that promotes humanitarian pursuits like volunteerism, establishment of charities, donations, and other forms of help in order for others to fulfill their basic needs as well. A culture that is set on fulfilling basic needs can cause problems for many people. Too much focus on the ease of attaining basic needs can result to a culture that promotes selfishness, especially when the people never gain any satisfaction no matter how much of the basic needs are required. This setting could mask some higher ranking needs that seem hard to be fulfilled, prompting the individuals to just fulfill their basic needs instead. For example, I consider larger portions or serving sizes of food to be a reason why many people become overweight. Indeed, they have a choice to choose smaller portions, however due to not getting satiated in smaller amounts, and adding the prevailing culture of getting more for less, people would just tend to buy more food without realizing that eating even in smaller amounts could still give a sense of satisfaction. By trying to fill the void left by unfulfilled higher ranking needs such as the need to feel loved and belonging, the needs of individuals are not realized, and they in turn would just resort to eating to fill in that gap. However, if the individuals were able to fulfill what they really need, such as higher ranking needs, proper actions can be made, which would result to attaining the goals that they really want instead of just settling on what is readily available or easily attainable. While I do respect human individualities, I believe that it is also important that the culture should be able to be flexible in terms of fulfilling the needs of individuals. Unfortunately, the prevailing culture today is that some of the ranks in the hierarchy of needs are set aside, and aside from basic needs, the need to belong becomes much more important that having a sense of security, and this leaves many people unhappy and unsatisfied with their lives due to being forced to do things that do not give them a sense of fulfillment. Another is that some people are not able to attain some of their higher-ranking due to them being forced to fulfill the needs of other people, like employees trying hard to satisfy the bosses’ need to feel powerful, and this in turn drains the morale of the employees, thus leaving them with a void regardless of other needs that they achieve. In my opinion, a person becomes stable when he or she is able to see that apart from having a house, shelter and clothing while having a strong sense of security due to such things. Also, there is no need to completely fill most of the basic needs because as humans, we are all drawn to create goals that we all aim to attain to satisfy our self-fulfillment needs. By satisfying ultimate goals, we are able to oversee our lower-ranking needs and become satisfied even without completing them. In another example, many people are much more attuned to having a good send or self-worth than having their stomachs filled. This kind of mindset gives humans a higher edge over lower animals that only pursue their basic needs. References Boyle, C. (2006). History of psychology: a cultural perspective. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Koontz, H., & Weihrich, H. (2006). Essentials of management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review , 370-396. Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality. New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Pandey, V. (2005). Intelligence and motivation. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House. Shook, J. (2005). Dictionary of modern american philosophers, Volume 1. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum. Read More