What Is Humanistic Psychology?

It could seem that all psychologists approach therapy similarly. However, there are hundreds of approaches to therapy, including humanistic therapy, which emphasizes the importance of the individual's subjective experience and personal growth. 

Psychology is often referred to as a "soft science." This industry doesn't always have as many "hard" rules as other sciences. Humans know far more about muscles than the brain, so psychology has more room for interpretation. However, the rules of scientific investigation are applied to psychological research as in other sciences.

The room for interpretation common in psychology has led to several different schools of psychology. Some of these are named after the people who founded them or the key ideas involved. Others are named for the time periods that inspired them. Humanistic philosophy belongs to this last camp, so to understand humanistic psychology, it can be valuable to understand humanism.

The early humanists

Because the desire to understand and treat the mind is older than humanity's medical or scientific understanding, many branches of psychology have their roots in philosophy. Before humans could understand the mind by understanding the brain, people tried to understand the mind by understanding themselves. Humanistic psychology is an example of this way of thinking and takes its name from a branch of philosophy called humanism.

Humanism began during the Renaissance which lasted from around 1450 to 1600. It followed a period called the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages. During the Middle Ages, studying was done by religious institutions that believed that by studying the world God created, they could better understand God. As a result, they heavily supported and advanced work in the sciences. These philosophers were often interested in history, art, and literature only if it was explicitly religious.

Humanism wasn't necessarily opposed to this idea but explored other concepts. Humanists focused on the ideas, beliefs, and achievements of humans. They studied philosophy, ethics, literature, art, and music outside of the eye of one religion. This factor doesn't mean that early humanists were necessarily non-religious themselves. One of the most famous early humanists was the Catholic saint and martyr Thomas More.

The modern humanists

One of the reasons early humanists were religious is that non-religious people were uncommon. The ideas of atheism or agnosticism were often unheard of.

Some suggest that atheism began when the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote: "God is Dead" in The Parable of the Madman in the early 1880s. Earlier philosophers like Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) challenged accepted beliefs at the time but stopped short of atheism. Atheism grew much more popular in the mid-20th century as religious people failed to understand why God would allow horrors like the Holocaust.

As the role of God became less favorable in thought, a more modern form of humanism emerged. Called secular humanism, this new philosophy didn't only assume that God didn't exist but insisted upon it. 

Before secular sciences, the achievements of science and philosophy were built on the presupposition of God. Without God, modern humanists started from the ground up by returning to questions like "What does it mean to be human?" and "What does a human need to be happy and healthy?"

Popular humanistic theories in psychology

Several humanistic psychologists in history contributed to this field, including the following. 

Abraham Maslow

One of the most famous humanistic psychologists was Abraham Maslow. Born 30 years after The Parable of the Madman and dying 30 years before the dawn of the 21st century, Maslow saw the late industrial revolution and the horrors of both World Wars, allowing him to advance humanistic thought.

The lowest step on the hierarchy of needs is physiological needs. Humans may struggle to maintain meaningful relationships or live their best lives if they are starving or freezing to death. The next step is safety. Even if you have shelter and enough to eat, you can't realize your full potential if you're worried about people robbing or harming you. Theoretically, many people can manage their basic needs. However, safety concerns often require participation in a larger community that provides for safety systems like the law. 

The third step is love and belonging, which means maintaining healthy relationships with family and friends. Theoretically, one might manage higher steps in the hierarchy without achieving love and belonging first but wouldn't necessarily have a reason to. After belonging comes esteem. Maslow believed that to be able to do one's best, they must be able to see themselves as valuable and be respected by others. 

The final step is self-actualization. Maslow defined this step as "becoming everything that one is capable of becoming." However, people today might call it "living your best life."

Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers was a rough contemporary of Maslow and primarily agreed with Maslow's ideas, especially the hierarchy of needs.

Rogers believed that self-actualization was the primary motivation of all humans, rather than material ideas like love or money. He also primarily agreed with Maslow's ideas of how people achieve self-actualization, but he had some of his own. Rogers believed that individuals need support from their communities to thrive. Maslow's theory was that the community's role was to provide for an individual's needs to live but not necessarily to thrive. Rogers held that there was a more social role for the community.

Rogers was also interested in the idea of identity. He believed that people have an ideal and actual self and can feel distressed when there is too much incongruence between these aspects of the self. He also attempted to describe what it meant to be a self-actualized person.

In Rogers' eyes, a self-actualized person must be open to new experiences. Openness might mean trying a new hobby but also accepting and learning from difficult experiences rather than trying to avoid them. Second, he believed the self-actualized person would need to be able to live in the moment—similar to modern ideas of mindfulness. For Rogers, being mentally stuck in the past or the future prevented a person from their full potential. 

Rogers also believed that a self-actualized person is self-confident. The self-actualized person understands and trusts their instincts and feelings. If you don't trust yourself, you may rely heavily on others to be confident. He also believed that self-actualization could come from creativity and happiness.

George Kelly

George Kelly lived and worked around the same time as Maslow and Rogers. Like Rogers, Kelly was very interested in the idea of identity.

Kelly's most significant contribution to humanistic psychology is construct theory. While Rogers believed that people have an ideal self separate from their actual self, Kelly's construct theory suggests that there is an actual self and a perceived self but that people can sync their understanding of themselves with their recent experiences. In this way, one's idea of oneself can constantly change. 

Aaron Beck

Aaron Beck is the last of the historic humanist psychologists. Beck was born in 1921, at a time when most of the founding humanistic psychologists were finishing college or entering their careers. 

Beck agreed with Kelly's ideas of identity as self-perception. As a result, how people view themselves was critical to Beck. He encouraged his clients not to blame themselves when situations went wrong but to recognize themselves and their efforts as parts of complex systems that allowed room for error.

Beck's ideals grew into what is now called cognitive therapy, a therapy based on addressing how individuals form self-beliefs. These concepts have also become a significant part of mindfulness, encouraging individuals to identify harmful or non-productive thoughts to focus energy on more valuable ideals. Beck also created a depression inventory, a survey to help identify and diagnose depression, by using 21 questions to rank individuals on a scale from zero to three.

Humanistic psychology today

In some ways, humanistic psychology remains a growing trend in psychology, though it hasn't latched on in some of the ways that its rivals have. In the modern day, many therapeutic modalities have been developed based on humanistic principles. If you want to speak to a humanistic psychologist, modern inventions like online therapy can allow clients to connect with a provider from home. 

With online therapy through a platform like BetterHelp, you attend your sessions online from anywhere you have an internet connection. In addition, you can choose between phone, video, or live chat sessions with your provider based on your preferences for care. When you sign up, indicate you are looking for a humanistic therapist.  

Research shows that online therapy is effective, as well. Some studies have found that online treatment can lead to a 50% or higher improvement in symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and depression and can significantly decrease the impact of stress on one's life.