Page 34 - History of Psychology

Chapter

Humanistic 9

Psychology

Abrahan Maslow

In the early 1960s, a group of psychologists headed by Abraham Maslow started a
movement referred to as third-force psychology. These psychologists claimed
that the other two forces in psychology, behaviorism and psychoanalysis,
neglected a number of important human attributes. What was missing, according
to third-force psychologists, was information that would help already healthy
individuals become healthier—that is, to reach their full potential. What was
needed was a model of humans that emphasized their uniqueness and their
positive aspects rather than their negative aspects, and it was this type of model
that third-force psychologists attempted to provide.

Third-force psychology contrasts vividly with other approaches because it is not
deterministic in explaining human behavior. Rather, it assumes that humans are

free to choose their own type of existence. Instead of attributing the causes of
behavior to stimuli, drive states, genetics, or early experience, third-force
psychologists claim that the most important cause of behavior is subjective
reality.

Third-force psychology combines the philosophies of romanticism and
existentialism, and this combination is often called humanistic psychology.
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) is recognized as the one most responsible for
making humanistic psychology a formal branch of psychology. Maslow was born in
Brooklyn, New York. He was the oldest of seven children born to parents who were
Jewish immigrants from Russia. At the University of Wisconsin, Maslow earned his
bachelor’s degree in 1930, his master’s degree in 1931, and his doctorate in 1934.

The Hierarchy of Needs.

According to Maslow, human needs are arranged in a hierarchy. Maslow’s
proposed hierarchy of needs can be diagrammed as follows:

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