Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychologists believe that behaviorists are over-concerned with the scientific study and analysis of the actions of man as an organism, to the neglect of basic aspects of man as a feeling, thinking individual, and that too much effort is spent in laboratory research, which quantifies and reduces human behavior to its elements. Humanists also take issue with the deterministic orientation of psychoanalysis, which postulates that man’s early experiences and drives determine his behavior. Humanists tend to believe that the individual is responsible for his life and actions and may time creatively change his attitudes or behavior through awareness and will. The humanist is concerned with the fullest growth of the individual in the areas of love, fulfillment, self-worth, and autonomy; maturation is considered a process during which one establishes and follows one’s system of values.
