Humanistic Psychology: Definition, Theory, & Examples​

By Charlie Huntington, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
Humanistic psychology says that humans should be understood as distinct and complete individuals rather than characterized by their mental health challenges.​
*This page may include affiliate links; that means we earn from qualifying purchases of products.
Psychology is a social science, and there is a lot contained in that phrase: “social science.” On the one hand, psychologists strive to be empirical—to deepen our understanding of how human minds and behavior work through rigorous research methods. The goal here is to be as precise and particular as possible, to break complex topics such as depression or prejudice down into smaller parts so we can describe them as thoroughly and accurately as possible.​
At the same time, psychology is social—it exists in the messy space where human beings, with their almost indescribably complex brains, try to make sense of the world and each other. In this sense, the little details can be a distraction from the bigger picture. If I am depressed, looking at the whole picture of my life might be just as helpful as, or even more helpful than, trying to figure out exactly which parts of my brain might be behaving atypically.
​
Humanistic psychology is an approach to understanding human experience that takes that “big-picture” approach. Unlike many other fields of psychology, it is focused on the whole experience of being human. As we shall see, this gives it both valuable perspective and some substantial limitations.
​Before reading on, if you're a therapist, coach, or wellness entrepreneur, be sure to grab our free Wellness Business Growth eBook to get expert tips and free resources that will help you grow your business exponentially.​​​​​​​​​
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?

Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

 ✓  Save hundreds of hours of time  ✓  Earn more $ faster  
​✓  Boost your credibility ✓  Deliver high-impact content 

What Is Humanistic Psychology? (A Definition)​

Humanistic psychology is a field of psychology grounded in the belief that psychologists should approach human beings as unique and complete entities. Rather than focusing on individual aspects of a person’s existence, such as their relationships with their parents or their anxious thoughts, humanistic psychology focuses on their capacity for self-actualization and exercising free will (Rogers, 1961).
 
In humanistic psychology, what matters is not the absence of mental health issues, but that people fully integrate all aspects of themselves and their experiences (Rogers, 1961). Being psychologically healthy, or a “fully-functioning person” (Rogers, 1961) from the humanistic psychology perspective means living creatively and productively, experiencing both freedom and responsibility, trusting one’s body, being present and non-defensive, and living a fulfilling life.

Why Is Humanistic Psychology Important?​

Humanistic psychology is important because it offers a valuable philosophical counterpoint to what are often considered the two primary approaches in psychology—behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Where psychoanalysis is focused mostly on unconscious processes in people’s minds and behaviorism is focused mostly on what can be seen and measured, humanistic psychology attempts to understand people as whole beings, rather than through their measurable behavior or the content of their dreams (Maslow, 1971).
 
Humanistic psychology is also important because it laid the foundation for positive psychology, or the study of what makes people function well, not worse (Seligman, 2005). With its focus on human potential and our innate capacity to strive for good, humanistic psychology was already advocating for psychologists to focus less on what’s going wrong and more on what’s going right. For example, psychologists have long studied the concept called flow—the experience of being immersed in a task that is not too easy and not too difficult but very engaging and fulfilling (Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). A flow state can be considered an instance of self-actualization, in line with humanistic psychology, as well as an optimal experience, in line with positive psychology. Both the humanistic and positive psychology movements have drawn much-needed attention to the aspects of our selves that promote optimal functioning and well-being (Gable & Haidt, 2005).

History of Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic psychology emerged formally in the 1950s and 1960s, but influences on this field came in earlier decades and even centuries. For example, humanism draws on a long tradition of scholars and philosophers pushing back on the idea that human beings are like machines that can be understood by studying their different parts (Kendler, 1987). As far back as the 19th century, William James, considered the founder of American psychology, had advocated for looking at people humanistically, or from the lens of considering the whole human (Taylor, 2001).
 
American psychologists in the 20th century began to merge these philosophical traditions with their critiques of the psychological traditions that existed at the time (Kendler, 1987). By the 1950s, Abraham Maslow, famous for his hierarchy of needs, took this humanistic tradition and formalized it (Maslow, 1962). Maslow believed the behaviorist and psychoanalytic approaches that defined his generation offered little insight into how people lived healthily or developed and pursued their goals in life. He saw humanistic psychology as a way to address the lack of psychology fields that studied people as whole beings.
 
Many scholars agree that this was a valid and much-needed criticism of the state of psychology at the time (Buhler, 1971). Psychoanalysis concerned itself primarily with the experiences of “neurotic” patients, while behaviorism used animal models to make predictions about how humans would operate. Missing from both approaches was a focus on the rest of humanity—all the people not suffering from acute mental illness but nevertheless living lives that could be improved upon through psychological research.

Humanistic Psychology Theory

Another way we can think about humanistic psychology is as a liberal reaction to the conservative nature of other psychological traditions (Buss, 1979). Psychoanalysis, with its focus on how human beings are irrational and subject to unconscious whims and destructive, primal forces, seemed to offer a pessimistic and limited view of human society. Meanwhile, behaviorism suggested that people were just their behaviors, and that their thoughts, values, and hopes for the future had little impact on their lives. Neither behaviorism nor psychoanalysis took an expansive, positive, and human-centered view of human potential.
 
The theory of humanistic psychology therefore focuses instead on how personal progress and personal development, as well as the ideas of freedom and liberty, drive human thinking and behavior (Buss, 1979). It sees human beings as being self-determining—having the ability to identify personal goals and personal values and move toward them. Where other theories see people as limited by their maladaptive ways of coping or their unconscious motives, humanistic psychology sees people as moving toward ever more optimal functioning and well-being.

Examples of Humanistic Psychology Research

Research conducted from a humanistic psychology perspective takes the position that human beings are self-directed; in other words, we are active agents in our lives, behaving with purpose (Polkinghorne, 1982). This orientation distinguishes humanistic psychology research from other types of psychology research, which are often focused on understanding the associations among smaller facets of the human experience. For this reason, humanistic psychology research is difficult to get funded and to conduct (Hayes, 2012); it lends itself less to the traditional empirical methods of the field, and its conclusions do not have as much rigorous scientific backing as a result (Cain, 2003). This makes some of the ideas in humanistic psychology difficult to either prove or disprove, which is usually a primary goal of scientific research (Hayes, 2012).
 
Let’s look at an example of this in action. Humanistic psychology is interested in how people understand what an optimal existence looks like. So researchers interviewed people about this topic, then they designed a rating scale for how strongly people feel they are living the most meaningful life possible (Wong, 1998). Researchers with a different theoretical orientation might approach this question very differently, such as by thinking about what specific behaviors are already known to make people happy. However, this style of research is more in keeping with a bottom-up approach wherein the full range of human experiences is considered (Aanstoos, 1985).
 
In fact, it can be very helpful to characterize much humanistic psychology research as “bottom-up,” meaning it is driven by information provided by its participants more than by the ideas that the researchers themselves had before they began the study (Gergen, 2016). Humanistic psychologists argue that this approach is less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias in research—the tendency to design experiments that only test out our preconceived notions about the topic, leaving other possible outcomes off the table.
 
At the same time, there are some interesting overlaps between humanistic psychology and traditional approaches such as behaviorism. One such overlap is found in the most recent forms of cognitive behavioral therapy, such as acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavior therapy (Hayes et al., 2011). These therapies, while retaining a foundation in the tried-and-true approaches of cognitive behavioral therapy, also incorporate humanistic ideas such as thinking about one’s values and accepting, rather than trying to change, certain parts of one’s existence (Hayes et al., 2011).

Principles of Humanistic Psychology​

One of the foundational principles of humanistic psychology is the idea that we should study the person as a whole (Buhler, 1971). This means that somebody who has a mental health diagnosis should be understood in all their humanity, not just as a person with depression or an eating disorder.
 
Another foundational principle is that of intentionality and free will (May, 1969). Human beings are understood not as being at the mercy of their unconscious impulses or the conditioning that their life experiences give them but as possessing valuable and meaningful conscious intentions for who they will be in the world. In fact, humanistic psychology suggests that it is through our intentions and our exercise of free will that we develop our sense of self (May, 1969).
 
Humanistic psychology is organized around the idea of what people’s largest, most meaningful goals are for themselves (Buhler, 1971). This is one principle where humanistic psychology really distinguishes itself from other approaches. For example, psychoanalytic thinking suggests that people are always trying to return to a state of homeostasis, or a state of being regulated and feeling neutral. By contrast, humanistic psychology focuses on how people push themselves out of their comfort zones to achieve self-actualization.
 
Finally, more recent work suggests that wellness and fairness are core values of humanistic psychology (Duff et al., 2016). In this regard, humanistic psychology is like the positive psychology movement: It prioritizes understanding how people feel good and satisfied in the different domains of their lives. It focuses on how things can get even better, not on reducing suffering, and how this can be achieved by understanding ourselves better more than by focusing on the particular problems we face (Buhler, 1971).

Humanistic Psychologists

Among the most important humanistic psychologists are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as I mentioned earlier, places self-actualization at the top of its pyramid—a clear signal that the highest form of human experience, to which all of us aspire in some way, is to feel fulfilled in who we are and what we love to do. In fact, while other psychologists remained focused on what was going wrong in people’s lives, Maslow studied the lives of very successful and fulfilled individuals to understand what flourishing looked like (1973).
 
Carl Rogers was foundational to the development of humanistic approaches to therapy. He argued that people grow and become more fulfilled when they have the support of an emotionally present, unconditionally kind, positive, and empathic therapist who sees and accepts them in the totality of who they are (Rogers, 1961).

Humanistic Psychology and Self-Actualization

Living a self-actualizing life is the central focus of both humanistic therapy and humanistic psychology. Humanistic psychologists have worked hard to identify ways to know that people are progressing toward self-actualization. Much in the way that cognitive therapists can choose from many different measures of, for example, depression, humanistic therapists have many measures of meaningful living they can use with clients (Melton & Schulenberg, 2008).​

Articles Related to Humanistic Psychology

​Want to learn more? Check out these articles:

Books Related to Humanistic Psychology

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Humanistic Psychology

Perhaps because humanistic psychology is not researched in the same way as other types of psychology, it has lost a lot of its influence in the field of psychology since it reached peak popularity in the 1960s and 1970s (Elkins, 2009). Although some of its most powerful ideas have been accepted, such as the importance of a strong therapeutic alliance between therapist and client and the value of taking a strengths-based approach, it simply cannot compete with theories and approaches that receive far more research support and attention (Elkins, 2009).
 
Nonetheless, I would argue that the approach of humanistic psychology, with its refusal to see people as merely their disorders and its focus on human experience over mathematical equations, continues to be of value to our field. It is easy as psychology researchers to lose the forest for the trees, to conduct research that explains small aspects of human experience but is difficult to integrate into the fullness of human life. We do not want to lose sight of the heights of experience and wellness toward which people strive every day.
 
If you have found this topic intriguing and are curious about another application of humanistic psychology, I recommend watching this video about humanistic approaches to understanding the process of learning:

Video: Humanistic Learning Theory

Don't Forget to Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to
Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

References
Are You a Therapist, Coach, or Wellness Entrepreneur?
Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to Grow Your Wellness Business Fast!
Key Articles:Content Packages:
Terms, Privacy & Affiliate Disclosure  |   About   |   Blog   |   Contact   |   FAQs
* The Berkeley Well-Being Institute. LLC is not affiliated with UC Berkeley.
Copyright © 2024, The Berkeley Well-Being Institute, LLC