Introduction
The humanistic view on the development of personality implies that there are aspects of human psychology that could not be explained by psychodynamics and behaviorism alone. Most humanists believe that there is a gap in the psychological understanding of human nature. Psychoanalysts and Behaviorists, for instance, aim to generalize human behavior as predictable and can be empirically determined. Freud, for example, believe that humans acts because of the influence of the unconscious while many behaviorists such as Watson, Pavlov and Skinner believe that human behavior is based on an action-reaction dynamics and is, thereby, observable and measurable. As observed by Skinner, human behavior follows a certain pattern and so it can be predicted and scientifically studied (Skinner, 2014, p.15). This traditional psychology makes an impression that humans are helpless individuals because they act in response to a stimulus in a determined way. Humanists, on the other hand, believe that human behavior is more complex than what most psychological scholars suggests. Humanists, for instance, “start from the assumption that every person has their own unique way of perceiving and understanding the world and that the things they do only make sense in this light”. They hope to understand the workings of man’s conscious mind and how his ability to reason and choose impacts his personality as a whole. Two of the most common humanist theories are Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Carl Rogers’s Person-Centered Theory. This paper would like to discuss how these humanistic theories compare to each other and how each theory contributes to the development of personality.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is one of the most popular personality development theories. Developed by Abraham Maslow in the 1940s, the hierarchy of needs outlines the motivational needs of an individual that he must meet in order to develop his personality in a healthy way. The pyramid figure below is how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is commonly depicted.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Image Source: Kremer, & Hammond, 2013).
According to Maslow, the needs of an individual is aranged in hierarchy that starts from the physiological or most basic needs up to the most exemplary, which is the self-actualisation. But prior to achieving self-actualization, he must first satisfy his safety, social and esteem needs. For Maslow, the development of a person’s personality is gradual and that he needs to satisfy the lowest or the most basic needs first before he can progress to meet his higher needs. Marlow’s hierarchy of needs explains why some people fail to realize their full potential or reach self-actualization since according to this theory; the lower needs must be satisfied first before an individual is motivated to aim for higher needs. Personality development, for instance, is hindered when disruptions on the lower level of needs are encountered such as the loss of financial resources or the loss of a loved one.
Person-Centered Theory
The person-centered approach was developed by the American psychologist, Carl Rogers in the 1940s and became a dominant theoretical framework for counseling and psychotherapy in the 20th century (Thorne, n.d., p.1). Rogers believe that humans have the capacity to develop a personality that is consistent with how they view themselves and what they wanted to be. While he agrees with Maslow that people are motivated by certain needs, he added that in order for a person to develop his personality, he needs an environment that is conducive to growth. According to Rogers, in order to achieve healthy psychological growth, these three core conditions must be present: congruence or genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard (Gillon, n.d., p.4). One major contribution of Rogers’ person-centered theory in personality development is the notion of self-concept. According to Rogers, individuals want to “feel, experience and behave” in ways that are consistent with how they percieve themselves and that the more congruent or “closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth”. Rogers emphasizes the concept of congruence between the sense of self of an individual and his ideal self since Rogers believe that it is an indicator of a desirable personality.
Comparison of Marlow and Rogers’s Humanistic Approaches
Marlow and Rogers both agree that every individual has the innate capability to develop his own self. Marlow, for instance, believe that “Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization” while Rogers believe that every individual “has an underlying and instinctive movement towards the constructive accomplishment of its inherent potential” (McLeod, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, 2014; Thorne, n.d., p.3). Both scholars also acknowledge the significant influence of the environment in developing an individual’s personality. Marlow’s hierarchy of needs, for instance, acknowledges that in order for an individual’s personality to develop, he needs to interact with his environment where his needs such as food, shelter and social relationships are found. Similarly, Rogers acknowledge that an individual needs external support in order to develop a wholesome personality such as the support provided by a therapist or counselor. Rogers’s person-centered approach, however, is more focused on relationships such as the relationship between the counselor or therapist and the individual while Marlow’s theory is more focused on the interaction of the individual with his environment.
Conclusion
Marlow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Rogers’ person-centered theory both provide a sound theoretical framework for understanding personality development. Marlow’s theory, however, implies that before an individual can realize his full potential, he needs to rise up the needs ladder while Rogers believe that self-actualization can be achieved as long as an individual’s concept of his self worth and his ideal self coincides with each other. It should be noted though that Marlow’s theory is more realistic as compared to the idealist perspective of Rogers’ person-centered theory. By comparison, Marlow’s Hierarchy of Needs is more observable and measurable than Rogers’ person-centered theory, which is quite abstract. On a scientific and imperical perspective, Marlow’s theory offers a more dependable theoretical framework for personality development.
References
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