Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers agreed with the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, biological and humanistic approach. “The hierarchy of needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and personal development” (Orana, 2009). Maslow’s book Personality and Motivation were published in 1954 introducing his theory of the hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) the hierarchy of needs was introduced in his 1943 paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation”.
This hierarchy (formerly known as Maslow’s triangle) people are motivated basic needs most be taking care of, proceeding to the next level in the hierarchy. There is many parts of the pyramid. The basic needs of humanity is the lowest part of the pyramid, where the top of the pyramid is more complicated. The needs become more psychological and social as people move up and down the pyramid. Carl Rogers and Maslow emphasized on the importance of self-actualization. There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as follows: The first level. These level include the most basic needs that is needed for survival, such as food, water, air, shelter, and sleep” (Cherry, 2010) are the most important need, According to Maslow, and the other psychological requirements will be met once the basic requirement is meet The second level. Security, is an important need, however it is not a need that is always required as a psychological need. “Examples of the security needs are the need and want for steady employment, health insurance, and stable shelter” (Cherry, 2010). The third level. The social needs level.
The need for belonging, cared for, seen and affection. Social need is not that important when it comes down to the psychological and security needs. “Relationships such as 1 OF 5 friendships, romantic relationships, and families help to fulfill this void for companionship and acceptance” (Cherry, 2010). The fourth level. The esteem needs level. Esteem needs becomes important in playing a prominent role in motivating behavior. “This includes the need for things that reflect on selfesteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishments” (Cherry, 2010). The first, second and third need level must be met.
The fifth level. The self-actualization level. The highest level of needs. “Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, and less concerned with the opinions of others” (Cherry, 2010). Which Maslow believed Maslow believed that psychoanalysis and behaviorism focused too strongly on the negative aspects of humans and the way they function. He decided to instead focus on more positive things such as joy, love, laughter, and happiness that exists in every human life, emphasizing growth, resilience, and the achievement of human potential.
He argued that “it is not the “Big Five,” but rather the qualities of a “self-actualized” person that are the most important personality traits” (Cherry, 2010). Maslow also believed in what he called “peak experiences” or “rare moments of rapture caused by the attainment of excellence or the experience of beauty”. Maslow along with Carl Rogers and Rollo May created the Humanistic approach as a “third force” of psychology, focusing more on personality and the human potential, conclusion heavily on the idea that humans are born with a healthy mind and soul, compared to Freud’s beliefs.
Carl Rogers Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987) created his theories of selfactualization, as well as Maslow based many of his ideas on the accomplishments and writings of Albert Einstien. He believed the self-actualized person is “really-centered” as well as comfortable being alone and in social situations. He reasoned that the way that each person’s needs are fulfilled are just as important as their fulfillment, both defining the human experience. Roger’s theorized using patients in therapy, focusing on the fullness functioning individual rather than the dysfunctional individual.
He coined the idea that we all need “unconditional positive regard,” which is love or support given to one another with no conditions attached. His idea applied especially to the children. He believed that parents can correct a child’s behavior without withdrawing love from the child. This is Carl Rogers’ timeline. Biological and Humanistic Approaches There are six psychology approaches, biological and humanistic approaches are the two which this paper talks about. Psychoanalytic, Trait, Behavioral, and Cognitive is the other four. The human personality contains these approach.
The person personalities can be used by scientist to help understand what is going on with a person. The psychiatrists’ job is to understand, study and know to determine what the correct approach is for his or her client. Biological Approach Some Psychiatrists’ your personality comes from your parents’ personalities. Genetic, they believe when someone is born with a strong foundation for certain personality is more dominate. I short, scientist believe human are born without personality and personality is developed from watching our parents. Basically, personality is a learned behavior.
One theory is that “a natural selection has determined our personality” (Vigil, 2010). Personalities is something at birth, we have the first day you open your eyes in this world. Instead, we come into this world temperament. Which is susceptibility towards certain personality as it continues to grow over our lives. “You can understand people’s temperament by watching children playing. They can be either inhibited or uninhibited. An inhibited child will seem withdrawn and a more of loaner and will watch the other children play instead of playing with the other children.
An uninhibited child will either start a conversation with another child and plays with the other children” (Vigil, 2010). Humanistic Approach How a person has control their own personalities is a part of the humanistic approach. A person is responsible for his or her own actions. Psychiatrists’ believes a person is aware and know more of themselves than others people. Once a person understands the issues within their lives, they will have the ability to solve there only problems. The Q-Sort Test, in which a person is given a bunch of cards with personality detail.
The individual review the cards and place all the cards in order based on the detail description of the cards. This tool used by the psychiatrists’ so they can determine a person’s personality. Most person action is determined by their personality and environment. Most humanistic people focus on the present. We choose to be black or white when making choices that may determine our personality. Humanistic people “to enjoy the today you are in because there may be no tomorrow or live everyday like it is the last day. ” Humanistic approach was invented because of the need for therapy for “healthy people” (Vigil, 2010).
Humanistic approach is a needed to fill a void once a person was considered mentally and physically healthy again. Both approaches are definitely wonderful ways to differentiate two of the six approaches and it’s to up the psychiatrists’ decided which approach is the correct approach use and beneficial for that person. Biological and Humanistic, have their strengths and weaknesses. They say, ‘if one approach does not work you should try another one”. I feel the best approach would be the one that is most adaptable to our personality.
Despite the positivity the humanistic approach brought to psychology, which had previously focused on abnormalities and illnesses, it was met with many critics’, most of them obviously being that the theories at hand were and still are untested today. Nevertheless, humanistic thinking was completely original at the time and eventually became widely accepted” (Vigil, 2010). Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler presented only one way of thinking about psychology, Maslow’s idea’s offered the healthy way of thinking that could give people hope and happiness to becoming self-actualized.
