Humanistic Approach Research Paper

The Humanistic Approach is the theory about taking responsibility for how we react to problems and actions. There are four general viewpoints that are applied to The Humanistic Approach. First is an emphasis on personal responsibility. Meaning that we are responsible for what happens to us. Humanistic psychologists argue that our behaviors represent personal choices of what we want to do at a particular moment (Burger, 2010). Second, an emphasis on the “here and now.” According to the theory, the only way that you can become fully functioning individuals is to learn how to live life as it happens. To do that you have to live in the here and now. Third, a focus on the phenomenology of the individual. Meaning that no one knows you better than you know yourself. If a therapist can understand where a client comes from then they can help them understand themselves. Lastly, personal growth. People are not content if their needs have not been met. This is self-actualization. One becomes self-actualized they have become everything they are capable of becoming.

Even though it is hard to say that the theory is biased one scientific data the humanist’s arguer that it is because the data is subjective. So they argue that theory is not unscientific because it is personal

The theorist did not believe in assessment and though that it was completely biased one the client and their therapist. It is also hard to test subjective data. Shostrom did create a personal orientation inventory to measure self-actualization. That problem with his test is that it goes against the primes of the humanistic theory because someone else is defining self-actualization. Stevenson also developed a Q-Sort technique that had a client sort cards in relationship to how they view themselves and how they would like to be. After the therapy was over they would be closer to the person they wanted to become. Unfortunately, this technique is till