In the SparkNote on psychodynamic theory, we dealt with an understanding of personality that was based on Sigmund Freud's conception of the mind. In this chapter, we deal with a radically different approach, one that shares some of Freud's methods--and was actually created in large part by people who had been trained in psychoanalysis--but rejects most of his assumptions and conclusions. This approach has most often been called "humanistic." It encompasses phenomenological and existential approaches to human nature. The height of its popularity was in the 1960s and 1970s, but it continues to have an important influence on the practice of clinical (and to a much lesser extent, academic) psychology.

Humanistic personality theorists such as Rollo May, Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow differed in their emphases, but they all agreed on a few basic points.

• Unlike Freud, they believed in the inherent goodness of human nature. If people could discover their "true self" (Rogers); if they could "self-actualize" (Maslow); if they had the "courage to be" (May)-- then they would live whole, happy, worthwhile lives.
• These theorists focused on the here and now, the present, instead of the historical causes of behavior. This contrasts starkly with Freud's almost exclusive emphasis on the first five years of life as determinants of all future behavior.
• The humanistic psychologists claimed that people had responsibility, choice, and freedom in determining their own behavior. Again, this is almost diametrically opposed to psychoanalysis, which claimed that most behavior is determined by unconscious forces.
• Finally, the humanistic psychologists were strongly opposed to reductionism, and believed that people could only be understood holistically (as wholes).

In the first section, we focus on Rollo May, a psychologist who remained close to humanistic psychology's roots in existential philosophy. The most important concept for May was the "courage to be," a phrase first introduced to psychology by Paul Tillich. By this phrase, May meant that each person needs to take responsibility for his or her own choices even though constantly threatened by failure and, more importantly, the possibility of non-being (death or dissolution). According to May, personal growth and self-actualization were the result of courageously facing one's anxiety about non-being by choosing to act responsibly in the world.

In the second section, we focus on two humanistic psychologists whose theories had important influences on our view of psychotherapy: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Rogers believed that the purpose of psychotherapy was to help patients find their "true selves." For him, that meant helping patients discover and eliminate (as much as possible) the differences between the ways they thought, felt, and acted, and the ways they thought they should think, feel, and act. Rogers called the latter "conditions of worth"; he believed they originated in social judgments, such as parents' scolding of a child's behavior. Maslow is best known for his "hierarchy of needs," which described a series of needs that people needed to satisfy before they could reach their full potential. Maslow's levels of needs are as follows, in order from lowest to highest: physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs.