All right. Let's talk about another
theory of personality called the humanistic theory. But before I begin, I have
to give you a little caveat. Now, all these
theories of personality are not mutually exclusive. One isn't more dominant
over the other. One isn't better than the other. All these theories are
just different ways to look at how personality
develops in people. And they've all come
from different branches, you can say, of
psychology, which is why they're from perspectives
of different psychologists or theorists. OK. So the humanistic theory says
that individuals have free will and that we can actively
develop ourselves to our highest potential and reach
self-actualization. So "free will" is
an important word. And the term
"self-actualization" is also another defining
word in this theory. So the primary difference
between Freud's psychoanalytic
theory and humanism is that Freud's theory
was deterministic. So what I mean by that is that
his theory says our behavior is determined by our
unconscious desires. His theory also
focuses on individuals who have these mental
conflicts and not all people. Now, the humanistic
theory focuses on the conscious as
opposed to the unconscious. And it also says that
people are inherently good, and that we are
self-motivated to improve. And we want to always
improve because we want to reach
self-actualization. Now, the first major theorist of
this theory was Abraham Maslow. And he formed the
hierarchy of needs, which we can depict
using a pyramid. So all of our needs are
built upon each other in this pyramid. He says that we must first
fulfill our physiological needs that form the base
of the pyramid, and then we can work our way up. So after our physiological needs
are met, our need for safety must be fulfilled, and then
love, and then self-esteem. And lastly,
self-actualization can be met. Now, that sounds
easy enough, right? We can all reach
self-actualization. Well, what are some
characteristics of self-actualizing people? Well, they must be
self-aware, obviously. They are caring. They're wise. And their interests
are problem-centered. They focus their
energies on a task that's the mission
of their life. And they have a higher purpose
that's focused on larger causes and less about the
basic aspects of life. So they don't focus on
the basic aspects of life. They're always trying to
strive and think broader and for larger causes. Well, I hate to be the
Debbie Downer here, but self-actualization
is rarely achieved. Maslow believed that
only 1% of people ever reach self-actualization. The average person
seeks to self-actualize, but may not ever
get to that point. Jeez. Well, it looks like
we all have something to work harder towards, huh? So are you going to
be the Martin Luther King or the Mahatma Gandhi
or Mother Teresa of our time? Pretty sure they all
reached self-actualization. OK. Let's talk about the second
major theorist of this theory. His name is Carl Rogers. Carl Rogers used Maslow's
idea and the qualities he described, and says that
they are nurtured early in life. He said that self-actualization
is a constant growth process that is nurtured in
a growth-promoting climate. So that's another
very important word, "growth-promoting climate." And this climate, in
order for this climate to help someone reach
self-actualization, there's two conditions
that need to be met. And the first is that
growth is nurtured by when an individual is being genuine. So one has to be open and
revealing about themselves. They have to be genuine
and true to who they are. And the second condition
that needs to be met is that growth is nurtured
through acceptance, and acceptance from others. So one must receive
acceptance and receive an unconditional positive
regard from others. So what does that mean? For example, a parent may
get upset at their child and punish them for
doing something wrong. But they're going to
still love their child and regard their child without
any conditions, no matter what. So this allows us
to be open and learn without fearing others are going
to look at us differently if we do something wrong. And genuine relationships
with others and acceptance is what allows us to live up
to the ideals of our true, real self, versus
this ideal self that is bounded by
conditions that people rarely can live up to. And both Maslow and Rogers
said a central feature of our personality
is self-concept. And that's achieved when we
bring genuineness acceptance together and achieve this
growth-promoting climate. So as individuals,
we tend to act and perceive the
world positively. And we try to answer
the question, who am I? And that is what the
humanistic theory talks about.