The history of psychology dates back to the times of the ancient Greeks, and Chinese philosophers 4,000 years ago. During this time span numerous thinkers had strived to answer the riddle of the human mind. This paper will focus on the development of Humanistic Psychology primarily from the 1950’s to the present day. Humanistic Psychology had played an important role in the shaping of todays clinical applications for mental health. Also known as the Third Force, humanistic approach had offered a unique explanation for describing and assessing human behavior, which ran contrary to both behaviorism and psychodynamic theory that was popular at the time. In congruence with the emphasize on internal development this paper will highlight the history The Association’s main objective was to counteract against behaviorism and psychoanalytical practice that was popular at the time (Goble, 1970) The original founders of the AHP were Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Rollo May and James Bugental. Up until this point there were two models of human nature and scientific methodology which dominated modern psychology; the first being objective or experimental (behaviorist , or psychoanalytical) and the second being subjective or experiential (existential) (DeCarvalho, 1991). Humanistic psychology had attempted to bridge the gap between the 2 models by introducing the understanding of phenomenology into a empirical Maslow’s critique developed during the 1940s with the context of his theory of self actualization regarding human behavior as not merely the result of a connection between stimulus and response, but also combination of feelings, attitudes and wishes that make up personality as a whole (Maslow, 1968). Rollo May believe that behaviorism was faulty when it had stated that the self did not exist, and that all behavior is conditioned. Later on he stated that human beings are not rats and cannot be studied and understood the same way (May, 1969). May regarded humans as having the ability of choice were rats don’t have the ability of higher mental functions which entails free will. Maslow added further to May’s reply stated behaviorists see only the animal like aspects of human nature precisely because he focuses on coping behavior (May, 1969). Carl Rogers led to further critique by stating that there is a purpose and a choice in human action, which is what Skinner had stated contrary (Rogers,
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