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Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both
behaviorism and psychoanalysis. It is explicitly concerned with the human dimension of psychology
and the human context for the development of psychological theory. These matters are often
summarized by the five postulates of Humanistic Psychology given by James Bugental in the 1960's,
mainly that; (1) Human beings cannot be reduced to components, (2) Human beings have in them a
uniquely human context, (3) Human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of
other people, (4) Human beings have choices and responsibilities, and (5) Human beings are
intentional, they seek meaning, value and creativity (Bugental, 1964).
The humanistic approach has its roots in existentialist thought (see Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger,
and Sartre). It is also sometimes understood within the concept of the three different forces of
psychology; behaviorism, psychoanalysis and humanism. The "First Force" grew out of Ivan Pavlov's
work with the conditioned reflex, and laid the foundations for academic psychology in the United
States associated with the names of John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner. This school was later called
the science of behavior. Abraham Maslow later gave behaviorism the name "the first force". The
"second force" came out of Freud's research of psychoanalysis, and the psychologies of Alfred Adler,
Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Otto Rank, Melanie Klein, Harry Stack Sullivan,
and others. These theorists focused on the depth of the human psyche, which they stressed, must be
combined with those of the conscious mind in order to produce a healthy human personality.
By the late 1950s, two meetings were held in Detroit among psychologists who were interested in
founding a professional association dedicated to a more humanistic vision. Something that had
everything to do with self, self-actualization, health, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality,
and meaning. It also aimed to create a complete description of what it is to be a human being, and
investigated the uniquely human aspects of experience, such as love, hope and creativity.
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