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Humanistic Psychology

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Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic Psychology (HP) emerged in the 1950s–60s as the “third force” in psychology, a deliberate break from behaviorism’s mechanistic control model and psychoanalysis’s pathology fixation. Its origin is inseparable from Abraham Maslow’s post-Pearl Harbor vow to create “a psychology for the peace table”—a science of human nature that could make war obsolete by fostering mutual understanding and self-actualizing persons.[1] At its core, the movement insists that humanity supersedes the sum of his parts[2] and lives with intentionality—creating values, not merely seeking homeostatic satisfaction.[3]

The field was institutionalized with the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (1961) and the American Association for Humanistic Psychology (1962). They forged a research program on self-actualization, B-Values (truth, goodness, beauty, justice, play, etc.), and "synergy," i.e., a social conditions that would fuse selfish and altruistic aims, thereby providing the foundations for what Maslow called the Good Society... Eupsychia, also known Zion (Rastafari), the "New Age" of Aquarius (New Age), Heaven on Earth (Christian), Shambhala (Tibetan), or, most recently, the Good Place.[4]

Philosophically, it revived an Aristotelian essentialism;[5] humanity has an intrinsic nature whose fulfillment is the proper end of life, a doctrine that grounds HP's claim that frustration of needs generates violence, while their gratification builds Eupsychia, a peaceful, psychologically healthy society.

By 1969 the movement naturally extended into Transpersonal Psychology, where we found scientific examination of the transpersonal aspects of Human Nature.

Humanistic psychology was ultimately part of a scientific project designed to re-build civilization on an empirically grounded, dignity-affirming image of Homo sapiens at its most fully human.

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Maslow's Vision

Humanistic Psychology was meant to be revolution. Those that participated in the early days were clear on this. The goal was to create an entirely new foundation for scholarly activity, a new revolution in our understanding of humanity as deep and wide as that provided by the Copernican Revolution.[6] Maslow was a big part of that effort, maybe even an initiating factor. His whole research program beyond 1941 was devoted to bringing about a revolution. We know this because of Maslow's 1941 vision for a Psychology of the Peace Table![7] Experienced the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, it changed the course of Maslow's life and drove him to create Humanistic Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology, both of which I would argue formed the theoretical foundations (humanistic view of Human Nature,[8] Transpersonal view of Human Potential, for a Eupsychian Psychology devoted to creating the Good Person and the Good Society.[9] A textual representation of his vision is reproduced below.

One day just after Pearl Harbor, I was driving home and my car was stopped by a poor, pathetic parade. Boy Scouts and fat people and old uniforms and a flag and someone playing a flute off-key. As I watched, the tears began to run down my face. I felt we didn’t understand—not Hitler, nor the Germans, nor Stalin, nor the Communists. We didn’t understand any of them. I felt that if we could understand, then we could make progress

I had a vision of a peace table, with people sitting around it, talking about human nature and hatred and war and peace and brotherhood. I was too old to go into the army. It was at that moment that I realized that the rest of my life must be devoted to discovering a psychology for the peace table. That moment changed my whole life.[10]

Five Axioms of Humanistic Psychology

In the book "Future Visions,"[11] in Chapter 3, "Critique of Self-Actualization Theory," Maslow identifies five axioms of Humanistic Psychology. They are included here for theoretical consideration.

1. The Assumption of Life-Affirmation - The entire model rests on the belief that the person fundamentally wants to live. If an individual's death-wishes are strong, the whole psychological system collapses. Humanistic psychology speaks only to those who want to grow, become happier, and fulfill themselves.

2. The Assumption of Fixed Human Nature - Humanistic psychology assumes there is a definite human essence or "fixity of human nature"—a theory of instincts, capacities, and needs that "want" to express themselves. This directly rejects Jean-Paul Sartre's concept of total relativity and radical existentialism. Maslow believed human nature is not infinitely malleable but has definite characteristics.

3. The Assumption of Pluralism and Individual Differences - The theory requires a strong acceptance of hereditary, constitutional, and temperamental differences among people. This implies a "horticulture" rather than "sculpture" model of growth—helping a rose become a good rose rather than trying to change it into a lily. It necessitates respecting what people truly are and taking pleasure in their unique self-actualization.

4. The Assumption of Cross-Cultural Values - The model must address whether it has merely incorporated traditional Judeo-Christian values in evaluating emotional health. Maslow argued his model appears cross-cultural and cross-historical (evident in diverse cultures like Japanese and Blackfoot Native American), but acknowledged the possibility of sampling error and projecting his own values into his research.

5. The Assumption About Neurosis - "That neurosis must be considered a psychological defense and not basic to human nature. Furthermore, [that] neurosis must be viewed as a defense against the authentic self, our deeper layers, full humanness, growth, and self-actualization.[12]

Maslow argued that effective therapy is Taoistic and uncovering (helping the person give birth to themselves).[13] Interestingly, Maslow points directly to what I call Deficit Mode. "It may be relevant to observe here that ordinary neurosis and even the value pathologies like delinquency may consequently be viewed as efforts toward the gratification of basic needs and metaneeds but under the conditions of anxiety, fear, and lack of courage."[14]

6. The Horticulture Model: "Maslow also spoke about the "horticulture" model of personality growth. "It means that we try to make a rose into a good rose, rather than seek to change roses into lilies."[15] Of course, we make a good rose by meeting its essential needs (water, nutrients, safety).

"In short, humanistic psychology involves an acceptance of people as they are at their intrinsic core and then regards therapists as simply Taoist helpersfor them. We strive to enable people to become healthy and effective in their own style."[16] "

Maslow's Revolution

Ultimately, the revolution failed, but not because of internal problems, but because it was murdered.[17] It was murdered because it was a threat to the status quo in America and elsewhere. Proponents were talking about revolutionary new ways of seeing humans with revolutionary new potentials to unfold.

promised to heal and awaken, and because it was a credible threat to the

Accumulating Class.

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ Sosteric, Mike. “Abraham Maslow’s Vision for a Psychology of the Peace Table.” The Peace Table, 2025. https://medium.com/the-peace-table.
  2. ↑ Bugental, J. F. “The Third Force in Psychology." Journal of Humanistic Psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 4, no. 1 (1964): 19–26.
  3. ↑ Charlotte Buhler, “The Scope of Humanistic Psychology.,” Education 95, no. 1 (January 1, 1974): 2–8.
  4. ↑ Which, in a "funny Hollywood twist haha," was really just a poorly implemented bad place.
  5. ↑ Robb, “The Hidden Philosophical Agenda: A Commentary on Humanistic Psychology.”
  6. ↑ Willis W. Harman, “The New Copernican Revolution,” Stanford Today Winter Series II, no. 1 (1969): 127–34.
  7. ↑ Sosteric, Mike. “Abraham Maslow’s Vision for a Psychology of the Peace Table.” The Peace Table, 2025. https://medium.com/the-peace-table.
  8. ↑ Maslow, Abraham H. “Science, Psychology, and the Existential Outlook.” In Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow, edited by Edward Hoffman, 115–19. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996.
  9. ↑ Maslow, Abraham H. “Eupsychia—The Good Society.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 1, no. 2 (1961): 1.
  10. ↑ Edward Hoffman, The Right to Be Human: A Biography of Abraham Maslow (New York: McGraw Hill, 1999), p. 148-9.
  11. ↑ Maslow, A. H. (1996). Critique of Self-Actualization Theory. In E. Hoffman (Ed.), Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow (pp. 26-32). Sage Publications.
  12. ↑ Maslow, A. H. (1996). Critique of Self-Actualization Theory. In E. Hoffman (Ed.), Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow (pp. 26-32). p. 28. Sage Publications. Emphasis added.
  13. ↑ in LP terms, helping them achieve Alignment and Internal Connection rather than shaping or indoctrinating.
  14. ↑ Maslow, A. H. (1996). Critique of Self-Actualization Theory. In E. Hoffman (Ed.), Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow (pp. 26-29). p. 29. Sage Publications.
  15. ↑ Hoffman, Edward, ed. Future Visions. Sage Publications, 1996. (pp. 26-32). p. 27.
  16. ↑ Maslow, A. H. (1996). Critique of Self-Actualization Theory. In E. Hoffman (Ed.), Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow (pp. 26-32). p. 28. Sage Publications.
  17. ↑ David Elkins, “Why Humanistic Psychology Lost Its Power and Influence in American Psychology,” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 49, no. 1 (2009): 267–91.




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