The humanistic approach began in response to concerns by therapists against perceived limitations of psychodynamic theories, especially psychoanalysis. Abraham Maslow has been a very inspirational figure in humanistic approach to peronality theories. He was one of the pioneers in that movement to bring human being back into psychology and the person back into personality. Maslow’s contribution lies in his preoccupation with healthy people rather than sick ones his feeling that studies of two groups generate different types of theory. Maslow chose the more direct course of studying healthy people whose wholeness and unity of personality are readily apparent.
The most common criticism is against his methodology. He picked up a small number of people that he declared self actualising. Then discussed about them and concluded what self-actualization is. Another point against him is he placed certain constraints on self-actualization. Also basically we take care of our lower needs before self-actualization comes to the forefront.
Carl Roger is the second name famously associated with the humanistic theory of personality. He was not only one of the founders of Humanistic Approach but also the most influential therapist in the twentieth century. The person-centred approach, being the unique approach to understanding personality and human relationships, found wide relataionships in various domains such as psychotherapy and counselling, organizations. Roger’s person-centred approach has been criticised on various aspects. The most important is that many psychologists tend to impose their views based upon naïve phenomenology. He also ignored the unconscious determinants of behaviour, attested by psycho-analytic investigators over a long-period.
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