Humanistic Approach To Personality Analysis

In the centre of the humanistic approach stands the subjective experience of individuals, the emphasis is that humans rather choose how to behave based on their free will (Derobertis, 2013). The approach rejects that behaviour is bound by past or current circumstances or ruled by uncontrollable forces, but rather believes that humans make decisions regarding their actions based on their own choices and that people are generally good (Glassman & Hadad, 2009). The main dominator of personality development is the self-actualization (Rogers, 1959). The pioneers of the humanistic approach are Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and George Kelly. Carl Rogers named the person seeking treatment a client and not a patient, he established the client-centred

therapy and focused on how a person experiences the world and helps the patients to adjust into a positive direction (Rogers, 1951). His understanding of personality was built on the innate drive to fulfil one's potential, and that an individual should encounter congruence, empathic understanding and unconditioned positive regard as personality is retarded by internal conflicts caused by conditioned positive regard (Rogers, 1970). Self-concept plays a crucial importance in Roger's theory. The personal experiences must be weighed against the person's self-concept and this will lead to influence the person's thinking, feeling and behaviour. It is important to bear in mind that self-concept does not always represent reality. Therefore it is imperative to establish a consistency between these two, otherwise it may result in anxiety. Rogers also introduced the theory of the ideal self, which is the person who we wish to be (Rogers, 1980). Emotional welfare arises by a coherence between the real and ideal self and psychological disturbance occurs if there is a large variance between these two (Rogers, 1959). Rogers emphasizes that everybody should be allowed to express and act freely, and be true to themselves.
The second fundamental person of the humanist approach is Abraham Maslow who also worked out a theory for human personality development (Maslow, 1970).

Similarly, Maslow's theory also reflects that humans have an internal force to reach their highest potential (Maslow, 1968). Maslow examined the hierarchy of basic human needs and developed a pyramid of requirements which motivates human beings and shapes their personality. At the bottom of his pyramid are found the basic physiological motivations which are necessary for survival such as food and shelter. The next level incorporates the need for safety, both physical and psychological. This is followed by love and belongingness which relate to receiving and giving affection. Presuming the love need is met, the next level up is the need for esteem which includes the feeling of self-esteem and self-respect. At the top of the pyramid stands the complex need for self-actualization which is a meta-need as per Maslow (1964) and we can reach it through peak experiences. It is the highest level of growth when someone reached her or his capacity to the fullest. Maslow estimated that only 1 percent of people ever really fulfil this need (Maslow,

1971).
The leading psychological theories developed their own form of personality assessment. The approach of the humanistic theory derives from George Kelly (1955), he worked out the personal repertory grid technique which is based on his theory of personal construct. In the centre of his view stands that people observe their world through constructs and in order to comprehend their personality, these construct must be identified. He hypothesises that everybody interprets the life events in their own different, unique ways and the technique intends to elicit the constructs which are generally used by the individual to understand their world. By questioning the individual, a constructs are derived. The Role Construct Repertory Test is a tool to analyse personal constructs with regards to different roles. Various constructs are suggested, for example: sub and superordinate construct, preemptive construct, constellatory construct (Kelly, 1955). The test requires the person to name two significant individuals in her or his life, one who is identical on a given attribute and the other one who is different. For several attributes the test is repeated and finally the result gets analysed for a construct of the person who is tested. In support of the test stands that it can be adjusted to specific people and situations. The main drawback of this test is that it is rather complex, in order to use it adequately, the tester must have wide expertise with this type of testing, for various objectives new versions are necessary and therefore reliability and validity must be set for each version (Rust & Golombok, 2014).
The humanistic therapy aims to unblock the individuals potential for growth and make the clients aware of their real selves.

During therapy the importance of subjective experiences, the existence of the ability of personal growth and the importance of goal-directed meanings in life are emphasised (Frankl, 1959). Furthermore, the importance of the proper circumstances for the growth of self-concept (Rogers, 1959), the necessity of self-actualization and recognition of one's potential, accentuation of joy as part of life and authenticity are stimulated (Cave, 1999). The client is motivated to make one's own decisions without the intervention of the therapy leader. Focus is placed on present rather than on past and the therapist is more like an active listener. Roger's therapy was argued (Truax, 1996) that it is a simple form of behaviour therapy as it is using positive reinforcement. The humanistic therapy also incorporates other used techniques, such the already discussed Roger's person-centered therapy, Berne's (1964) transactional analysis, Perl's (1969) gestalt therapy, conjoint therapy, milieu therapy (Jones, 1953). These approaches are most useful with specific individuals, not with patients with particular disorders. Patients do acquire benefits from humanistic therapy approaches, however difficulty arises from the point of view whether science can adequately measure what the therapist finds meaningful about the changes they perceive during therapy (Yalom, 1980). The

humanistic psychology possess the philosophy of comprehensivness and available to alternate viewpoints, stresses the importance of personal experiences and understanding the world from personal viewpoint and focuses on how the person is now (Bohart, & Greening, 2001).