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Humanistic Psychology Study

The main focus of Humanistic psychology studythese  include  allowing
is  based  on conscious consciousness, morals
students to have a choice in the selection
and theoretical thinking. These include theof  tasks  and  activities
spiritual  experiences  and  the
whenever possible and helping them to set
beliefs that people live by. Emerging in therealistic  goals  for
1950's  and  1960's,
themselves. It is important to have students
humanism is about rewarding yourself, andparticipating  in  group
places  great  importance  on
work, in order to develop social and
the individual and their own individuality.affective  skills.  Teachers  need
Personality  depends  on
to act more as facilitators in the classroom
what people believe and how they perceiveand  available  when
the  world  and  a  major  factor
appropriate and they need to be role models
in this learning theory is that people areconstantly  working  on
seen  as  freely  exercising
themselves to become better people. This is
choice over how to behave. They are theoften  known  as  'Open
architects  of  their  own  lives
education'.The humanistic curriculum is
and 'personal agents' in their ownbased  on  establishing  productive  social
psychological growth.There are many
objectives of the humanistic view ofand working relationships with others. It is
education,  asa  part  of  everything  the
described by Gage and Berliner. Thesechild does within the school setting. The
include  a  promotion  ofexpectations  and
positive self-direction and independence,consequences are age appropriate. Just as
the  ability  to  takethe  academic  curriculum
responsibility for what is learned, anresponds to the developing cognitive skills
emphasis  on  student  centeredof  the  children  so  too
teaching, and the development of socialdoes the social curriculum. It encourages
skills  and  respect  forgrowth  in  responsibility,
students feelings and aspirations, thusindependence and decision making. Children
allowing  them  the  right  toare  allowed  and  actually
self-determination. Feelings are asencouraged to make choices and accept the
important  as  facts  and  the  currentconsequences  for  their
and future welfare of students is foremost.actions, and mistakes are treated as
In  order  to  develop  theseopportunities  for  learning.  The
objectives certain principles must be inchildren learn to care about themselves and
place.  Students  will  learnothers  and  to  value  the
best what they want and need to know. Selfquality of their work. By placing emphasis
directed  learning  increaseson  the  positive,  a
knowledge. Rogers says that self directedclassroom environment is created whereby
learning in schools increases curiosity,children  are  encouraged  and
encourages students to take responsibility
for their own development and promotesbecome self-reliant. They care about doing
personal  andtheir  best  and  value  the
academic growth. However, knowing how toquality of their work. The emphasis is on
learn  is  more  important  thanco-operation  and  not
acquiring a lot of knowledge andcompetition and this has a positive effect
self-evaluation  is  the  onlyon  classroom  behavior
meaningful judgment of a student's work. Thewhilst also improving academic learning.
worth  and  rights  ofSkills  such  as  listening,
individuals needs to be respected and theredecision making and problem solving all need
has  to  be  openness,  honesty  andto  be  discussed,  modeled
selflessness in order for trust to beand practiced in order for children to be
gained.Humanistic psychology is sometimessuccessful in their groups.A large commitment
referred  to  as  the  'Third  Force'  inof  time  is required to implement the social
psychology. As mentioned earlier, it iscurriculum. Learningsocial skills and
often said that this was a backlash againstnurturing moral growth is a developmental
theprocess.
Behaviorist emphasis on scientific method,The development of interpersonal skills is
which  was  seen  as  losingalso  taught  in  order  for
sight of the human being. Scientific methodchildren to recognize the feelings of others
is  largely  inappropriateand  deal  with  hurt  and
for studying human experience, or at least,misunderstanding through the use of
it  does  not  go  far  enough.language.  Opportunities  are
As the name suggests, Humanistic psychologyprovided for children to develop and to be
focuses  on  the  subjectivetaught  listening,
experience of living rather than observablecommunication and leadership skills and
behavior.There are a number of theories,opportunities  are  provided  for
which  qualify  as  being  Humanistic,  two
teamwork. Children are assisted to become
of the best known being those of Carl Rogersconscious  of  their  own
and  Abraham
feelings and they are helped to develop a
Maslow. Rogers became probably the mostvocabulary  with  which  to
influential of humanistic psychologists. He
said that human nature is basically good andexpress these feelings. This then has the
that  people  have  a  natural  drive towardseffect  of  making  them  become
Self-Actualization, meaning the achievementself-confident, focused and independent.The
of  their  full  potential.Montessori school uses humanistic learning
theories  to  teach
This is the fundamental incentive behind the
development  ofpupils, promoting knowledge, beauty and
fulfillment.Dr Maria Montessori was the
personality.To promote human welfare, Rogersfounder  of  these  schools  and  many of her
maintains  that  people  should  relate
ideas have now been adapted into
to one another with an 'unconditional'mainstream'  education.  The
positive  regard',  which  is  the
Montessori school was founded in 1965 and
complete acceptance of another person as heits  education  encourages
or  she  is,  much  like  the
intellectual, social, physical, creative and
love of a parent for a child.Abraham Maslow,moral  development,
another founder of humanistic psychology,
proposedpreparing students for academic excellence,
and  responsible,  caring
that people have a hierarchy of needs. The
highest  of  these  beinglives. A child attending these schools will
be  exposed  to  methods  of
self-actualization.Although we are not fully
aware  of  these  needs, they are rather liketeaching, which promote the development of
the  whole  child,
mental vitamins and if we are denied them,
we  can  never  be  fullyfacilitating the growth of the inner
discipline  and  cultivating  the
mentally healthy. He observed that if we are
lacking  in  any  of  thesechild's own natural joy in learning.
Montessori  takes  advantage  of
needs, then difficult behavior is often the
result.  If  the  needs  areeach child's unique sensitivities and offers
exercises  in  language
met, then mentally healthy behavior is the
outcome.  A  child  learns,development, sensorimotor development,
reading,  mathematics,  physical
according to Maslow because he or she is
inwardly  driven  and  gainsand natural sciences, geography and cultural
studies,  music,  art,
reward from a sense of achievement that
learning  something  difficultdrama and body movements. These are all
activities  used  in  practical
provides. He also said that learning is not
an  end  in  itself  but  thelife. The materials and activities are
designed  to  help  the  child  to
means to progress towards the height of
self-development,  which  heprogress at their own rate. Young children
do  not  have  to  join  in  on
terms 'self actualization'. After the basic
needs  of  physical  survivalgroup activities if they do not wish, as
they  have  a  right  to  keep
and safety, Maslow places the needs of
belonging  and  love.  The  nextworking at their own exercises. They may
also  observe  instead  of
highest group of needs is covered by the
term  'esteem',  and  at  thejoining in if they wish but must not
interfere  or  become  disruptive.
top of the hierarchy is the need for
self-actualization  (man's  desireThey are not forced to share with another
child  if  they  wish  to  work
for self-fulfillment).Beginning at an early
age, children evaluate themselves and theirby themselves. As mentioned earlier, many of
ownthe  ideas  of  Maria
actions. They learn that what they do isMontessori have been adapted and are used in
sometimes  good  and  sometimes'mainstream'  schools  but
bad. They develop a self-concept, an imagenot without their problems. Children are
of what they really are, and an ideal self,still  compelled  to  attend  and
an  image
there are still rules to abide by. There is
of  what  they  would  like  to  be.little  choice  in  the
The primary focus of humanistic education iscurriculum content, and the sharing of
placed  on  the  developmentteacher's  time  and  resources
of the whole child placing a major emphasiswith other students' could cause problems
on  the  regulatory  and  thefor children with differingabilities and
experience. Also pupils have to put up with
affective/emotional system. Huitt describedan
this  in  his  systems
instructional tempo that is often either too
model of human behavior.Humanismfast or too slow.Humanistic learning styles
concentrates upon the development of theare  all  based  on  intrinsic  learning
child's
principles. Intrinsic learning is learning
self-concept. It is important for a child tothat  fructifies  in
feel  good  about  itself,
self-actualization or growing to full
and this involves them understanding theirhumanness.
own  strengths  and
Intrinsic learning is learning to be a
weaknesses and having a belief in theirperson.  In  opposition,  must  of
ability  to  improve.  The
classroom teaching is of the extrinsic
humanistic approach states that education isvariety.  Pleasing  the  teacher
about  creating  a  need
or aiming for certain grades. Once rewards
within the child and instillingterminate  then  learning
self-motivation.Because a child's behavior is
continuously  being  evaluated  by  parentsceases. In intrinsic learning, learning
continues  despite  the  presence
and others, sometimes positively and
sometimes  negatively,  he  soonor absence of external rewards because
growth  towards  psychological
learns to distinguish between those thoughts
and  actions  that  arehealth and the satisfaction gained from self
actualization  is  an
considered good and those that are not. The
poor  experiences  becomeintrinsic reward.In concluding, I can only
say  that the purpose of humanistic education
excluded from the self-concept, even though
they  may  be  quite  valid  oris to provide a foundation for personal
growth  and  development  so  that
natural and the good ones remain.Obviously
there must be certain restrictions onlearning will continue throughout life in a
behavior  and  Rogersself directed mannerI have discussed the
theoretical  approach  of  humanism  and have
suggests that the best approach is for the
parents  to  recognizeevaluated its principles, assumptions and
methods  used  for  teaching
children's feelings as valid, while
explaining  any  reasons  forchild learners. I have brought in the
contributions  of  two  individual
restraint.
theorists, Maslow and Rogers and have
With children, a high priority is placed ondiscussed their work.Rogers developed client
the  development  of  theircentered  therapy  putting  the  client  and
personal growth and a sense of respect forfacilitator on a more equal footing and
oneself  and  other.  TheyMaslow  developed  a  hierarchy
need to be are taught to recognize theirof needs giving us ideas about personal
responsibility  to  thegrowth.Humanism for the individual means that
we  must  accept  responsibility
community. A child's growth in these areas
prepares  them  for  continuedfor our own lives and that we should enjoy
life  to  the  full  in  ways
success in future academic, personal and
social situations.Humanistic schools believethat respect the well being of
that  emotional  factors, personal growth andothers.Humanistic psychology has given us a
new,  global  model  of  human
development are of the highest values. They
argue  that  these  arebehavior that is refreshingly different from
the  dominant
ignored in a society, which is unduly
materialistic,  objective  anddeterministic approaches of behaviorism and
psychoanalysis.We can see the self-initiated
mechanistic. Humanistic psychologistslearning  is  the  most  lasting  and
believe  that  society,  schools
pervasive. We can also see that significant
and colleges exist to meet the needs of thelearning  takes  place  when
individual  learner  and  not
the subject matter is relevant to the
the other way around. They believe thatpersonal  interests  of  the
learners  should  be  allowed  to
student.Humanistic techniques have wide
pursue their own interests and talents inapplications  after  schooling  and  a
order  to  develop  themselves
good, solid foundation in an educational
as fully as possible intheir own uniquesetting  will  provide  a  basis
direction. Rogers said that 'no-one should
ever  tryfor the future when in the workplace,
personal  relationships  and  in
to learn something for which he sees no
relevance'  and  that  learningfurther education. Humanism has helped us to
a  better  understanding  of
should be its own reward. The main
principlessuch diverse things as how people experience
joy or facedeath, and with children, has
suggested by humanistic psychologists havedeveloped  self  confident,  focused  and
been  highly  influential,
independent learners who continue to learn
especially  in adult education and training.in  a  self  directed  manner,
A humanistic teacher aims for good thingsfollowing their own intrinsic interests
and  the  approaches  aregrowing  to  their  full
highly dependent on the capabilities of thepotential.Mary Anne has been writing for
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humanistic view towards education. Some of



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