Challenges of Humanistic Psychology for Secondary Education

• Main Author: Dember, Walter P.
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks 1972
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/433; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1434&context=dissertations

A new conception of man is now being unfolded in a very different orientation toward psychology or in a new psychology called "Humanistic Psychology." It is the purpose of this thesis to arrive at these new concepts of man through research into the writings of and about four humanistic psychologists--Gordon W. Allport, James F. T. Bugental, Abraham H. Maslow, and Carl R. Rogers--and to use their own writings to interpret what may be the effects of the major concepts of their humanistic psychology on education. I have used the historical approach in my own study of the movement in the sense that I have reviewed, studied and synthesized ideas from the recent past writings of these major humanistic psychologists and critical books and articles about them. Even at this early stage of the movement a study of humanistic psychology must be limited. From "the universe" of all the major works of all the humanistic psychologists and books and articles written about them and their ideas, I have selected four humanistic psychologists for my study in my thesis. Gordon W. Allport, James F. T. Bugental, Abraham H. Maslow, and Carl R. Rogers. I have chosen to study these four psychologists for different reasons. I have chosen to study Gordon W. Allport because he is one of the older, most frequently cited, and conservative of the humanistic psychologists whom I have read, and his inclusion should give a better range and balance to the ideas that I gather in my study of humanistic psychology. James F. T. Bugental has been included in my study because I consider him one of the most essential, though one of the most complex, of the humanistic psychologists. Abraham H. Maslow has been selected because I consider him a pioneer and founder of the entire "humanistic psychology" movement. I chose Carl R. Rogers because of the profound effect he has had on personalistic theories and the impact he has already made on education as the founder of "client-centered" or "non-directive" counseling. The movement called "Humanistic Psychology" is very young. The author of this thesis would mark its official birth as 1961 when Anthony J. Sutich launched "The Journal of Humanistic Psychology" and with the collaboration of Abraham H. Maslow formulated the first formal definition of "Humanistic Psychology" in that issue. Because the movement is so young, a comparatively limited amount of formal studies has been made on this topic. In the second chapter of the thesis I shall try to place "Humanistic Psychology" in its historical context and give both a definition and description through the work of its originators. In Chapters III to VI, I wish to take each of the four major humanistic psychologists in tum--Allport, Bugental, Maslow and Rogers--and try to arrive at what I will call the structure of his major conceptions of man the structure of his views concerning the growing human being, and I hope to arrive at this structure through a study of the writings of each psychologist and research into writings about him and his work. In Chapter VII I shall review and synthesize the major concepts of man as developed by Allport , Bugental, Maslow and Rogers. In Chapter VIII I shall use the ideas developed in previous chapters and some writings of these psychologists on education to summarize the possible effects of their concepts of man on education. In the final chapter, Chapter IX, I shall draw conclusions in three parts: first, the conclusions concerning the common emphases all four humanistic :psychologists develop in their concept of man; second, the summary conclusions of the impact of their thinking on education; and third, I shall present my own personal conclusions in two parts: I shall cite several characteristics of our present secondary school education that I believe are dehumanizing and outmoded; then, I shall review and evaluate what I believe are the effects of the thinking of Allport, Bugental, Maslow and Rogers, and humanistic psychologists generally, on education.