ABSTRACT
The humanistic movement in psychology reacted against two earlier ways of understanding people. Humanistic psychologists emphasised that people set out with the capacity to become good people, to achieve their potential. This chapter presents the humanistic models of Maslow and Rogers. It explores how the values and approach of humanistic psychology can be widely applied in a general way. Maslow considered that human beings have a hierarchy of needs. The highest motivations, reflecting the final set of needs, are those of 'self-actualisation'–a drive for self-fulfilment, to achieve one's potential, to contribute something to the world. In Rogers' view, there is fundamentally just one human motive, the actualising tendency: The inherent tendency of the organism to develop all its capacities in ways which serve to maintain or enhance the person. In general, the foundations of the humanistic models are not scientific, although Maslow was a workplace psychologist and was directly concerned about what actually mattered for people in their work.
