ABSTRACT
Without a society organized around the self-contained individual, there would be neither a field such as psychology nor a need for one. On the other hand, without a field like psychology it would be difficult to sustain the belief that the self-contained individual holds the key to unlocking the major secrets of human nature. Psychological structures emerge as the individual fights to balance instinct against society, orchestrated by an ego seeking to adjudicate these competing claims between the biological and the social. Humanism did little to transform the cultural agenda with its celebration of the self; indeed, that agenda became its own. Self-actualization became a leading idea. Human needs were said to be arranged hierarchically, in a kind of pyramid: physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization at the top, with stops along the way to deal with matters of security, belonging and self-esteem.
