ABSTRACT
Humanistic psychology is usually associated with the work of Abraham Maslow, Rollo May and Carl Rogers, which gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. Those theorists diverged from their predecessors by aiming at a concept of optimal human functioning and optimal human experience instead of just an escape from psychic trauma and pathological conditions. Their work produced a concept of the self, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Although a concept of self was known in previous times, research was fi nally generated on the subject, some of which was picked up by experimental social psychologists.
