The time has come to acknowledge the ascendancy of the humanistic psychology movement. The so-called "Third Stream" emerged at mid-century, asserting itself against the opposition of a pair of mighty, long- established currents, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. The hostility between these two older schools, as well as divisiveness within each of them, probably helped enable humanistic psychology to survive its early years. But the movement flourished because of its wealth of insights into the nature of this most inexact science.
Of the three major movements in the course of 20th century psychology, psychoanalysis is the oldest and most introspective. Conceived by Sigmund Freud as a means of treating mental and emotional disorders, psychoanalysis is based on the theory that people experience unresolved emotional conflicts in infancy and early childhood. Years later, although these experiences have largely disappeared from conscious awareness, they may continue to impair a person's ability to function in daily life. The patient experiences improvement when the psychoanalyst eventually unlocks these long-repressed memories of conflict and brings them to the patient's conscious awareness.
In the heyday of behaviorism, which occurred between the two world wars, the psychoanalytic movement was heavily criticized for being too concerned with inner subjective experience. Behavioral psychologists, dismissing ideas and feelings as unscientific, tried to deal only with observable and quantifiable facts. They perceived the human being merely as an organism which generated responses to stimuli produced by its body and the environment around it. Patients' neuroses no longer needed analysis; they could instead by modified by behavioral conditioning. Not even babies were safe: B.F. Skinner devised a container in which infants could be raised under "ideal" conditions if a sound-proof box can be considered the ideal environment for child-rearing.
By mid-century, a number of psychologists had grown dissatisfied with both the deterministic Freudian perspective and the mechanistic approach of behaviorism. They questioned the idea that human personality becomes permanently fixed in the first few years of life. They wondered if the purpose of psychology was really to reduce people to laboratory specimens. Was it not instead possible that human beings are greater than the sum of their parts? That psychology should speak to their search for fulfillment and meaning in life?
It is questions like these that members of the Third Stream have sought to address. While the movement cannot be simplified down to a single theoretical position, it does spring from certain fundamental propositions. Humanistic psychologists believe that conscious experience, rather than outward behavior, is the proper subject of psychology. We recognize that each human being is unique, capable of change and personal growth. We see maturity as a process dependent on the establishment of a set of values and the development of self. And we believe that the more aspects of self which are satisfactorily developed, the more positive the individual's self-image.
Abraham Maslow, a pioneer of the Third Stream, articulated a hierarchy of basic human needs, starting with food, water and air, progressing upward through shelter and security, social acceptance and belonging, to love, esteem and self-expression. Progress toward the higher stages cannot occur until all of the more basic needs have been satisfied. Individuals atop the pyramid, having developed their potential to the highest possible extent, are said to be "self-actualized".
If this humanist theoretical perspective is aimed at empowering the individual, so too are the movement's efforts in the practical realm of clinical psychology. Believing that traditional psychotherapists tend to lead patients toward predetermined resolutions of their problems, Carl Rogers pressed for objective evaluations of both the process and outcome of psychotherapeutic treatment. Not content to function simply as a reformer, Rogers also pioneered the development of "client-centered" or nondirective therapy, which emphasizes the autonomy of the client (i.e., patient). In client-centered therapy, clients choose the subjects for discussion, and are encouraged to create their own solutions to their problems.
Psychoanalysts and humanistic psychologists would be most likely to disagree about:
- the effects of internal conflicts on childhood behavior.
- the necessity of proper training for psychologists.
- the relevance and utility of clinical psychology.
- the significance of conscious experience.
Answer(s): A
Explanation:
This asks the reader to identify an issue that psychoanalysts and humanistic psychologists would be most likely to disagree about. Choice A suggests the most likely point of disagreement would be the effects of internal conflicts on childhood behavior. As noted in the second sentence of paragraph 2, psychoanalytic theory places great importance on the unresolved emotional conflicts of childhood. Psychoanalysts believe that these conflicts determine, to a great extent, an individual's behavior and personality. But, according to the first two sentences of paragraph 3 and the body of paragraph 4, humanists find this psychoanalytic perspective too rigid and deterministic. While recognizing that such conflicts affect the individual's behavior, humanists believe that people of all ages are capable of changing their behavior through understanding and the effort of will. Choice A represents a point of contention and is the correct answer.
There is no basis for inferring choice B. The author never discusses the subject of proper training for psychologists, whether they be psychoanalysts, behaviorists, or humanists. So it is inappropriate to say that this is the subject psychoanalysts and humanists would be "most likely" to disagree about. Choice C states that psychoanalysts and humanists would disagree about the usefulness and importance of clinical psychology. The passage states, however, that both groups practice psychotherapy, which is a form of clinical psychology.
Psychoanalysts practice psychoanalysis, and paragraph 7 indicates that humanists such as Carl Rogers have also made distinguished contributions to clinical psychology. Since both Freudian psychoanalysis and humanist approaches such as Rogers's client-centered therapy are forms of clinical psychology, we can conclude that both schools believe in the importance of clinical psychology, though they differ with regard to what they would consider the most effective therapy styles or perspectives. So, choice C is incorrect. As for choice D, we know from the third sentence of paragraph 5 that humanists believe conscious experience to be the one proper
subject of study in psychology. It appears that psychoanalysts feel much the same way. The last sentence of paragraph 2 says that psychoanalysts sought to bring repressed memories to patients' conscious awareness.
Both types of psychologists are concerned about conscious experience. Choice D would not be the most probable subject of disagreement between psychologists.