The Association for Humanistic Psychology is a professional organization in the field of
humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...
, founded in 1963.
[Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). ''History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychological Association''. In D. Dewsbury (Ed.), "Unification through Division: Histories of the divisions of the American Psychological Association", Vol. V. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.] Among the founders of the organization is the late psychologist
Rollo May
Rollo Reece May (April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994) was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book '' Love and Will'' (1969). He is often associated with humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy, ...
.
History
In the years 1957 and 1958 a group of people met in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
in order to launch the field of Humanistic psychology and discuss the founding of a companion journal and association for Humanistic psychology. The group included Tom Greening, Abraham Maslow, Dorothy Lee, Ross Mooney, Marie Rasey,
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
, David Smillie and Frances Wilson.
[Greening T. The Origins of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and the Association for Humanistic Psychology. ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology''. 1985;25(2):7-11. doi:10.1177/0022167885252002]
The organization was originally founded as the ''American Association for Humanistic Psychology'' in 1961, sponsored by
Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
.
[Taylor, E. An Intellectual Renaissance of Humanistic Psychology. ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology'', Vol. 39 No. 2, Spring 1999 7-25.][Elkins, D.N. ''A Humanistic Approach to Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy'', in L. Sperry and E. P. Shafranske, editors (2005) ''Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy''. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.][Ryback, D. A More Human Psychology at the Crossroads. ''American Psychologist'', 1990, Vol. 45, No. 11, 1271–1272]
The official history of the association starts with the inaugural meeting, in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, in 1963. Key players in this event was
James Bugental
James Frederick Thomas BugentalStefan E. Schulenberg, ''Approaching Terra Incognita with James F. T. Bugental: An Interview and an Overview of Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy''. ''Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy'' (2003), 33, 4, pp. ...
, the first president of the association, and
Gordon Allport
Gordon Willard Allport (November 11, 1897 – October 9, 1967) was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personal ...
, who arranged a grant to help with the founding.
In 1964 the association sponsored the "First Invitational Conference on Humanistic Psychology", also called the "Old Saybrook Conference", in order to develop the field of humanistic psychology. The conference was held in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and was visited by academic profiles in the field of humanistic psychology -
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow (; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, cul ...
,
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
and
Rollo May
Rollo Reece May (April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994) was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book '' Love and Will'' (1969). He is often associated with humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy, ...
- who presented papers.
[Clay, R.A. A renaissance for humanistic psychology. ''American Psychological Association Monitor'', September 2002, Vol 33, No. 8, page 42] The men and women meeting at Old Saybrook in 1964 wanted to change the direction of psychology by introducing a more complete image of the human being than the image presented by
Behaviorism
Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent (behavioral psychology), antecedent stimuli in the environment, o ...
or
Freudianism
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...
. Their purpose was to restore the "whole person". They also wanted to develop research methods for this purpose.
The association was the primary forum for the humanistic movement in the USA during the 1960s.
In 1969 the organization changed its name to the ''Association for Humanistic Psychology'' as a response to its growing international activities. Carmi Harari was appointed director of international development
[Harari, Carmi. Notes on the early international development of humanistic psychology. ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology'', vol. 37, no. 1, winter 1997, pp. 11+.]
In 1970 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported from the eight annual meeting of the association, which was held in Miami Beach, Florida. The meeting was dedicated to the late Abraham Maslow, and vas visited by Rollo May, who gave a speech. By this time Floyd Matson had taken over as president of the association.
[Reinhold, R. Humanistic Psychology Shows Its Force. ''The New York Times'', September 4, 1970] That same year the association organized the first International Invitation Conference on Humanistic Psychology, in Amsterdam.
At this time, Eleanor Criswell, who functioned as liaison officer for the organization, helped "create the concept of the Humanistic Psychology Institute", now
Saybrook University
Saybrook University is a private university in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1971 by Eleanor Camp Criswell and others. It offers postgraduate education with a focus on humanistic psychology. It features low residency, master's, and d ...
.
[Hanna, Eleanor Criswell. The Heart of Humanistic Psychology. ''Somatics'', 2019] AHP oversaw the formation of the institute.
In 1971, Eleanor Criswell from the association launched the ''Humanistic Psychology Institute'', later known as
Saybrook Graduate School
Saybrook University is a private university in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1971 by Eleanor Camp Criswell and others. It offers postgraduate education with a focus on humanistic psychology. It features low residency, master's, and ...
.
Also this year, the association organized its second International Invitation Conference on Humanistic Psychology, at the
University of Wurzburg.
The third International Invitation Conference on Humanistic Psychology was arranged in cooperation with Sophia University, a Catholic institution, the following year.
1983 marked the start of The AHP Soviet Exchange Project, where delegates from the ''Association for Humanistic Psychology'' sought to establish contact with Soviet counterparts.
[Hassard J. The AHP Soviet Exchange Project: 1983-1990 and beyond. ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology''. 1990;30(3):6-51. doi:10.1177/0022167890303002]
In 1985 the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' reported on the organizations annual conference, held at the American Congress Hotel in Chicago. This year the conference featured a variety of alternative therapies.
[Brotman,B. Conventioneers Come To Grips With Emotions. ''Chicago Tribune'', July 25, 1985.] By the early 1990s Maureen O'Hara had taken over as president of the association.
[Fields, D.M. Institutions for the 21st century. ''The Futurist''; Washington Vol. 27, Iss. 1, (Jan/Feb 1993): 33.]
In 1991 the association expanded its United States/
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Professional Exchange Program, which was renamed the AHP International Professional Program; a forum for dialogue and exchange of Humanistic ideas. An outgrowth of this program was the Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution, held in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia.
[Olweean, Steve, and Friedman, Sandra . "Sharing tools for personal/global harmony." ''Journal of Humanistic Psychology'', vol. 37, no. 1, winter 1997, pp. 64+.]
Publications
The Association publishes the ''
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
''Journal of Humanistic Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Psychology. The journal's editor is Sarah R. Kamens. It has been in publication since 1961 Powers, Robin. Counseling and Spirituality: A ...
''.
See also
*
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...
References
{{Authority control
Humanistic psychology
Psychology organizations based in the United States
Organizations established in 1963
1963 establishments in Pennsylvania
Psychology-related professional associations