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Humanism

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By KOKI21
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The movie Precious is based on a young girl who comes from a hostile and difficult environment; she has a complicated relationship with both her mother and her father. Even so, her personality seems to develop throughout the movie. This essay will apply Carl Rogers’ person-centered, humanistic approach to account for the development of Precious’ personality. Carl Rogers's personality theory postulated that given a nurturing environment, every individual has a tendency of actualizing themselves. He also looks at the individual’s interaction with others and how he or she is valued by them, as well as how they value themselves (Hergenhahn, 1994). There are key concepts that Rogers uses in his theory. This essay will explain these concepts and apply them to the movie “Precious”.

As a humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers agreed with Abraham Maslow’s main assumption, particularly the hierarchy of needs. However, he added that for growth and development and self-actualization to be possible, a person needs an environment which is conducive and has genuineness, acceptance, and empathy (Macleod, 2014). Rogers believed that "[t]he organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism” (Rogers as cited in MacLeod, 2008). Essentially, Rogers argued that every person has the potential to self- actualize, given a nurturing environment. The self- actualizing tendency is Rogers’ master motive.

Self-actualizing tendency
Rogers maintains that individuals have an inherent tendency to reach their fullest potential, and that this tendency can be suppressed during a person's life but it can never be destroyed (Herganhahn (1994). This tendency is termed the self-actualizing tendency. Again Herganhahn (1994) points out that while living under dire circumstances, there are people who not only survive, but thrive. This is evident

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