History of Humanistic Psychology Two of the major contributors to humanistic psychology are Carl Jung and Rollo May. Carl Jung is certainly one of the most important, yet controversial, figures in psychology. Many see it as more than just a historical curiosity. He began working alongside Sigmund Freud during the founding of psychoanalysis, however he separated from Freud to start his own school of psychology. (Jung) He made radical and significant contributions to all four major areas of psychology by creating his own school of analytical psychology. It is very clear that Jung's work prepared all the major themes of humanistic psychology, especially his concept of “Self”. He worked on active imagination and consciousness, as well as transpersonal psychology. (Jung) He developed a model of the human psyche, introverts, extroverts, and individuation. His major contributions helped us understand the unconscious from the literature he developed during his lifetime. (Jung) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The other major contributor to humanistic psychology is Rollo May, a distinguished existential psychotherapist and cofounder of a humanistic psychology movement. (May) After graduating from Oberlin College in 1930, May began studying with Alfred Adler. He returned to the United States to work as a consultant at Michigan State University where he also studied theology. He completed his doctoral thesis focusing on counseling psychology in 1939. His major contributions focused on the self, including anxiety, human existence, freedom, as well as focusing on an individual's subjective experience. May also proposed that the “evil” in our culture may only be a reflection of ourselves. Thus representing that we as individuals have created our culture from the lives we experience. This has led to the belief that man is not just good and becomes bad, that we are a mix of good and evil with the freedom of choice to choose our own path. It can also be pointed out that with personality disorder such as narcissism we are unable to deal with this “evil” in ourselves which can prevent us from growing. These contributions gave birth to a movement that grew out of today's idea that we have choices to make in life, free will to do what we want, as long as we recognize that every action has a consequence. (Sketch) Humanism is a psychological study that recognizes the influence of the whole person. The humanistic psychologist looks at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person behaving. (Schneider) Humanistic psychology was developed as a rebellion against the limitations of behavioral psychology, starting around the 1950s. This created a whole new system of guidelines for the human condition and human nature. This also offered a variety of ranges that were included in psychotherapy, to the benefit of patients. Humanism emphasizes the potential of each individual and the importance of self-realization as one grows. We as people continually look for ways to improve ourselves and understand the world around us while also understanding ourselves. (Schneider) This, however, does not come without criticism, many of which believe that these concepts are too vague. These critics argue that these ideas and experiences are extremely difficult to objectify, as each person's experience can differ greatly. Researchers believe that these experiences are also)