Different Approaches to Personality
I will discuss both the biological and humanistic approach. I will then talk about their similarities and differences. Before we delve into that I would first like to talk a bit more about Maslow. Before Abraham Maslow came up with a synthesized research about human motivation, researchers had basically focused separately on different factors such as achievement, biology, or power to try and explain what really directs, energizes and sustains our human behavior. Maslow later pointed a hierarchy of human needs that are based on two major groupings: growth needs and deficiency needs. As for the deficiency needs, each of the lower needs has to be met before one can move up to the next higher level (Maslow & Lowery, 1998). It’s only in a future instance during a moment of deficiency that an individual then decides to act again so as to satisfy the deficiency. There is now more then just Maslow’s approach to personality and I will now try to explain them to the best of my knowledge.
The biological and humanistic approaches are two of six psychology approaches. The remaining four approaches are Psychoanalytic, trait, behavioral, and cognitive. These are all different ways to approach personality. They each describe how we gain our personalities and what affects them. The approach used depends on the therapist and client’s personalities. Some are more effective then others. The effectiveness is determined by our personalities. I believe it is the therapist responsibility to get to know the client to determine what approach will work best. A therapist is not expected to be an expert in all approaches but they need to know an overview of all. This will help determine if they’re own approach will be