Book Review: The Dialectics of Humanistic Psychology

The aim of this book is to illuminate all the different dimensions that constitute humanistic psychology. Or, to put it another way, John Rowan tries to explore all the aspects of what it is to be a human being. '…The aim of humanistic psychology is to explore all the ways in which human beings can be more themselves-more authentic and less phoney, more in charge of their own lives and less at the mercy of pressures from outside and from inside.' (Rowan, 1991: 134) So, more than just being human, humanistic psychology aims to enable to people to achieve mastery over their own existence and beyond.

Just as the aim of the book is ambitious, the scope of it is too. The book is split into three parts: 'what is humanistic psychology?', 'applications of humanistic psychology' and 'the future of humanistic psychology'. In the first part, Rowan talks about the influence of eastern mysticism and the religions of Hinduism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism in encouraging people to 'unfocus' their minds from intellectual enquiry and to embrace spontaneity that encompasses the opposites of masculinity and femininity in the eternal cosmic paradox. The other factor in the foundation of humanistic psychology is in the use of dialectical thinking. This is the encouragement of movements of change that include conflict and opposition. Dialectical thinking takes nothing for granted and is interested in the transformation of quantity into quality and in breaking habitual patterns in thinking.

Rowan then turns to the philosophical influences of phenomenology and existentialism. Phenomenology bases the whole exercise of philosophical enquiry on one profound assumption: the higher standards of the knower. Or, in other words, that it is enough for people to rely on their subjective experience to inform themselves about the world and their relation to it. Humanistic psychology is also influenced by the existential thought of Buber and the '1 and Thou' relations between people. Merleau-Ponty is also cited, with his 'embodied being-in-the-world' influencing Maslow in his development of the concept of 'self-actualisation'. "The main plank in humanistic psychology is the integration of body, feelings, intellect, soul and spirit… This integration is the key to what we call self-actualisation…" (Ibid.: 23). Rowan also discusses Heidegger and his concepts of 'authenticity' and 'inauthenticity', to which I will return later.

In the second part of the book, Rowan starts by discussing perhaps the biggest influence that humanistic psychology has had: namely the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Starting with the former, Rowan discusses the main theories of May and Rogers. May concerned himself with helping clients to find their true selves, accept social responsibility and find their life responsibility. Rogers emphasised the importance of genuine listening and taking seriously what clients have to say. Counsellors can do this by continually working on themselves to free biases, impartiality and general inattention in their own lives. Rogers also recognised the integration of the personality, organism and self. Practically, the superior use of the person-centred method lies in its insistence on working with where the client is in relation to their lives, instead of an overt reliance on techniques. More recently, Rowan acknowledges the work of Mearns and his introduction of the social context that influences the connection between clients and counsellors within the therapeutic relationship. Also acknowledged is how the counsellor, just like anybody else, is made up of 'sub-personalities' and how each counsellor favours the client sub-personality that is seen as closest to their own dominant self, ignoring others in both clients and themselves. Rowan also covers to interesting area of co-counselling~ where people work in partnerships, each takes the role of counsellor or client and then swaps. Finally, dreams are mentioned, particularly they way that they can be viewed as an attempt to convey an existential message from one part of the psyche to the other.

Humanistic psychotherapy can and cannot be described as optimistic. Maslow and Rogers represent the optimistic side and May and Mahrer the not quite pessimistic side. As well as Maslow's self-actualisation, Rogers emphasises the acceptance of the 'neurotic' client as 'alright', in that they are just trying to, and will succeed in becoming fully functioning people, if given the right support and encouragement. May criticises Rogers for failing to recognise the' daemon ' or human spirit, which can be either good or bad. The whole of life is a struggle to make choices as to whether to be good or bad and failing to recognise the daemon in counsellors covers up any negative emotional differences between them and clients. Mahrer also highlights the presence of 'potentials' or positive personality aspects that can grow, if clients realise and accept their presence. Unfortunately, clients can sometimes fail to escape the influence of their parent's upbringing or 'field' that can cause destructive attitudes and beliefs that last lifetimes. Rowan also covers Gestalt, experiential, bodywork, psychodrama, primal integration and psychosynthesis psychotherapies.

Apart from individual psychotherapy, humanistic psychology has also influenced the other major psychotherapeutic development of recent decades: group work. Rowan mentions Schutz and his description of effective therapy groups as those that allow clients the space for evolutionary growth by creating honest and open discussions. Mintz also sets the necessary conditions for effective group work as: groups functioning as one whole without sub-groupings opposed to each other, no tolerance of social history conversations or chatter, the assurance of a policy of confidentiality at the end and encouraging group members to express their opinions about each other openly and honestly. Rowan also highlights the characteristics of the humanistic-existential group as one where the leader presents themselves as equal to other members, makes their presence felt by open expressing of feelings and that other members notice that they are in the room.

Perhaps the least known area of humanistic psychology is in the field of education and training. In the humanistic classroom, teachers and pupils are equal. Students are trusted enough for expression of how they relate to teachers and are expected to be aware of their own changing values and feelings. Most obviously ~ students have a physical body with its own personal history, projects and presence in the here-and-now. Rogers also influenced the development of person-centred training for teachers, and this has lead to improvements in the grades of students who are taught by such teachers. Rowan also mentions Emmet and the influence of Sartre and 'bad faith', where students are encouraged to give up playing games and to take responsibility for the life choices they must make in time.

In the area of organisational consultancy, Rowan describes the humanistic notion of 'dialectical second-tier thinking' in which all levels of employees in the work place assert their views, avoid, and resist the bullying of consultants. He also stresses the importance of conflict solution programmes that employees can own and take responsibility. This is so that choices and decisions can happen as soon as a problem occurs. Organisations could also train 'integrative' leaders that balance the concern for people on one side, with the need to master the task-in-hand. Rowan also mentions the concept of synergy or the joining of two opposing groups or sides form a superior force for good. Spiral dynamics is also an interesting concept, where levels of organisations represent rough equivalent areas of consciousness, and the use of 'valumemes' or subtle ideas that spread throughout populations of employees and contribute to the formation of work cultures.

In discussing sexuality, Rowan opposes psychoanalysis and its insistence that men and women will always remain alienated from one another. Humanistic psychology believes that although there are powerful social forces that encourage the above, there is a choice for men and women to get rid of their social roles and face the existential terror of heading into the unknown of establishing new ones. Rowan also invites the creation of a new feminism, where context can help to create new change strategies, away from the dogmatic and historical position of radical feminism.

In the final part of the book, Rowan covers the concept of the real self, the humanistic contribution to influencing wider society and the different types of humanistic research. When trying to define the real self, Rowan mentions Sartre and his concept of the 'life project' that people create, in order to give their lives meaning. It is this meaning or 'intentionally' that is the difference between people living according to their aims and just behaving from day-to-day. Rowan compares the philosophies of social constructivism and social constructionism. While constructionists deny that there is any objective reality and consider 'reality' to be social discourses that range from just constructed meaning to representations of power held by social organisations, consructivists do allow for 'reality' to exist in the form of knowledge as social artefact. Here, Rowan recognises the influence of Nietzsche in the latter. Humanistic psychology also tries to influence the wider society, by encouraging decentralisation using person-centred principles.

In research, Rowan elaborates his concept of the humanistic use of the mind.

What I am saying here is that humanistic psychology is the classic way to use the eye of the mind. Most psychology makes the classic mistake of trying to study people by using the eye of the flesh. This then isolates their behaviour-the observable actions they pursue in the world-and ignores most of what is actually relevant-their intentions, their meanings, their visions.

(Rowan, 2001: 22)

Rowan then gives useful definitions of phenomenological and existential research.

Examines very careful the ground the researcher is standing on while conducting the research project; all the rules the researcher is taking for granted have to be rethought and re-examined.

(Rowan, 2001: 253)

The researcher acts as a measuring instrument, using thoughts, emotions, bodily reactions, to register what is going on as fully as deeply as possible… An attempt is then made to play this back in such a form that it can be re-experienced by other. This may need a high degree of literacy or other skill.

(Rowan, 2001: 254).

The book does achieve its aim of the description of the development of humanistic psychology and its spread of influence into other fields. It also includes a chapter on the history of the movement from its earliest beginnings in the 1930s and onwards. However, what lets the book down, is its reluctance to study human behaviour by itself, possibly because of a too rigid opposition to laboratory science research, an opposition that humanistic psychology has held since its conception. Rowan even shows a prejudice against psychoanalysis and behaviourism, which is reductionist and reflects the attitudes that psychology has fought to surpass since the first edition was published in the 1970s. There is no chance of an integrative psychology in Rowan's universe?

That said, I congratulate Rowan on producing a book with a lively and conversational writing style, with regular summaries and plenty of personal opinions to inform the reader. Rowan does have a tendency to repeat the same points throughout the course of the book and the book's language is dated and has an idiosyncratic use of words such as 'beautiful', which again reflect the counter-cultural influence of the first edition. I would recommend the book to psychology and other students and it is a suitable primer for both the public and the layperson alike. This book is also not academic, a point which the author himself makes and directs readers to his other books.

So of what use is the book to the existential practitioner? Rowan helpfully acknowledges and illuminates the existential philosophical roots of humanistic psychology in mentioning the ideas of the Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, Nietzsche and Sartre. He also describes the existential influence on the psychotherapeutic theories of May, Mahrer and Bugental. Practically, the book also gives numerous suggestions for where practitioners can learn about applying humanistic therapeutic techniques in their own practices. For the psychotherapy researcher, there are operationalised descriptions of the different research methodologies.

From an existential perspective, it is refreshing for a humanistic psychology book to avoid undue emphasis on the idealistic philosophies of Maslow and Rogers and to acknowledge the negative forces and constraints of human existence. Rowan also succeeds in clarifying Heidegger's concepts of authenticity and inauthenticity, which can be confusing to even the most learned philosophy graduate. There is also a welcome connection made between the theories of psychologists and the underlying hidden and unacknowledged influence of philosophical paradigms e.g. Maslow and Merleau-Ponty. However, at times Rowan appears to show a mix and match eclecticism, where certain existential ideas are taken and fitted into the humanistic paradigm, without the context of the rest of the philosophy.

The discussion of the transpersonal psychology of Ken Wilber, while interesting, can be at times of little practical use to the average psychotherapist. This is due to the obtruse and obscure descriptions of consciousness that become more abstract and difficult to grasp as the book proceeds, which I'm sure the only people who can understand it is anyone who takes the time and effort to undergo a spiritual or mystical course of personal development and meditation. And it is this paradox that Rowan promotes and celebrates, while leaving the rest of us confused and slightly suspicious. I was also slightly astonished to find that Rowan believes that self-actualisation is easy to obtain and not uncommon for those prepared to put in the effort. I certainly do not encounter that many people who are, and would be prepared to meet them!

The major criticism that the book offers about the existential approach is in its discussion of Heidegger's concept of 'authenticity'. Rowan argues that the humanistic concept of authenticity is broader that the existential definition, which is obsessed with death and destruction, and occurs within the realm of the mental ego.

Because he could not see that inauthenticity represented one stage of development and authenticity another, his version of authenticity is restricted to what the Mental Égo could understand and cope with. It seems that when he talks about the authenticity he is really talking about the nature ego-the ego which is not restricted by roles and can even play with them to some degree. But the mature ego can never be fully or truly authentic, because it is still fitting in with the world of Das Man

(Rowan, 1991: 50).

Authenticity is about the experience of the 'Real-Self', which is beyond the mental ego and is experiential not philosophical in nature. Rowan attacks Heidegger for writing mostly about inauthenticity while neglecting to define authenticity itself. Van Deurzen also confuses authenticity as belonging to the realm of the mental ego, where anxiety forces people to move from inauthenticity to authenticity.

The way out of this confusion, according to Rowan, is to look to the psychospiritual and transpersonal development system of Ken Wilber. Wilber defines the mental ego as being

…dominated by our roles. We get our esteem from other people. We need to be respected by people we respect. We have no centre of our own, but rely on the social consensus to know how things are. We split the mind from the body, and want the mind to be in charge of the body. At this stage we are, in a word, inauthentic.

(Rowan, 1991: 48-9)

Beyond the mental ego is the consciousness level of the 'Centaur.' There, 'vision-logic' or to be 'not constrained by the rules of formal logic. May be interested in alternative logics, such as fuzzy logic, may-valued logic or dialectical logic.' (Rowan, 1991: 41) emerges. The Centaur level represents the union of mind and body, where the existential self emerges from the mystical experience of the destruction of the mind-body split. This self has an "integration of mind, body, and emotions into a higher order unity, "a deeper totality" (Wilber, 1979: 118-119). So this again reflects the optimistic nature of humanistic psychology in its willingness to embrace the possibility that we can achieve the mastery of our lives, beyond the false restrictions that existence appears to present us with.

Joe Moore is a practising cognitive behavioral therapist.