What we the major contribution to Humanistic psychology before Abraham Maslow. Or where was psychology before him? Thank you for any contribution.

-- Chaka Parris (kwamefam@aol.com), September 30, 2002

Answers

In terms of the history of humanistic psychology, check the historical sections of Moss, D. (Ed.). (1999). Humanistic and transpersonal psychology: Historical and biographical sourcebook. New York: Greenwood.

The rest of your question can be answered by checking a standard history of psychology textbook. These do vary considerably in how much treatment they give to humanistic psychology and how they construe its history. Some will link it back to existentialism, others to phenomenology (perhaps because existentialism is more a world view, phenomenology more a method). Thus, one could trace it to Kierkegaard, who is generally regarded as the father of existentialism, or to Husserl, who is the father of phenomenology. You may also find a lot of history if you look up humanistic psychology and existential psychology in an encyclopedia of psychology--check with your college or university librarian for possibilities.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), October 01, 2002.