Toward a More Human Science of the Person

Abstract

This article grew out of my concern that humanistic psychology is having relatively little impact on mainstream psychology in the United States. The major reason seems to be the lack of significant humanistically oriented research. Humanistic psychologists have been dissatisfied with the logical-positivism that is traditional in experimental psychology. I, and others, have for many years insisted on the need for new models of science. To my surprise and delight, a surge of new books and articles in the past five years has been supplying those new models, and I briefly describe a number of them. They all agree that the mechanistic operationalism is one mode of gaining new knowlege, but only one. Under various labels they present new ways, all based on an "indwelling" of the investigator in the feelings, attitudes, and perceptions of those being studied and in the data collected. There is clearly no one best method for all investigations. One must choose the means or model best adapted to the particular question being asked.

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