Five Basic Postulates of Humanistic Psychology

Journal of Humanistic Psychology Special Issues

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The Relationship Between the JHP and Saybrook Graduate School

Contents of a JHP Issue

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I was Editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology from 1971 through 2005 and am now International Editor.  I was succeeded by Kirk Schneider, a Saybrook graduate and adjunct faculty member.  JHP began publication in 1961 and is the journal of the Association for Humanistic Psychology.  Anthony Sutich was Editor l961-1968, followed by Miles Vich 1968-1971.

JHP publishes experiential reports, theoretical papers, personal essays, research studies with an emphasis on human science methods, applications of humanistic psychology, humanistic analyses of contemporary culture, and occasional poems.

Topics of special interest are authenticity, identity, personal growth, self-actualization, self-transcendence, I-Thou encounters, existential and humanistic psychotherapy, community-building, humanistic politics, synergy, creativity, holistic learning and healing, values and love.  The journal is a forum for diverse statements about humanistic psychology, including criticisms.  Each writer speaks for himself or herself.  The Editor makes no effort to achieve an official AHP consensus.

Five Basic Postulates of Humanistic Psychology

1. Human beings, as human, are more than merely the sum of their parts.  They cannot be reduced to component parts or functions.
2. Human beings exist in a uniquely human context, as well as in a cosmic ecology.
3. Human beings are aware and aware of being aware-i.e., they are conscious.  Human consciousness potentially includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people and the cosmos.
4. Human beings have some choice, and with that, responsibility.
5. Human beings are intentional, aim at goals, are aware that they cause future events, and seek meaning, value and creativity.

(Adapted by Tom Greening from J. F. T. Bugental, "The Third Force in Psychology" Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1964, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 19-25).

Journal of Humanistic Psychology Special Issues

• Encounter Group Research. Summer 1975. Vol. 15, No. 3.
• Aging. Spring 1978. Vol. 18, No. 2.
• Love and Sex. Spring 1979. Vol. 19, No. 2.
• Experimental Higher Education. Spring 1981. Vol. 21, No. 2.
• Spiritual Groups and Leaders. Summer 1983. Vol. 23, No. 3.
• Citizen Diplomacy. Summer 1987. Vol. 27, No. 3.
• Peace. Summer 1984. Vol. 24, No. 3. Summer 1989. Vol. 29, No. 3. Fall 1992. Vol. 32, No. 4.
• Leary, Drugs, Learning and Reality. Summer 1993. Vol. 33, No. 3.
• Trauma and Transcendence. Fall 1993. Vol. 33, No. 4.
• Dialogue. Winter 1994. Vol. 34, No. 1.
• Carl Rogers. Fall 1995. Vol. 35, No. 4.
• Tributes to Jim Bugental for His 80th Birthday. Fall 1996. Vol. 36, No. 4.
• International Developments in Humanistic Psychology. Winter 1997. Vol. 37, No. 1.
• Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy. Fall 1998. Vol. 38, No. 3
• Cumulative Index 1961-1990. Fall 1990. Vol. 30, No. 4.

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The Relationship Between the Journal of Humanistic Psychology and Saybrook Graduate School

The relationship between JHP and Saybrook has a long history.  In 1961 the Journal of Humanistic Psychology's Board of Editors founded the Association for Humanistic Psychology, which in turn founded the Humanistic Psychology Institute, later renamed Saybrook Graduate School.

JHP was co-founded by Abraham Maslow and Anthony Sutich, who earned his doctorate at the Humanistic Psychology Institute in 1976 just one day before he died.  The next JHP Editor was Miles Vich, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by Saybrook in 1992.

Saybrook faculty member Thomas Greening was the Editor of JHP from 1971 through 2005.  Rollo May, for whom Saybrook's Rollo May Center for Humanistic Studies was named, served on JHP's Board of Editors from its founding until his death and often published articles in JHP.  Many members of the Saybrook faculty (Arne Collen, Amedeo Giorgi, Dennis Jaffe, Stanley Krippner, David Lukoff, Ruth Richards, and Eugene Taylor) and two former members of the Board of Trustees (Walter Anderson and Jacqueline Doyle) are on JHP's Board of Editors.  Saybrook's recent President, Maureen O'Hara, has been Associate Editor for many years and has published many important articles in the journal.  JHP has periodically published the titles of recently completed Saybrook dissertations.

These Saybrook faculty members have published articles in JHP: James Bugental, Dennis Jaffe, Stanley Krippner, David Lukoff, Rollo May, Ruth Richards, Donald Rothberg, Eugene Taylor, and adjunct faculty members Art Bohart, Linda Riebel, Michael Mahoney, Alfonso Montuori and Kirk Schneider.

Many Saybrook students and alumni have also published articles in JHP .

Contents of a Typical JHP Issue:

Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Vol. 40 No. 2 Spring 2000

Commentary by the Editor
  – Tom Greening

Old Saybrook I and II: The Visioning and Re-Visioning of Humanistic Psychology
  – David N. Elkins

Remembering Maslow: Reflections on a 1968 Interview
  – Willard Frick

Empathic Listening: Reports on the Experience of Being Heard
  – Sharon Myers

When Therapy Works (poem)
  – Maryhelen Snyder

William James and the Pathologizing of Human Experience
  – Jeffrey Rubin

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