Humanistic Evaluation of Personality
One way that humanistic psychologists assess personality is that they give people questionnaires that ask them to describes themselves ideally and realistically. The personal self-concept of that person is viewed as more positive and optimistic overall if both descriptions are very close to each other. Many humanistic psychologists would give the same questionnaire to the same people over a long period of time and see if the descriptions got closer or farther apart to show the growth of the person's personality development. However, many humanistic psychologists refuse to give out questionnaires because they say they take the 'personal' out of personality. Instead, they promote interviews and discussions to understand someone's personality.
Many different psychologists have differing views on the humanistic perspective and its validity. For the most part, the general public agrees with the humanistic approach and the importance of self-esteem, happiness, and success. However, many scientists critique it for being highly objective. What defines happiness? Also, can happiness be seen as a scientific description? One other key critique is that the traits that Maslow used to describe self-actualization came from many of his personal heroes, meaning it is likely biased. One distinct criticism is that the humanistic approach strongly supports individualism which can lead to someone becoming self-centered and selfish. Possibly the largest attack on the humanistic approach is the suggestion that it is a naïve train of thought. People say that it promotes the idealistic, optimistic outcome of situations, but this can lead to a person not being able to overcome problems because of little attention to the realistic side of a situation. Even with all these criticisms, many people still support the humanistic approach because it focuses on the latent ability within all people and shows the optimistic viewpoint that all people can reach their potential under the right circumstances. Also, it doesn't ignore the normal and focus solely on the abnormal like the psychoanalytic perspective.
Citations
Myers, D. (2010). Psychology in modules: Personality. New York: Worth Publishers.
Myers, D. (2010). Psychology in modules: Personality. New York: Worth Publishers.