Question

Four psychologists, each from a different psychological perspective, are eating dinner. They notice their waitress is crying. When the waitress leaves, they each provide an explanation for why she is crying. What did the humanistic psychologist most likely say?

Answer 1

Answer:

The best answer to the question: What did the humanistic psychologist most likely say, would be: "She probably believes her job is preventing her from achieving her full personal growth and thus from reaching her full potential."

Explanation:

Humanistic psychology is a perspective that gained a lot of momentum in the middle of the twentieth century as Freud´s and Skinner´s own theories failed to fully explain human behavior and how people react to different stimuli. In essence humanistic psychology, also known as humanism, believes in a person´s inherent drive to self-fulfill, and it strongly believes in creativity, a person´s free will and the positive human potential. It believes that people naturally tend to seek to better themselves and express their true capabilities and skills. In this case, seeing the waitress crying tells this psychologist that most likely the woman is unhappy with how her life is currently, and probably thinks her job does not fulfill that natural inclination to self-improve and develop her full potential; thus why she is crying.