Humanistic theories Humanistic psychology emphasizes that people have free will and that this plays an active role in determining how they behave. Accordingly, humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behavior. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were proponents of this view, which is based on the "phenomenal field" theory of Combs and Snygg (1949). [ 42 ] |Rogers and Maslow were among a group of psychologists that worked together for a decade to produce the Journal of Humanistic Psychology . This journal was primarily focused on viewing individuals as a whole, rather than focusing solely on separate traits and processes within the individual. Robert W. White wrote the book The Abnormal Personality that became a standard text on abnormal psychology . He also investigated the human need to strive for positive goals like competence and influence, to counterbalance the emphasis of Fr...