Wants: A Core Humanistic Construct

Abstract

SYNOPSISThe aim of this paper is to develop the construct of wants as a core concept for Humanistic Psychology and the broader psychotherapeutic field. Drawing from existential and phenomenological thinking, the paper argues that ‘wants’ convey a greater sense of subjective agency than ‘needs’, and are more encompassing of immediate desires than ‘goals’. Wants can be understood as existing in a hierarchy: with lower-order wants established as a means of achieving higher-order wants. Wants can also be seen as synergetic, dysergetic and independent of each other; and either effective or ineffective means of achieving higher-order wants. As a fundamentally socio-cultural concept, wants can be seen as forming a potential bridge between psychological and social understandings.