Human Potential Movement

The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the belief that through the development of their "human potential", people can experience a life of happiness, creativity, and fulfillment, and that such people will direct their actions within society toward assisting others to release their potential. Adherents believe that the collective effect of individuals cultivating their own potential will be positive change in society at large. The HPM has much in common with humanistic psychology in that Abraham Maslow's theory of self-actualization strongly influenced its development. The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, founded in 1955 by Glenn Doman and Carl Delacato, was an early precursor to and influence on the Human Potential Movement, as is exemplified in Doman's assertion that "Every child born has, at the moment of birth, a greater potential intelligence than Leonardo da Vinci ever used." In the middle of the 1960s, George Leonard did research across the United States on the subject of human potential for the magazine Look. In his research, he interviewed 37 psychiatrists, brain researchers, and philosophers on the subject of human potential. He found that "Not one of them said we were using more than 10% of our capacity." During the course of his research, Leonard met Michael Murphy, a co-founder of the nascent Esalen Institute (established in 1962) that at the time was running educational programs for adults on the topic of "human potentialities". Leonard and Murphy became close friends and together "put forth the idea that there should be a human potential movement". HPM was regarded by some as being related to psychedelic culture such as hippies and Summer of Love.

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Related concepts (9)

Personal development

Personal development or self-improvement consists of activities that develop a person's capabilities and potential, build human capital, facilitate employability, enhance quality of life, and facilitate the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development may take place over the course of an individual's entire lifespan and is not limited to one stage of a person's life. It can include official and informal actions for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, coach, or mentor, and it is not restricted to self-help.

Counterculture of the 1960s

The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed in the Western world starting in the mid-1960s, and continued until the early 1970s. The effects of the movement have been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights movement in the United States had made significant progress, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the intensification of the Vietnam War that same year, it became revolutionary to some.