Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and cognition. Within the study of psychology there are several approaches that are used in order to understand the study of behavior, cognition and its theories such as the humanistic and socioculture approaches which were developed as a feedback to the limitations of psychodynamic theories when Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, and later Jean Piaget and Lev Vigotsky found that psychoanalysis could not be used to explain the phenomena of human behavior and mental development. The evolution of new approaches was related to the positive accepting of mental development, to the critique and the rejection of determinism of psychodynamic theories. The humanistic and socioculture approaches to psychology have its own merits and demerits. In this concise review we will compare and contrast the humanistic approach where "psychologist use the approach to stress that people are unique and complex organisms and emphasize that each person has a capacity to his or hers maximum potential" and the socioculture approach which "emphasizes the importance of culture, gender and ethnicity in understanding how we think, feel and act" (Pettijohn T. 1998).
             The sharpest distinction of the humanistic approach is the emphasis on subjective meaning and the key idea of self-actualization. Humanistic psychologists believe that behavior is primarily determined by personal perception and that the individuals have intrinsic motivation to perform their human potential. Some authors (Doi A., Ikemi A. (2003)) wrote that the central issue in humanistic psychology is the feeling process which occurs in interaction. Today the humanistic approach is used widely in psychology, pedagogic and sociology. If we use the database ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) one will retrieve nearly 1500 publications (439 of the articles in the professional journals) for the keywords "humanistic AND approach&...