4.2.1 - humanistic approach

Question 1

Assumptions of the humanistic approach

Answer 1

• humans should be viewed holistically as every aspect of us shapes outr behaviour
• everyone has free will
• people strive to reach self actualisation
• congruence is essential for psychological health
• conditions of worth do not create positive mindsets

Question 2

Significance of free will in humanism

Answer 2

• humans are self determining due to their free will
• Rejects scientific models which aim for general laws of behaviour
• individuals are unique, and have individual differences in their behaviour

Question 3

Abraham manslow hierarchy of needs

Answer 3

^ Self actualisation
I self - esteem
I love and belonging
I safety and security
I psychological needs
- cannot skip a stage up the triangle, however it is possible to regress, down.

Question 4

What is self actualisation

Answer 4

• the innate tendency to achieve full potential
• personal growth is essential to achieve it, the development and changes that an individual experiences allows them to feel fulfilled and satisfied.
• not everyone is able to achieve self actualisation in their lifetime

Question 5

What did carl rogers propose

Answer 5

The idea of incongruence

Question 6

Define incongruence

Answer 6

When the idea of the ideal self and real self do not align. It is viewed as psychologically unhealthy, and you cannot reach self actualisation whilst experiencing incongruence

Question 7

How can incongruence be reduced

Answer 7

-person entered therapy helps to build the real self towards the idea of the ideal self.

Question 8

What causes incongruence

Answer 8

• a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents
  — > if parents place conditions of worth onto their children, the children are more likely to suffer from incongruence

Question 9

How is the humanistic approach transferable to real life

Answer 9

• person centered therapy: clients were believed to be better helped If they were encouraged to focus on their own current subjective situation, not trying to generalise their own experiences to others.
• used to explain possible causes of depression: anything that blocks our striving to fulfil the specific needs of ourselves (EG: parents not accepting children for who they are, unfulfilling jobs as there is no motivation to work harder )

Question 10

A03: unscientific

Answer 10

• very subjective approach as each person has different outlooks on their lives. Each idea is up for interpretation and. Individual preferences
• Qualitative data is used so therefore cannot be replicated or easily compared, so there is a lack of supporting empirical evidence
• bound to researcher bias also
• low internal validity

Question 11

A03: culture

Answer 11

Limitation: approach is culturally bound
- the humanistic approach is based on individualistic culture, where each individual should have their personal needs prioritised
- however in collectivist cultures community and interdependence is emphasised,
- not generalisable to all cultures which decreases the reliability of the theory.

Question 12

A03: positive

Answer 12

• has a positive outlook onto humans and focuses how to improve on themselves and reach their personal goals.
• it encourages personal development as everyone is able to reach self actualisation.

Question 13

A03: real life

Answer 13

Strength: has real life application
- client centred therapy is widely used in health, social work, and industry.
- it has helped many people to overcome difficulties in their own life- and in turn are able to improve others lives also.