A2 APPROACHES - THE HUMANISTIC APPROACH

Question 1

Describe the background of humanistic psychology

Answer 1

Put forward by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow in 1950s America and was called the “third force” of psychology to challenge beh.ism and psychodynamic approach

Goal is to understand how subjective experience influences beh and what an individual’s capacity for self-determination is, and how this can lead to healthy development

Question 2

Describe free will in humanistic psychology

Answer 2

All other approaches put forward some form of determinism. Humanistic approach says we’re self-determining and although there are internal and external factors affecting our beh, we ultimately have free will; we are active agents that can self determine our development

Put forward person centred approach; everyone is unique so we shouldn’t try to make general rules for everyone, but study the individual instead; tis is not a scientific approach

Question 3

Describe self actualisation and Maslow’s heirarchy of needs (NOT FINISHED)

Answer 3

We all have an innate tendency to reach our full potential (ie be the best we can possibly be). Self actualisation = reaching the uppermost level self-growth. Before we can self actualise, we need to fulfill our deficiency needs. From the bottom of the heirarchy up…

1) Physiological needs (one of the basic needs); food, water, warmth, rest etc
2) Safety needs (one of the basic needs) i.e. security and safety
3) Belongingness needs (one of the psychological needs) e.g. intimate relationships and friendships
4) Esteem needs (one of the psychological needs) e.g. prestige and feelings of accomplishment
5) Self actualisation (a self-fulfilment need) i.e. reaching your full potential, being goal-orientated and satisfied

Progress through M’s heirarchy is sequential; you must complete each level before progressing to the next one. Personal growth is an essential part of being human. Some psychological barriers may stop someone from self-actualising

Question 4

Describe the focus on the self, the idea of congruence and the role of conditions of worth

Answer 4

The self can be understood in two ways; the perceived self (or concept of the self) and the ideal self, and according to Rogers, the two must be congruent in order for us to self-actualise (i.e. the same or very similar). Incongruence leads to low self esteem and won’t self actualise; there’s a gap between the ideal self and concept of the self.

Conditions of worth are when (usually) parents only show full love to their children if they do certain things (e.g. “I’ll only love you if you get an A”). Unconditional positive regard is the opposite of this and is vital for personal growth (conditions of worth often lead to self-esteem issues)

Question 5

Describe the influence of the humanistic approach on counselling psychology

Answer 5

Idea of congruence led to dev of person-centred therapy; aims to reduce gap bet ideal and perceived self by providing client with unconditional positive regard they failed to receive as a child. This will help them to build up self-esteem and eventually self-actualise

Question 6

Evaluate the humanistic approach

Answer 6

(+) Only approach to offer a holistic view i.e. not trying to break beh down into smaller parts, and only approach to be mainly ideographic in its theory and application (psychodynamic has ideographic method but nomothetic theory/application)
(+) Provides a positive view of the human condition (unique within the approaches) and therefore encourages ppl to self actaulise and reach their full potential
(-) Although it did dev person-centred therapy, humanism hasn’t really contributed much to psychology as a whole (partly due to lack of good evidence) and certainly doesn’t improve psychology’s scientific status as a whole
(-) Culturally biased; ideas of self-actualisation are based on Western individualism and are applied to all humans, whereas Eastern collectivist cultures value the benefit of the group, not the individual, so limited application to other cultures