APPROACHES-Humanistic Flashcards
what are the origins of the humanistic approach?
-Devolped in America in the 1950s
-Third force- wanted to replace behaviourism and psychoanalysis
-Less deterministic and artificial approach
-concerned with human experiences, uniqueness, meaning, freedom and choice
What are the main assumptions of the humanistic approach
- Every individual is unique- everyone is different and everyone has different needs and so everyone needs to be treated differently so we cannot make generalisations about all people (ideographic view)
-Free will- we have control over our behaviour
-People should be viewed holistically- seeing somebody as a whole rather than elements of the person
-The scientific method is not appropriate to measure behaviour- humans are subjective in their thoughts and behaviour so it is too objective
Define free will
The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces
How does humanistic approach take into consideration freewill and why?
-Human beings are self determining and have free will
-People are not affected by external or internal influences but we can determine our own development
Define self actualization?
The desire to grow and develop to achieve our full potential
True or false: It is easy to test for self actualisation?
False
What have the examples of research found in relation to self actualisation?
-Hagerty (1999)
-Looked at the relationship between economic growth and measure of Maslow’s levels in 88 countries over a 34 year period
-Countries that were only in the early stages of development were at low levels of self actualisation
What was Maslow’s hierarch of needs?
-Every person has an innate tendency to achieve their full potential- to be the best they can possibly be
-Maslow in 1940-1950 developed the hierarchy of needs
-Self actualisation represents the uppermost level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this means that you have fullfed your desire to grow psychologically and fulfil ones full potential, becoming what you are capable of
-To reach self actualisation you must fulfil the needs of the lower levels of the hierarchy before reaching full potential
What is on the Top level( 1st level) of Maslow’s hierarchy
-Morality
-Creativity
-Problem solving
What is the top of level of Maslow’s hierarchy called?
Self actualisation
What is on the 2nd level of Maslow’s hierarchy?
-Self esteem
-Confident
-Achievement
-Respect
What is the 2nd level of Maslow’s hierarchy called?
Esteem
What is on the 3rd level of Maslow’s hierarchy called?
-Friendship
-Family
-Sexual intimacy
What is the 3rd level of Maslow’s hierarchy called?
Love/ belonging
What is on the 4th level of Maslow’s hierarchy?
-Security
-Employment
-Family
-Health
-Property
What is the 4th level of Maslow’s hierarchy called?
Safety
What is on the 5th level of Maslow’s hierarchy?
-Breathing
-Food
-Water
-Sex
-Sleep
-Homeostasis
What is personal growth?
Developing and changing as a person to become fulfilled, satisfied and goal orientated
What 3 self’s did Rogers suggest a person has?
-the self-concept- our personal identity
-the ideal self- the person we wish to be
-The real self-the person we are
What is conditions of worth?
When you are told that you will only be a valuable person if you behave in a certain way
Define the ideal self
The person you would like to be
Define actual self
The person who you really are
Define incongruence
When the ideal self and the actual self are different which can lead d to low self esteem and depression
What is Unconditional positive regard?
valuing the person for who they are no matter what they do, reduces incongruence
Define person centred therapy
-A form of therapy where the person uses their free will to grow and devolp, reducing incongruence
-NBot directed by the therapists, the client makes their own decisions
Define Holisim
understanding the individual as a whole rather than component parts
What is the hierarchy of needs?
The needs that have to be satisfied in order to achieve self-actualization
What is congruence?
A healthy state of well-being is established if a person maintains a reasonable consistency between the ideal self and actual behaviour
What happens if there is a difference between self and ideal self
-Incongruence
-Defence mechanisms (denial, displacement and repression)
What are the two types of therapy?
- Client centred therapy
- Gestalt therapy
What is client-centred therapy
What is Gestalt therapy?
-The aim for the client to become a whole person by getting them to accept every aspect of themselves
-This includes confrontation, dream analysis and role-playing
Why is the client-therapist relationship important?
-An effective therapist should be able to provide clients with the unconditional positive regard they had failed to receive as children
Who proposed that they were clients, not patients?
Rogers
What does counselling psychology focus on?
Present problems
What did Abraham Maslow suggest?
-Humans are motivated by needs beyond those of basic biological function
-Self-actualization
-Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, all four stages need to be completed before you can reach self-actualization
What did Carl Rogers suggest?
-individuals strive to achieve their ideal selves because they are motivated towards self-improvement
What is the ideographic approach?
The whole person should be studied in their environmental context and psychology should study the individual case
What is the Q-sort assessment?
-Developed by Stevenson (1953) and was adopted into client therapy
-It was a measure of a person’s incongruence/congruence e
-It is a series of cards each containing a personal statement
-The person has to sort the card into a pile of real self or ideal self
Give 2 strengths of the humanistic approach
-Not reductionist- holistic so considers everything, behaviour cannot be broken down into simple processes, high external validity
-Has real-life application in client-centred therapy- shown to be effective in the treatment of some disorders such as depression
-focus on the positive aspects of the person
-increase a client’s self-worth and reduce incongruence between self-image and ideal self
-mapping out of goals and milestones on the client’s ‘journey’ is known as phenomenology
-Takes an idiographic approach
-Rogers developed client-centred therapy (known as counselling) to reduce the gap between the real self and ideal self
-sought to provide the unconditional positive regard that the client had not received in childhood
-removes blame, guilt and shame from people who seek counselling (which Freudian therapy may not achieve)
-Therefore this form of counselling is likely to lead to a good rate of client retention and lack of client attrition, meaning that the approach can be viewed as a us
- however A successful counselling session may then rely more on the skill of individual therapists than on the system itself i.e. a lack of consistency and By unconditionally accepting their client the therapist may not challenge them sufficiently to address real issues of concern e.g. addiction, mental disorder
Give 4 weaknesses of the humanistic approach
-Limited evidence based on application- the approach is based on concepts such as self-actualization so it cannot be tested
-Subjectivity and flasifiability are both issues
-lack of scientific rigour
-The ideas behind the approach are difficult to operationalise and measure (e.g. at what point exactly has self-actualisation been reached and how can this be recorded or marked?)
-this means that the approach lacks reliability and is too open to interpretation
-Cultural bias- Not all cultures share the assumption that individual achievement brings fulfilment, western culture focuses on individualism and Eastern culture focuses on groups and collectivism
- only applicable to individualistic cultures
This means that the theory has only limited relevance and generalisability
