Approaches: Humanistic Approach Flashcards
Explain Free Will.
A key assumption of the humanistic approach is that human beings have free will, meaning humanistic psychologists believe that people make a conscious choice to behave in one way when they could have chosen to behave otherwise.
An example of free will in the humanistic approach is that individuals all have the free will to choose how to self actualise.
Explain the Hierarchy of needs.
- According to Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs, people are motivated to fulfil a series of sequential needs, meaning they are only motivated to pursue one need when they have satisfied a previous. Only by meeting these needs can they become self actualised and leed to fulfilling lives.
- The first needs are physiological (food and water). Next are safety and security needs (financial security and living in a safe neighbourhood). Then love and belonging needs (friendships, intimacy and family). Finally, esteem needs (being respected by others and oneself).
- Maslow called these needs, ‘deficiency needs’. This name reflects that people are motivated to obtain something that they feel is lacking in their life. The lower a need is on the hierarchy, the stronger the motivation to fulfil it is.
- Maslow argued that once a person has met their deficiency needs, they will be motivated to achieve the highest level of need, the need for self actualisation.
Explain Self Actualisation.
- Maslow and Roger’s believed the motivation to self actualise is an innate human need. It is within a person to realise their full potential and become the best version of themselves.
- Maslow believed only a small number of people reached the point of self actualisation.
- Roger’s argued that self actualisation is a lifelong process whereby humans are constantly motivated to self actualise.
Explain The Focus on the self.
- Roger’s focussed on understanding the nature of the self. His concept of the self, comprised two parts : the actual self and the ideal self.
- The actual self refers to all the qualities, characteristics and experiences that a person perceives as describing who they are.
- The ideal self is the idealised version of who we are or who we believe we could be.
- Rogers also believed that we have need to develop high self worth.
- Roger’s argued the characteristics of our self and ideal self are former responses to experiences (eg in childhood). Telling us who we are and who we should be.
- Roger’s viewed self actualisation as the primary human motivation — we are motivated to become the best versions of ourselves.
Explain Congruence.
- Congruence refers to when a persons actual self substantially overlaps with their ideal self.
- Congruence is necessary if the need for self worth is to be met, as only a congruent person will regard their current self as close enough to their ideal self to be worthwhile.
- Congruence is also necessary if the need for self actualisation is to be met. This is because the incongruent individuals will be motivated to become an ideal self that doesn’t genuinely relate to their actual self, and therefore they will seek to become inauthentic.
Explain Conditions of Self-worth.
- Rogers explained that the origins of a persons incongruence, low sense of self worth and failure to self actualise can be understood from the concept of conditions of worth.
- Conditions of worth occur when someone (especially a parent) makes their positive regard for another person conditional (eg. Saying ‘ i will love you if…’).
- Children who grow up this way will be likely to develop incongruence and thus lack self worth and fail to meet their need to self actualise.
- The opposite of conditions of worth is unconditional positive regard. Children who experience this are regarded positively without any conditions (parents love is unconditional). Leading them to develop congruence and consequently high self worth.
Explain The Influence on counselling psychology.
- The influence of the humanistic approach has led to a type of therapy called person centred therapy. The overall aim is to help the client self actualise and achieve high self worth. It does this by helping the client develop self worth.
- Another influence is that therapists are encouraged to be ‘non-directive’, meaning they don’t tell the clients what to think but instead encourage the client to find solutions to their own problems.
- One influence is how the therapists interact with the client. Roger’s argued therapists must offer unconditional positive regard to their clients. This involves listening to the client in a non judgmental way. This is purposeful as it helps the client develop self worth.
Compare Roger’s and Maslow.
- Both view self actualisation as the process of reaching our full potential.
- Maslow believed the motivation developed only after other needs have been satisfied whilst Roger’s believed the need to self actualise is always present.
- Both believe in free will.
- Both consider self worth as important.
- Roger’s placed a great emphasis on on the role of early childhood experiences for our current state of self worth whereas Maslow is more present focussed.
Give a Strength of the Humanistic Approach.
The humanistic approach recognises the importance of free will. The belief in human free will is a core assumption of the humanistic approach, as people who lack the belief may also lack the sense of agency needed to enact positive changes in their own lives. This a unique strength of the humanistic approach as other approaches present a deterministic account of human nature controlled by external factors such as the environment, or our biology. However, given the centrality of free will to the humanistic approach, it is concerning that the approach offers no credible justification for the existence of free will. Believers in determinism would challenge that the humanistic approaches belief in free will is at odds with a scientific belief in materialism. Thus, the brain is regarded as a physical organ where decision making processes occur and all mental processes, including decision making, are believed to be rooted in neural activity. Therefore, the concept of free will is incompatible with this theory. Thus, the emphasis on free will can be argued to be a strength or limitation of the approach, depending on ones view on free will or determinism.
Why has the Humanistic approach been criticised?
The Humanistic approach is considered unscientific. For example, Maslow developed his ideas on self actualisation using a type of research called autobiographical analysis. This involved Maslow reading the biographies of various famous figures he believed had self actualised. Although his research was empirical, it lacked objectivity. Maslows analysis was highly subjective and depended on his own interpretation of which famous people had self actualised. Since objectivity is a key feature of the scientific method, the humanistic approach could be criticised for being unscientific. Humanistic psychologists would challenge this criticism by pointing out they have no problem being regarded as unscientific, and have said that scientific methods are an inappropriate way to understand human experience.
Explain how Roger’s contribution to counselling psychology has received praise and criticism.
Roger’s helped develop a style of therapy called person centred therapy. This requires a therapist to offer unconditional positive regard and help the patient in a non-directive way. A strength is that is helps to support and treat people with mental illnesses. However, it has also been criticised in several ways. Firstly, it has been suggested that most therapists would find it impossible to offer unconditional positive regard for some clients meaning Roger’s approach to therapy isn’t always practical. Secondly, it has been suggested that the non-directive approach will not work for patients with more severe forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia.
