Approaches: The humanistic approach

Question 1

What’s the humanistic approach?

Answer 1

Rejects scientific and objective explanations of behaviour, instead arguing human experience is subjective and that humans have free will to choose their behaviour.

Question 2

What are the key assumptions of the humanistic approach?

Answer 2

-Assumed that we all have free will and are in control of our own development and therefore can ignore the influence of internal and external factors on behaviour.
-Sees self-actualisation as being at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and deems it as a crucial part of being human.
-Through having free will we’re able to progress through his hierarchy of needs and better ourselves.
-Each individual is unique and so psychology should focus on the experience of the individual (subjective or idiographic approach) rather than trying to identify general rules of human behaviour (objective or nomothetic)

Question 3

What is free will?

Answer 3

philosophical view that humans are able to make choices for themselves without being controlled by the influences of biology or environment.

Question 4

How is free will important to the humanistic approach?

Answer 4

humanistic psychologists see humans as free to change and make decisions that lead to self-actualisation.

Question 5

What is Maslow’s theory?

Answer 5

Wasn’t interested in what went wrong with people, but rather what went right with him.

Emphasises the importance of personal growth and fulfilment and opens the door for later movements and psychology, such as positive psychology and happiness.

Question 6

What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Answer 6

Considered the most basic physiological needs are represented at the bottom of the pyramid and the most advanced needs at the top.

Each level must be fulfilled in order to move up to a higher need. Maslow believed the more basic the need the more powerful it’s experienced and the more difficult it is to ignore.

Question 7

What are the 5 steps in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Answer 7

1) Self-actualisation
2) Esteem
3) Love/belonging
4) Safety
5) Physiological

Question 8

What’s self-actulaisation?

Answer 8

found that most people who attained this level shared certain characteristics. They tended to be more creative, accepting of other people and had an accurate perception of the world around them.

Question 9

What is the focus on the self?

Answer 9

refers how we perceive ourselves as a person

Question 10

What are the two basic needs proposed by Rogers?

Answer 10

1) Positive regard for other people
2) Feeling of self-worth, developed in childhood and are formed as a result of a child’s interaction with their parents. Further interactions with significant others also influence a person’s feelings of self-worth.

The closer our self-concept and our ideal self are to each other, the greater our feelings of self-with and the greater our physiological health.

Question 11

What’s congruence?

Answer 11

When there’s a similarity between a person’s ideal health and how they perceive themselves in real life.

Question 12

What is a state of incongruence?

Answer 12

When there’s a difference between the self and idea self, the person experiences.

Question 13

What does a closer self-image and ideal sense lead to?

Answer 13

greater the congruence and their feelings of self-worth.

Question 14

Why is a state of congruence rare?

Answer 14

A complete state of congruence is rare as people prefer to see themselves that are consistent with their self-image and may use defence mechanisms in other to feel less threatened by inconsistencies between how they’d like to be and who they actually are.

Question 15

What are conditions of worth?

Answer 15

The conditions that they perceive significant others put upon them, and which they believe have to be in place in order to be accepted by others and to positively view themselves.

Conditions like low self-esteem and low self-worth originate in childhood, where parents/ adults restrict the love they show towards their children (conditional love) by imposing conditions of worth “I’ll be proud of you if you achieve top grades in school” showcasing unconditional positive regard.

Question 16

What is the influence on counselling psychology?

Answer 16

Rogers claimed that an individual’s psychological problems were a direct consequence of someone’s conditions of worth and the conditional positive regard they receive from others.

Believed that with counselling people would be able to solve their own problems in constructive ways and move towards becoming a fully functioning person.

Question 17

What do humanistic therapies regard themselves as?

Answer 17

guides to help people understand themselves and find ways to further their potential for self-actualisation.

Question 18

What do therapists do in regards to the humanistic approach?

Answer 18

Provide empathy, unconditional positive regard and express acceptance and understanding, regardless of the feelings and attitudes the client expresses.

In doing so the therapist is able to offer an inappropriately supportive environment to help dissolve the client’s conditions of worth. Resulting in the client moving towards being more true to self.

Question 19

What are the 4 AO3 points for the humanistic approach?

Answer 19

+Research support for conditions of worth
-Doesn’t establish cause and effect
-Unrealistic
-Culture-bound explanation of behvaiour

Question 20

(+AO3) How does research into conditions of worth support the humanistic approach?

Answer 20

Research with teenagers has shown evidence that’s consistent with Rogers’ view.

Individuals who experience conditional positive regard are likely to display more ‘false self behaviour’ – doing things to meet others expectations even when they clash with their own values.

Researchers discovered that teenagers who feel that they have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain their parents’ approval frequently end up not liking themselves.

Consistent with Rogers’ prediction teenagers who create a ‘false self’ by pretending to be the kind of person their parents would love, were more likely to develop depression.

Question 21

(-AO3) Why doesn’t the humanistic approach establish cause and effect?

Answer 21

It’s difficult to evaluate the humanistic approach scientifically as most evidence used to support this approach fails to establish a causal relationship between variables.

Rogers favoured non-experimental research methods arguing that the requirements of experimental methods make it impossible to verify the results of counselling.

Most psychologists would argue that without experimental evidence evaluation of a therapy becomes difficult. Although studies have shown personal growth as a result of humanistic counselling, these don’t show that the therapy caused the changes, which is a fundamental requirement of scientific psych.

Question 22

(-AO3) How can the humanistic approach be deemed as unrealistic?

Answer 22

Represent an overly idealised and unrealistic view of human nature.

Critics argue that people aren’t as inherently good and ‘growth oriented’ S the approach suggests. It doesn’t adequately recognise people’s capacity for pessimism and self-destructive behaviour.

The view that personality development is directed only by an innate potential for growth is seen as an oversimplification as is the humanistic assumption that all problems arise from blocked self-actualisation.

Question 23

(-AO3) What is the culture-bound explanation of behaviour and how does it limit the humanistic approach?

Answer 23

Maslow’s ideas of self-actualisation, the need to improve oneself and congruence can be mostly viewed as attitudes typical of Western, individualist cultures where the needs of the individual are greater than the needs of the group.

Therefore, due to culture bias humanism may be more readily accepted by western cultures and will identify more with these values, as opposed to eastern collectivist cultures, where such a desire for personal growth may be seen as selfish considering that the needs of the group are greater than the individual.