Humanism

Question 1

Humanism is known as the ‘third force’ in Psychology alongside what other approaches?

Answer 1

Behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches.

Question 2

What is humanism referred to as?

Answer 2

A person-centred approach.

Question 3

Outline key assumptions of the humanist approach.

Answer 3

Every individual is unique and we should be treated as such.

Free-will takes place.

People are viewed holistically and ideographically.

The scientific method is not appropriate to measure behaviour, as humans are subjective; there is no point looking at a specific aspect of an individual.

There is no point trying to generalise to groups, as there are so many differences within each group.

This approach is unlikely to try and generalise groups of people and subdivide the population into clusters that share a characteristic, e.g. age, gender.

Don’t agree with focusing on childhood in therapy - they believe that the whole life course should be considered.

Question 4

What did Carl Rogers believe about Freud?

Answer 4

Carl Rogers believed that Freud had dealt with the “sick half” of Psychology, so the humanistic approach focused on explanations of ‘healthy’ growth in individuals.

Question 5

What is free-will?

Answer 5

The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces. (Flanagan et al 2016).

Ultimately this means that we are in charge of how we develop and progress through life.

Question 6

What did Lawton and Willard state in 2015 about free-will?

Answer 6

Acknowledge that there are some constraints on the choices available to an individual (number of options are reduced), so it is not always the case that the person behaves how they would have preferred.

Question 7

Who founded Humanism?

Answer 7

Abraham Maslow.

Question 8

What did Maslow do?

Answer 8

Known for his hierarchy of needs.

We seek first to have our basic needs satisfied (e.g. hunger and safety) after this has been achieved we are driven by “higher” motives such as love, belonging and knowledge.

Question 9

How does Maslow know that the hierarchy of needs is valid?

Answer 9

Studied mentally healthy individuals and observed that people experience “peak experiences”.

Peak experiences are high points in life when the individual is in harmony with themselves and the world around them.

Question 10

What is self-actualisation?

Answer 10

A belief of the humanistic approach is that everyone has an innate tendency/ drive to reach their full potential - this is called ‘self-actualisation’.

Both Rogers and Maslow believed that individuals self-actualise in their own unique way.

Self-actualisation is the ultimate feeling of well-being and satisfaction, although others describe it as ecstasy or a religious/ spiritual experience.

Question 11

What is a self-actualised state like?

Answer 11

Reality centred, creative, healthy, happy, humble and accurately perceived individuals.

Question 12

Does everyone achieve self-actualisation?

Answer 12

No.

Question 13

What did Carl Rogers find? What did he develop? What terms did he use?

Answer 13

Founder of the client-centred therapy.

Developed the idea of ‘self-concept’.

Brought about the terms conditional and unconditional positive regard.
Worked on the ‘self’, or the ‘selves’.

Question 14

How has Rogers benefited psychology?

Answer 14

He has been extremely influential and has played a major role in the development of counselling and psychotherapy.

Question 15

What did Williams James state in 1982?

Answer 15

“Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.”

Question 16

What are the 3 selves?

Answer 16

Self-concept.

Ideal self.

Real self.

Question 17

Outline the ‘ideal self’ as one of the 3 selves.

Answer 17

‘the self you wish to be’:

It is who you’re aiming towards becoming, or it’s possible you are already there.

A typical way of knowing whether someone is still working towards their ideal self is when you hear them say e.g. “I wish”, “I hope” etc.

Question 18

Outline the ‘self-concept’ as one of the 3 selves.

Answer 18

‘the self you feel you are’:

Similar to self-esteem and is affected by it.

So if someone has a low self-esteem then their self-concept will be poor and they will have a distorted view of how capable they are.

Question 19

Outline the ‘real-self’ as one of the 3 selves.

Answer 19

Not who you are or who you wish to be.

A difficult self to demonstrate as the subjective experience that is so important to humanism means that everyone will perceive or judge a person differently.

Question 20

What is congruence?

Answer 20

Rogers said that to achieve self-actualisation it is necessary for a person to be congruent.

This means that their ideal self and actual self-experience must be the same.

Question 21

What are the conditions of worth?

Answer 21

Requirements that the individual feels they need to meet to be loved (real or perceived).

Rogers also believed that an important part of achieving congruence is unconditional positive regard:

Question 22

Outline conditional positive regard as one of the conditions of worth.

Answer 22

When a person is only accepted/ loved when specific requirements about them as a person are met.

Question 23

Outline unconditional positive regard as one of the conditions of worth.

Answer 23

When a person is being accepted/ loved without any criticisms/ judgements of them as a person.

Question 24

What was that major influence of the humanistic approach?

Answer 24

The therapy that has developed from the theory.

Question 25

Who developed client-centred therapy?

Answer 25

Rogers

Question 26

What are the key aspects of client-centred therapy?

Answer 26

Client-therapist relationship is especially important and is the key focus of any counselling session.

Three core conditions that are essential for a therapeutic relationship between a therapist and a client.

Question 27

Rogers argued that there were three core conditions that are essential for a therapeutic relationship between a therapist and a client. What are they?

Answer 27

Empathetic understanding: The therapist should aim to understand the reality of experience for their client.

Congruent therapist: Is in touch with their own feelings.

Unconditional positive regard: Complete acceptance.

Question 28

The influence of the humanistic approach on counselling was extensive when?

Answer 28

The influence of the humanistic approach on counselling was extensive during 1960s and 1970s.

There is now a notably significant influence on counselling which has reoccurred since the 1990s.

Question 29

Why did the humanistic approach decline in popularity?

Answer 29

Due to the lack of scientific approach (objectivity), that caused a lot of conflict within the approach.

However, the positive psychology movement, which is influenced by Maslow’s ideas is gaining influence once more again.

Question 30

The client-centred approach influenced what?

Answer 30

In terms of counselling and psychotherapy the client-centred approach is influencing other therapies such as CBT.

Question 31

What did Hayes state in 2004?

(‘Third Wave’ CBT and AO3)

Answer 31

That ‘third wave’ CBT integrates humanistic ideas of subjective experience with CBT.

Question 32

Outline Wampold’s study from 1997-2006.

(Supports the humanistic idea of being client-centred)
(‘Third Wave’ CBT and AO3)

Answer 32

Supports the humanistic idea of being client-centred.

This is because they emphasised the importance of the feature, stating that all therapies should integrate a client-centred approach.

This suggests that the technique is valid, and is very beneficial to patients.

Question 33

Outline Elliott’s study from 2002.

(Supports the idea the use of humanistic therapies)
(‘Third Wave’ CBT and AO3)

Answer 33

Supports the idea the use of humanistic therapies.

This is because they conducted a meta-analysis of 86 studies, finding that humanistic therapies prompted a significant improvement in clients when compared with those not receiving treatment.

This suggests that the treatment is beneficial, and much better than no treatment at all.

Question 34

Outline Sexton and Whiston’s study from 1994.

(Supports the use of client-centred therapy)
(‘Third Wave’ CBT and AO3)

Answer 34

Supports the use of client-centred therapy.

This is because they found it was useful for certain people.

This suggests it’s a valid therapy, however, it can also be seen to challenge as it may not work for all clients.

Question 35

Evaluate ‘free-will’ in humanism.

(Humanism AO3 Main Points)

Answer 35

Acknowledgement of free-will is supported by how we feel as individuals.

The idea is intuitively correct, but problematic to test.

Question 36

Evaluate ‘Maslow’s ideas’ in humanism.

(Humanism AO3 Main Points)

Answer 36

Concepts such as self-actualisation have been widely accepted and the hierarchy of needs itself has been very influential.

However it has been criticised for being culture-specific, those in individualistic cultures relate to it well in comparison to collectivist.

Question 37

Evaluate ‘objectivity’ in humanism.

(Humanism AO3 Main Points)

Answer 37

The ideas of the approach are hard to test scientifically and therefore support with empirical evidence.

This is not something that humanists attempt to do.