Humanism Evaluation Flashcards
What is a strength of the humanist approach?
It promotes a positive image of human beings and the human condition. The concepts of personal growth and self-actualisation demonstrate ways in which each person can grow and change throughout their life
Why is subjectivity a strength?
The approach focuses on subjective experience which is important to everyday life and should be studies alongside the objective
What is another strength of the approach?
Each person is seen as being in control of their own lives, experience and relationships with other people. They have free will and can determine what happens to them in their lives
What is a limitation of the approach?
Lack of empirical research means that much of the theory is speculation as opposed to having rigorous scientific evidence to support it
Why is the strong emphasis on self-actualisation possibly a weakness?
Other drives such as biological ones play a much less central role and therefore risk being under emphasised
What is the problem with some of the key concepts?
They are vague and poorly defined. Whilst they may provide a valuable insight into human behaviour, precise definitions are needed so that empirical research could be undertaken
What is a possible application of humanistic psychology?
Therapy and counselling - the subjective nature of the approach has helped people cope with and adjust to the changes in their lives. It tries to get a person to think about their perceptions of the world
What is the application of humanistic psychology in education?
UPR by the teacher helps the pupils realise their full potential and use their abilities to the fullest
What is the application of humanistic psychology in understanding relationships?
Satisfying and rewarding personal experience with another is one of the most important things in life that could lead to self actualisation
What is the application of the hierarchy of needs?
It is an important concept in organisational psychology - the motives of a person to work have been investigated according to different needs on the hierarchy - a person who thinks they have a successful career is more likely to experience self actualisation
What is a limitation of the approach surrounding science?
The approach believes that objective reality it less important than the person’s subjective understanding of the world and therefore little value is placed on scientific psychology e.g. the use of a lab to investigate behaviour
How do humanists view humans compared to other animals?
As fundamentally different from other animals because humans are conscious beings capable of thought reason and language so they believe research on animals has little value as it says little about human thought and behaviour
How else is the approach unscientific?
It rejects a rigorous scientific approach to psychology as they see it as dehumanising and unable to capture the richness of subjective conscious experience however today many concepts of humanism have been scientifically investigated by psychologists
Why is Maslow’s research into self-actualisers limited?
They weren’t compared with non self-actualisers
He selected people he believed to be self-actualisers
He ignored people with psychological disorders and hence did not really identify what prevents people from self-actualisation
What was a strength of Maslow’s research?
It did provide valuable insight into the higher achievements of people
His work has been influential in psychology with his ideas being applied to the field of organisational psychology to aid the understanding of what motivates people to work
What is a strength of the concept of self-actualisation?
It has enjoyed wide-spread acceptance and more rigorous scientific research has been conducted
It has also been applied to a-typical behaviour to help understand fears and anxiety
What have Maslow’s theories been criticised as?
Culturally specific - representing white, middle class, North America values
What does Maslow pay too much attention to?
Healthy people and not enough attention to those who have psychological disorders or don’t function well in society
What are two criticisms of Rogers?
Sexton and Whiston reviewed studies into its effectiveness and found it was successful in he short term but was inevitably unsuccessful
Effectiveness is based on what a person says rather than an objective measure and there is not usually a long-term follow up with clients
