Humanistic Approach

Question 1

What is the humanistic approach

Answer 1

• Proposes that psychology should study the whole person given that everyone is unique.
• People have free will to make their own decisions in life.
• Claims the scientific method is too objective because the methods employed fail to acknowledge the subjective experience of the individual.

Question 2

Humanistic approach (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs)

Answer 2

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has five stages.
• A person’s most basic physiological needs are represented at the bottom of the pyramid and the most advanced needs are at the top.
• People are motivated to achieve progression through the levels, each level must be fulfilled before a person can move up to a higher need, they are referred to as ‘deficiency needs’
  1. The base of the hierarchy is physiological needs, they are required for human survival and include food, water and sleep
  2. The second level in the hierarchy is safety needs. This includes both physical safety and psychological safety.
  3. The third level is need for love and belongingness, in the form of acceptance from friends and family.
  4. The fourth level is esteem needs. This is the need to feel good about yourself
  The top of the hierarchy is self-actualisation.
  5. Self –actualisation occurs when a person reaches their full potential and is the best version of themselves.

Question 3

Humanistic approach (Focus on the self)

Answer 3

• Rogers (1951) claimed that people have two basic needs, positive regard from other people and feelings of self-worth.
• When people experience conditional positive regard they develop conditions of worth. These are conditions which they believe have to be met if they are to be accepted by others.
• An individual will only experience a sense of self- acceptance if they meet the expectations that others have set as conditions of acceptance.
• When there is a similarity between a persons’ perceived self (how they view themselves) and their ideal self (how they would like to be) a state of congruence exists.

Question 4

Humanistic approach (Counselling psychology)

Answer 4

• Humanistic psychologists, regard themselves as guides to help people understand themselves and find ways to enable their potential for self-actualisation.
• Person-centered counselling is based on Roger’s view that each person is the best expert of them self.
• The person-centered counsellor encourages the individual to talk as openly as possible, so the counsellor can enter the client’s world and see it as if it were their own.
• Therapists provide unconditional positive regard, expressing their acceptance and understanding.
  They are therefore able to provide a supportive environment to help dissolve the client’s conditions of worth.

Question 5

Evaluation of humanistic approach (+)

Answer 5

1. It is not deterministic. According to this approach an individual has the ability to determine their own development. Humanists believe in free will.
   This is a strength because, it means that this approach doesn’t reduce human behaviour down to simple pre-programmed behaviours, instead it considers the individuals ability to determine their own behaviour.
2. Supported by research with adolescents, which support conditions of worth.
   Harter et al found that teenagers who feel that they have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain parents approval frequently end up not liking themselves and have a low self esteem.
   -The researchers also found that adolescents who create a false self pretending to be the person their parents would love are more likely to develop depression. Therefore conditions of worth can result in a tendency to lose touch with their own true self.

Question 6

Humanistic approach evaluation (-)

Answer 6

1. Does not advocate the use of scientific methods.
   Humanistic concepts such as congruence and self —actualisation cannot be scientifically tested with scans or carefully constructed experiments.
   It proposes that we should study the whole person because each individual is unique however science relies on reductionism. This means that the theory cannot be measured objectively.
2. Culturally bias and ethnocentric.
   Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as personal growth, would be much more readily associated with individualist cultures in the Western world (e.g. US).
   Collectivist cultures which emphasise the needs of the community may not identify so easily with the ideals and values of humanistic psychology. Therefore, it is possible that this approach is the product of the cultural context within which it was developed.