humanistic approach Flashcards
summarise the assumptions of the humanistic approach
Humanistic psychologists emphasise that people have free will and are motivated to achieve their potential and self-actualize. Both Rogers and Maslow regarded personal growth and fulfilment in life as a basic human motive.
outline Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is usually depicted as a pyramid. The basic physiological needs, such as food, water and sleep, are represented at the bottom of the pyramid and the most advanced needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualisation, are at the top. Each level must be fulfilled before a person can move up to a higher need.
what basic needs does rogers believe people have?
Rogers claimed that people have two basic needs: positive regard from others and a feeling of self-worth.
define self-actualisation
a realisation of one’s full potential; self-fulfilment and seeking personal growth
when can a state of congruence exist?
when a persons ideal self and actual self are similar, a state of congruence exists
what did rogers believe is required to achieve self actualisation?
Rogers believed that a state of congruence is required to achieve self actualisation. therefore therapists provide ucr to help individuals reach self actualisation and heal interpersonal wounds of conditional regard experienced in childhood
what is the development of congruence dependent on and where is this often lacking?
congruence is dependent on UCR. however when a person experiences conditional positive regard, they develop conditions of worth. this leads to low self worth if they feel they can only be accepted when reaching such expectations
suggest 3 limitations of the humanist approach
- rejection of science: The approach includes untestable concepts, such as self-actualisation and congruence. thus it is short on empirical evidence.
- the humanistic approach has been applied to relatively few areas of psychology compared to the other approaches.
- Another limitation is the humanistic approach is that it is ethnocentric.
how is the humanistic approach ethnocentric
Many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as 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 this cultural bias, humanism may be more readily
accepted by Western cultures who 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 that of the individual.
is the approach holistic or reductionist? compare with other approaches
This approach is more holistic than many others, as it considers a range of influences on an individual’s subjective experiences as a whole, This is a strength as it better represents the complexity of human behaviour.
This is in contrast with the cognitive approach (which sees the brain’s functions as analogous to a computer), the biological approach (which sees
humans purely as biological organisms which are made up of physiological processes)
and behaviourism (where all behaviour is seen as the product of past reinforcement
contingencies). Therefore, humanism is an alternative, to other reductionist explanations of behaviour.
evaluate the humanistic approach on free will
It is the only approach that explicitly states that people have free will, but its position on this topic is somewhat incoherent
this is since it argues that our behaviour is determined by the way other people treat us (conditions of worth determine the extent of our self-acceptance)
free will vs determinism
Humanistic psychologists focus on conscious experience rather than behaviour, and on free will rather than determinism.
They argue that people have conscious control over their own lives; despite biological factors, humans are able to make choices within the restraints of biological influences.
Maslow and Rogers argue that without self-determinism, improving oneself and reaching self-actualization is not possible
when do feelings of self-worth develop
Feelings of self-worth develop in childhood and are formed by the child interacting with their parents. from this children often develop conditions of worth which are conditions we think we must meet for people to think of us as worthy of love and acceptance
what does a lack of unconditional positive regard in childhood lead to later on
a lack of unconditional positive regard due to conditions of worth being imposed in childhood by parents leads to incongruence and an inability to self actualise
Rejection of science
humanism suffers from a lack of empirical evidence and no possibility of systematically
observing and measuring the processes which it describes. Self-actualisation cannot be
objectively measured, due to individual differences and a lack of a universal measuring
scale. Similarly, congruence may also be up to personal judgement, especially as opinions
of whether one has is their ‘ideal self’ will differ. This does little to improve the scientific
credibility of both humanism and Psychology.
