humanistic approach Flashcards
free will
people have full conscious control over their own destiny
maslow’s hierarchy of needs and self actualisation
emphasises importance of personal growth and fulfilment
physiological -> safety -> love/belonging -> esteem -> self actualisation
self actualisation - creative, accepting of others and have accurate perception of world, experienced in form of peak experiences of extreme inspiration and ecstasy
focus on the self
rogers - people have 2 basic needs: positive regard from others and a feeling of self worth. believed that how we think about ourselves and our feelings of self worth are important in determining our psychological health
the closer our self concept and ideal self are to each other, the greater our feelings of self worth and psychological health
congruence
state of congruence exists when there’s similarity between person’s ideal self and how they perceive themselves to be in real life
conditions of worth
rogers - other people hinder process of self actualisation. love and acceptance given by others may be unconditional or conditional.
conditional positive regard leads to development of conditions of worth which they perceive have to be in place if they are to be accepted by others
influence of counselling psychology
rogers - individual’s psychological problems are direct result of their conditions of worth and conditional positive regard received from others.
believed that with counselling, people could solve their problems in constructive ways and move towards becoming more fully functioning person
humanistic therapists see themselves as guides to help people understand themselves and to find ways to enable their potential for self actualisation by providing unconditional positive regard so conditions of worth are dissolved
evaluation - research support for conditions of worth
individuals who experience conditional positive regard are likely to display more ‘false self behaviour’ - doing things to meet others’ expectations even when they clash their own values.
harter et al - discovered that teenagers who feel they have to fulfil certain conditions in order to gain their parents’ approval frequently end up not liking themselves
evaluation - humanistic RMs don’t establish causality
evaluating humanistic approach scientifically is difficult as most evidence fails to establish causal relationship between variables
rogers was an advocate of non experimental RMs, arguing that the requirements of experimental methods make it impossible to verify results of counselling. most psychologists argue that without experimental evidence, evaluation of a therapy or theory that underlies it becomes difficult
although some studies have shown personal growth as a result of receiving humanistic counselling, these don’t show that the therapy caused the changes
evaluation - humanistic approach is unrealistic
humanistic approach represents overly idealised and unrealistic view of human nature
critics argue people aren’t as inherently good and ‘growth oriented’ as humanistic theorists suggest, and the approach doesn’t adequately recognise people’s capacity for pessimism and self destructive behaviour. view that all problems arise from blocked self actualisation is seen as an oversimplification
