Humanistic approach

Question 1

What does the humanistic approach want to do?

Answer 1

What it means to be fully human and escape reductionism and determinism by taking a Holistic view

Question 2

Does the Humanistic approach believe we have free will?

Answer 2

Yes

We have choice and can consciously control and influence our own personal destiny

Question 3

What was Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?

Answer 3

A model of psychological development?

Question 4

What are the stages of Maslow’s hierarchy?

Answer 4

Self-actualisation
Self-esteem
Love and Belonging
Safety and Security
Physiological needs

You climb from bottom to top to reach the end goal of self-actualisation but this is not the case for everyone

Question 5

What are physiological needs?

Answer 5

Breathing, Food, excretion

Question 6

What is safety and security?

Answer 6

Employment, resources, morality, family

Question 7

What is love and belonging?

Answer 7

Friendship, family, sexual intimacy

Question 8

What is self-esteem?

Answer 8

Confidence, achievement, respect of and toward others

Question 9

what is self actualisation at the top of the hierarchy?

Answer 9

Morality, creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

Question 10

What were the primary human needs the theory was interested in?

Answer 10

• Self-worth
• unconditional positive regard from others

these have an impact on psychological well-being so must be present

Question 11

What is conditions of worth?

Answer 11

where individuals feel approval or affection hinges on them meeting certain orders (love is conditional).

If a person experiences unconditional positive regard they feel loved unconditionally

Conditions of worth is the degree to which we feel positive regard hinges on our actions

Question 12

What is congruence and incongruence?

Answer 12

When the self-concept and the ideal self are similar

incongruence is where they are different and so it is necessary to use defence mechanisms against feeling negative

Question 13

What is the purpose of therapy with the Humanistic approach?

Answer 13

To close the gap of incongruence between the self-concept and the Ideal self thus giving a realistic balance between strengths and achievability

Question 14

What describes Humanistic therapy in relation to who leads the discussion?

Answer 14

Client-centred

Question 15

What is the role of the therapist in Humanistic therapy?

Answer 15

To provide unconditional positive regard through acceptance, empathy and understanding. When the client feels worth the self-concept will dissipate allowing them to move up the hierarchy of needs

Question 16

Evaluation for the humanistic approach?

Answer 16

• There is no scientific evidence for the hierarchy: based of clinical not empirical data so low validity and cannot be generalised
• Overly positivistic: doesn’t take into account humans capacity for self destruction and so isn’t taking the whole person into account
• Positivistic real-world application: Major influence in society as client centred therapy has helped many people