Humanistic Approach Flashcards
Approaches to psychology
What is the humanistic approach?
A way of explaining behaviour, emphasising the importance of subjective experience and the capacity for self-determination
What is free will?
Humans are free to make choices themselves, and are not determined by internal biological or external forces
What is self-actualisation?
The desire to grow and fulfill one’s full potential
What is the hierarchy of needs?
A five-tiered hierarchy, in which psychological needs must be met before self-actualisation can be achieved
What is the ‘self’
The ideas and values that characterise ‘I’ and ‘me’
What is congruence?
The aim of Rogerian therapy, when the self concept and the ideal self are equal
What are conditions of worth?
When parents place limits or boundaries on the love of their children
What are the five stages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Self-actualisation
Self-esteem
Love and belonging
Safety and security
Physiological needs
What is the purpose of the hierarchy of needs?
It motivates our behaviour, encourages us to achieve self-actualisation
How can self-actualisation be achieved?
One needs to achieve all four other stages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs before achieving self-actualisation
What is client centered therapy?
Helps people cope with their problems- Carl Rogers. Increase feelings of self worth, reduce incongruence
What is holism?
Subjective experience can only be understood by considering the WHOLE person
What are some strengths of the humanistic approach?
- Rejects ‘reductionism’
- Advocates holism
- Optimistic alternative (sees good in people)
- Applied in therapy (client centered), education and work
What are some limitations of the humanistic approach?
- Culturally biased
- Little real world application
- Unrealistic and overly idealistic
- Short on empirical evidence (reductionism more scientific)
What are some examples of real-world applications?
Education-learners are ‘whole’ and inherently good
Businesses- follows Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to motivate the workplace
Client-centered therapy- focus on the person
What is Roger’s therapy?
Therapy used to reduce the gap between the perceived and ideal self
What is counselling psychology?
Client-centred therapy, aims to increase feelings of self-worth,. reduce incongruence
Who were the humanistic approach psychologists?
Maslow
Rogers
What did Rogers say about the ‘self’?
The concept of the self should be in congruence with the ideal self. Low self-esteem may stem from experiencing conditions of worth in childhood
Strength-
I= Rejects reductionism
D= Behaviourists explain learning in terms of simple-stimulus response connections. Supporters of cognitive approach see humans as little more than information-processing machines. Biological approach reduces behaviour to physiological processes. Freud describes personality as a conflict between 3 things. But humanistic psychologists advocate holism, and believes subjective experience can only be understood by looking at the whole person
E= Provides validity by considering meaningful behaviour in real-world contexts
Limitation-
I= Lacks scientific value, as reductionism may be more scientific
D= The ideal of science is the experiment, which reduces behaviour to independent and dependant variables. The issue with humanistic psychology is that there are relatively few concepts that can be broken down and measured (unlike behaviourism)
E= Means humanistic approach is short on empirical evidence to support its claims
Strength-
I= Optimistic approach
D= Praised for bringing the person back into psychology and promoting a positive image of the human condition. Freud say humans as prisoners of their past and claimed we exist between ‘common unhappiness and human despair’. Humanistic psychologists see everyone as good and free to work towards achievement
E= Suggests this approach offers a refreshing and optimistic alternative to other approaches
Limitation-
I= Culturally-biased
D= Many central ideas (e.g: individual freedom, autonomy, personal growth) are associated more with countries with more individualist tendencies. Countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise the needs of the group and interdependence- ideals like self-actualisation may not be as important
E= Possible this approach does not universally apply and is a product of the cultural context it was developed within
Evaluation extra-
Limited application
Strength-
- Associated with Rogerian therapy which has revolutionised modern day counselling techniques and person-centred therapies. Hierarchy of needs has been applied to aspects of human motivation (workplace)
Limitation-
- Lacks significant real-world application, such as: behaviourist= brought science into psychology, psychodynamic, cognitive, biological= applied to psychopathology, gender development, forensic psychology
