Humanistic approach

Question 1

What are the assumptions of the humanistic approach ?

Answer 1

• Believe humans are self-determining and have free-will
• Believe in studying the whole person
• Holistic methods
• Uses ideographic methods such as case studies
• Focuses on the individual

Question 2

What was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ?

Answer 2

He theorised a hierarchy of needs about human motivation.
Different need’s motivate individuals

1. Physiological needs - air, food, sleep, shelter
2. Safety needs - protection, security, order, law
3. Belonging and love needs - family, relationships and affection
4. Self-esteem - achievement, status and responsibility
5. Self-actualisation - personal growth and fulfillment

Question 3

What is self-actualisation ?

Answer 3

• People have an innate tendency to achieve their full-potential
• All levels of the hierarchy must be met before an individual can work towards self-actualisation
• Humanists say personal growth is important for humans

Question 4

What did Rodgers focus on ?

Answer 4

He focused on the concept of the self and actualisation

He said people had two basic needs:
1. Positive regard from others - unconditional regard
2. Feelings of self-worth

Self-worth is developed by:
- Interactions in childhood with parents
- Interactions with friends
- How we think about ourselves

Question 5

What did Rodgers say about Congruence ?

Answer 5

• For there to be personal growth an individual’s self-concept must have congruence with their ideal self’s
• If the gap is too big, self-actualisation isn’t possible
• To reduce the gap, Rodgers developed client-centred therapy

Question 6

What is Client centred therapy ?

Answer 6

• poor mental health is due to self-esteem
• a lack of unconditional positive self-regard
• Rodger focused in therapy on providing clients with unconditional positive regard that the client may have failed to get as a child
• This reduces the incongruence and increases self-worth

Question 7

What are the strength’s of the humanistic approach ?

Answer 7

Real life application:
Clients centred therapy helps those with mental health problems

Holistic approach:
Looks at a range of factors and influences. More accurate and detailed views of behaviour and reductionist

Question 8

What are the limitations of the humanistic approach ?

Answer 8

Abstract concepts
Congruence and self-actualisation cannot be studied directly
Instead the cognitive theory would look at how scientific methods are more accurate

Western culture bias
Many of the idea’s (personal growth and individual freedom) are associated with individualistic western cultures
Collectivist cultures (e.g India) value community and interdependence
This means that this approach isn’t ethical.