Humanistic Approach

Question 1

Assumptions of humanistic approach:

Answer 1

• humanistic psychology differs from most other approaches in psychology by focusing on conscious experience rather than on behaviour, on personal responsibility and free will rather than on determinism.
• originally developed by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow in the 1950s, emphasises the importance of the individual striving towards personal growth and fulfillment

Question 2

Free will:

Answer 2

• Humanists believe we have full conscious control over our own behaviour which is known as free will
• They still believe we are affected by external / internal influences
• However, they view humans as active agents, meaning we can make own decisions to reverse influences using own choices/ decisions
• This approach is considered a person-centred approach

Question 3

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Answer 3

• Maslow argued that human needs exist in a hierarchy and that we move through stages as we develop.
• The most basic needs include physiological needs (food, water, sleep) and are at the bottom of the hierarchy (AKA. deficiency needs) and the most advanced need (self-actualisation) is at the top (AKA. growth need)
• Other needs include: safety, love and belonging, and esteem
• Each level must be fulfilled in order to move to next higher level need and eventually self-actualisation
• The lower the need on the hierarchy, the more powerfully we experience it and the more difficult it is to ignore.

Question 4

What are the 5 needs in Maslow’s Hierarchy?

Answer 4

• physiological
• safety
• love/ belonging
• esteem
• self-actualisation

Question 5

Self-actualisation:

Answer 5

• Maslow believed people have an intrinsic drive and motivation to achieve their full potential, represented by the concept of self-actualisation
• he argued that before we can self actualise, we need to fulfill the needs lower on the hierarchy first.
• the drive for achieving potential growth and self-actualisation is an essential part of being human and this relates to humans continously developing and becoming fulfilled.
• it is noteworthy however, that not everyone will achieve self-actualisation due to psychological barriers (e.g. conditions of worth)

Question 6

Ideal self:

Answer 6

The version of ourselves that we aspire to be and want to become.

Question 7

Self-concept / (percieved self) :

Answer 7

This is how we see ourselves based on: how we feel about ourselves, and the type of positive regard that we get from other people around us.

Question 8

Positive regard:

Answer 8

Love and acceptance we get from other people (family, etc)

Question 9

Two types of positive regard:

Answer 9

• conditional
• unconditional

Question 10

UNCONDITIONAL positive regard:

Answer 10

Recieving love and acceptance for who you are, regardless of what we do.
1. When we recieve UCPR from those around us - we achieve a positive self concept
2. Less disparity between self concept and ideal self
3. this puts us in a state of congruence. (when there is little disparity between self-concept and ideal self)
4. This leads to a healthy sense of self

Question 11

CONDITIONAL positive regard:

Answer 11

Recieving love and acceptance only if we do what others would want.
1. When we get CPR from those around us, we place conditions of worth on ourselves
2. Large disparity between self concept and ideal self
3. This puts us in a state of incongruence where it is hard to meet self-actualisation and potential
4. This leads to an unhealthy sense of self

Question 12

Improving congruence:

Answer 12

1. Develop more achievable and realistic ideal self
2. Recieve UCPR from therapist- acceptance regardless of feelings and attitude the client expresses - reduces disparity between ideal and percieved self.

Question 13

Strength of humanistic approach = practical applications. E.g. Rogerian concepts

Answer 13

E.g. Rogerian concepts have been extremely influential on counselling techniques used both in the UK and the US, known as client-centred therapy. SB: the humanistic idea that humans are self-determining and have free will is used in counselling where the ‘client’ is encouraged to discover their own solutions in a supportive and non-judgmental environment. This is achieved by the therapist providing empathy and unconditional positive regard so clients lose their conditions of worth and become more congruent which allows them to best achieve self-actualisation. Since approach can improve psychological health of others - it is seen as valuable in psych

Question 14

Strength of humanistic approach = hollistic

Answer 14

The approach believes that human experience can only be understood by considering the person and their behaviour as a whole. It rejects any attempts to break up a behaviour into smaller components, whereas approaches like behaviourism are highly reductionist as it simplifies complex human experiences into simple stimulus and response connections. SB: shows understanding of complexity of behaviour and recognises humans as product of many unique experiences and influences, not just simple behavioural rules (e.g. reinforcement). This provides a broader understanding of behaviour in real life complex situations. Increases validity of HA.

Question 15

Weakness of humanistic approach = difficult to test scientifically.

Answer 15

Most of the research from HA revolves around concepts that are hard to operationalize and measure- e.g. self actualisation. As such concepts are hard to measure scientfically through experiments and can only be measured through self report, it produces subjective, bias data that lacks objectivity and has poor validity. Furthemore, self-actualisation cannot be manipulated in lab to investigate its impact on behaviour - so cannot falsify the cause and effect between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and behaviour. As a result - fails to meet a key feature of science proposed by Popper. As HA produces unscientific evidence, it lacks scientific credibility. Decrease in validity.

Question 16

Weakness of humanistic approach = represents an overly idealised and unrealistic view of human nature.

Answer 16

Critics argue that people are not as ‘growth-orientated’ as humanistic theorists suggest and have the capacity for pessimism and self-destructive behaviour. In additiom, the approach does not recognise that due to complications of everyday life situations, ‘self-actualisation’ is hard to achieve (e.g. difficult relationships.). Furthermore, not all cultures have an intrinsic motivation for self-actualisation. For example, collectivists who work towards the needs of the group and not individual goals. This limits validity of HA because cannot explain everyday beh and behaviour in other cultures.

Question 17

The influence on counselling psychology:

Answer 17

Rogers believes that individuals psychological problems are a result of the CONDITIONAL positive regard they recieved forom others and a direct result of their condition of worth. Believed that people can solve their own problems constructively with counselling and become a more fully functioning person.
Technique 1: Therapy where therapist provides empathy and supportive non-judgemental setting regardless of feelings/ attitude expressed by client. This removes condition of worth + helps client come up with solutions to psychological problems.
Technique 2: Provide UNCONDITIONAL positive regard - help client develop a positive view of percieved self + realistic view of ideal self - reduce disparity between ideal and percieved self.

Question 18

Two techniques of counselling:

Answer 18

Technique 1: Therapy where therapist provides empathy and supportive non-judgemental setting regardless of feelings/ attitude expressed by client. This removes condition of worth + helps client come up with solutions to psychological problems.
Technique 2: Provide UNCONDITIONAL positive regard - help client develop a positive view of percieved self + realistic view of ideal self - reduce disparity between ideal and percieved self.