Humanistic approach Flashcards
What are the assumptions of the humanistic approach?
- behaviour is under our conscious control
- people should be viewed holistically (everyone is unique)
- scientific method not appropriate for the study of human behaviour focus on the study of subjective experiences
- everyone has an innate drive to reach self-actualisation
What is the humanistic view of Free will?
- Humanists psychologists claim that humans are basically self determining & have free will
- active agents who can determine own development
- person-centred approach
Who developed the hierarchy of needs?
Maslow
What is self-actualisation?
The innate desire to grow and fulfil ones full potential
Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
What happens if the first stage is not met?
All the other needs cannot be fulfilled
Whose works focuses on the self?
Roger
What did Roger say must happen if personal growth was to be achieved?
- an individuals concept of the self and ideal self must be in congruence
- (match between two is congruence)
What is the ideal self?
the self you wish to be or should be
What is the self-concept?
the person you feel you are
What happens if there is a too big of a gap between the two selves?
- person experiences a state of incongruence
- self actualisation can not be achieved due to negative feelings of self worth
What did Roger develop in order to reduce gap between the two selves?
- Client-centred therapy (counselling) to help people cope with everyday living
What are many issues experienced in adulthood the result of, according Roger?
- roots in childhood and can be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents
- conditions of worth - parents places limits or boundaries on the love for their child e.g. ‘I will only love you if..’
What did Roger see his role as a therapists?
provide his clients with unconditional positive regard that they had failed to receive as children
What was Roger’s Influence on counselling psychology?
- Roger referred to those in therapy as ‘clients’ rather than ‘patients’ >saw individual as expert of own condition
- effective therapist must provide client with three things:
unconditional positive regard, empathy, genuineness
What is the aim of Rogerian therapy?
increase the person self worth, reduce level of incongruence
What is a strength of the humanistic approach? (reductionism)
- rejects attempts to break down human behaviour into small components (reductionism)
> unlike other approaches such as behaviourist, biological, & psychodynamic - humanistic approach advocates holism- the idea that a person can be viewed as a whole rather than its constituent parts
- has more validity
Counterpoint for strength (reductionism) of humanistic approach
- not scientific & made of abstract concepts that are difficult to test
- concepts such as congruence may be useful tools but problematic to test under experimental conditions
- short of empirical evidence
What is a another strength of the humanistic approach?
- it is optimistic
- humanistic psychology praised for bringing the person back into psychology
- focuses on the present & see humans as in control of own lives (unlike psychodynamic which sees us as prisoners of past)
- refreshing & optimistic view
What is a weakness of the humanistic approach?
- culturally biased
-many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology e.g. individual freedom, personal growth & self-actualisation associated with western (UK, USA) individualistic cultures - collectivist countries emphasise more the needs of the group
- self-actualisation not as important
approach not applied universally
