humanistic approach Flashcards
what is humanistic psychology?
an approach to understanding behaviour that emphasises the importance of subjective experience and each persons capacity for self-determination
what does the humansitic approach claim?
claims humans are essentially determined and have free will. people are still affected by external and internal influences but are also active agents who can determine their own development.
what is free will?
the notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by internal biological or external forces.
what is maslows hierarchy of needs ?
a hierarchy of needs is what maslow states motivates humans. in order to achieve self actualisation a number of needs must be met first.
what are the tiers in the hierarchy of needs, starting at the bottom?
- physiological needs (food and water)
-safety and security - love and belongingness
- self-esteem
-self actualisation
what is self actualistaion?
the desire to grow psychologically and fulfil ones full potential- becoming what you are capable of
what did carl rogers argue?
for personal growth to be achieved, and individuals concept of self must be broadly equivalent to or have congruence with their ideal self.
what is the self, ideal self, congruence?
self- the way you see yourself
ideal self- the person they want to be
congruence- when the self-concept and ideal self match
what happens if the gap is too big between the selfs ?
the person will experience a state of incongruence and self actualisation will not be possible due to the negative feeling of self worth.
how do you reduce the gap between the self-concept and ideal self?
client centered therapy, to help people cope with the demands of everyday life. many issues such as worthlessness and low self esteem have their roots in childhood and can often be explained by lack of unconditional positive regard from our parents.
what is unconditional positive regard?
a parent who sets boundaries on their love (conditions of worth) by claiming ‘i will only love you if’ is storing up psychological problems for that child in the future. one role as an effective therapist is being able to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regards that they had failed to receive as a child.
evaluate the humanistic approach
s- not reductionist, rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components. (refer to other approaches ) in contrast humanistic psychologists advocate holism, the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person. may have more validity that its alternatives .
counterpoint-
reductionist approaches may be more scientific, this is because the ideal of science is the experiment, and experiments reduce behaviour to independent variables and dependent variables. one issue with humanistic approach is that unlike behaviourism there are relatively few concepts that can be broken down to single varibales and measured, humanistic psychology is short on empirical evidence to support its claims.
s- its a positive approach, optimistic. praised for promoting a positive image. they are free to work towards the achievemnts of their potential.
c- cultural bias, many ideas would be associated with countries that have more individualistic tendencies. (US) countries with collectivist tendencies emphasise more the needs of the group and interdependence. in such countries the ideals of humanistic psychology may not be as important as others, it is possible that the approach does not apply universally and is product of the cultural context in which it as developed.
c- limited application, relatively little impact on psychology. little practical applications . has been described , not as a comprehensive theory but as a set of abstract ideas.
