humanistic approach Flashcards
main figures in the approach
carl rogers, abraham maslow
when did the humanistic approach emerge?
in the 1950s
what did the humanistic approach become known as?
the third force of psychology (alongside behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches)
which part of psychology did roger’s want to address?
rogers felt that freud had dealt with the ‘sick half’ of psychology, so the humanistic approach concerned itself with explanations of ‘healthy’ growth in individuals
assumptions of the humanistic approach
1) every individual is unique – there is no point in trying to generalise to groups as there are so many differences within each group (idiographic)
2) we have free will, though there may be constraints on our free will (social rules, laws)
3) people should be viewed holistically (all aspects) rather than break behaviour down to individual parts (reductionism)
4) the scientific method isn’t appropriate to measure behaviour – humanistic psychology rejects science and believes that humans cannot be studied objectively – we need to acknowledge the subjective experience of the individual
what is self actualisation?
the innate desire to fulfil one’s potential - becoming what you are capable of
what characteristics did maslow find that those who had self actualised had in common?
they tended to be creative, accepting of other people and had an accurate perception of the world around them
what does self actualisation feel like when achieved?
the ultimate feeling of well-being and
seeing the world with awe and wonder
does everyone achieve self actualisation?
no, but they have the drive to
what are the hierarchy of needs?
the series of 5 stages that humans need to pass through to achieve self actualisation, basic needs have to be met before higher psychological needs
is the state of self actualisation permanent?
no, if all the five needs do not remain in place, an individual can move out of the state until all the needs are back in place. so, being hungry or being tired,
even though it’s a temporary state, will mean that the person is not meeting their needs
personal growth
the developing of a person to be fulfilled & satisfied
what did carl rogers believe about personal growth?
people could only fulfil their potential for personal growth if they had positive self-regard
what are the three selves that rogers proposed?
-self concept
-ideal self
-real self
the self concept
the self you feel you are:
-similar to self-esteem and affected by it
-low self-esteem = poor self-concept
the ideal self
the self you wish to be:
-aiming towards becoming or you are already there
the real self
who you actually are, not who you think you are or wish you were:
-difficult to demonstrate as it is a subjective experience, everyone will perceive or judge a person as different
what is congruence?
when the self-concept and ideal self match
what is incongruence?
where there is a large gap between the ideal self and self concept
how does congruence link to self actualisation?
-rogers said that for self-actualisation to be achieved there must be congruence
-incongruence will make self-actualisation impossible due to the negative feelings of self-worth that arise from the incongruence
what did roger’s develop to reduce the gap between the ideal self and self concept?
client centred therapy (CCT) to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regard that they failed to receive as children
what did roger’s think about many of the issues we experience as adults?
he claimed that many of the issues we experience as adults, have their roots in childhood and can sometimes be explained by a lack of unconditional positive regard from our parents
what are conditions of worth?
requirements that the individual feels they need to meet to be loved
are conditions of worth always real?
no, they can be perceived
what can conditions of worth be referred to as?
conditional positive regard
why is unconditional positive regard important?
it makes self actualisation & congruence easier
if a child doesn’t receive unconditional positive regard, which issues can occur in the future?
-psychological problems
-a difficulty to self actualise
what did roger’s believe that counselling people would be able to do?
help them solve their own problems and move towards to become a more fully functioning person
what do humanistic therapists regard themselves as?
guides to help people understand themselves and to find ways to enable their potential for self actualisation
how does CCT make clients feel?
comfortable and accepted
the aim of CCT:
-to allow the individual to recognise both their psychological limits and their strengths, and achieve a realistic balance between them
-by taking a person-centred approach to counselling, an individual will be helped to make positive steps towards solving their issues, learn a deeper understanding of themselves and achieve self-actualisation
what is to be provided in CCT and how?
unconditional positive regard by expressing acceptance, empathy and understanding of their condition
ao3 / strength - real life applications
P - the humanistic approach has had real life applications
E - contemporary therapists use rogers’ ideas of unconditional positive regard & empathy to help clients work toward self-awareness / it’s impossible to imagine modern client-centred therapy without its insights and techniques
L - useful theory with real-world applications
ao3 / weakness - culturally biased
P - one weakness of humanistic psychology is that it may be culturally biased
E - many of the ideas that are central to humanistic psychology, such as individual freedom, and personal growth, would be much more readily associated with individualistic cultures in the western world / collectivist cultures (eg: India) emphasise the needs of the group, community and codependence
L - the ideas of humanistic psychology can’t be generalised as many cultures do not relate to it, it is a product of the cultural context within which it was developed -> credibility reduced
ao3 / strength - holism
P - humanistic approach rejects attempts to break up behaviour and experience into smaller components (reductionism)
E - behaviourists explain human learning in terms of simple stimulus-response connections / biological psychologists reduce behaviour down to its basic physiological processes (e.g. neurotransmitters) / in contrast, humanistic psychologists promote holism to understand behaviour, the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person
L - this approach therefore has greater validity compared to other approaches by considering all elements of behaviour
(more comprehensive explanation)
ao3 / limitation - not scientific
P - reductionist approaches are more scientific than the humanistic approach
E - the ideal of science is the experiment, experiments reduce behaviour to independent and dependent variables /humanistic psychology, unlike behaviourism, has few concepts that can be broken down to single variables and measured
L - humanistic psychology is short of empirical evidence to support its claims and considered an unscientific way to explain behaviour
layers of hierarchy of needs:
5) physiological needs
4) safety needs
3) love & belonging
2) esteem
1) self actualisation
