humanistic approach Flashcards
who are two important indviduals related to this
maslow and rogers
what does humanistic psychology claim
it claims human beings are self determining and have free will
human beings are still affected by external and internal influences but are active agents determining their own development
what are humanists attitudes to scientific approaches
humanists reject scientific models which establish general principles of human behaviour - they believe as active agents we are all unique
psychology should concern itself with studying subjective experiences rather than general laws
what is maslow hierarchy of needs
maslow suggested we need a hierarchy of needs that motivate behaviour - the most basic being biological - safety - love - self esteem and then self actualisation
what is self actualisation and how is it aceived
self actualisation is feeling fulfilled in life - feeling true self awareness and having a feeling of euphoria
self actualisation is suggested by maslow to be achieved when you acheive each stage in the hierarchy
what did rogers suggest about achieving personal growth
an indvidual’s self concept must be congruent with their ideal self
if the gap is too big then you will experience incongruence and self actualisation will not be possible
how did rogers reduce the gap between self concept and ideal self
he developed client centred therapy (counselling) where you are guided by a therapist and talk about everyday problems.
what is a way to achieve congruence
making more manageable goals instead of harder goals and have unconditional positive regard
what did rogers suggest is a reason for our problems in adulthood
rogers suggested our problems in adulthood stem from childhood and are due to conditions of worth from family and friends
how did client centred therapy help reduce conditions of worth
the client would be expected to identify conditions of worth from childhood through prompts from the therapist
the therapists give unconditional positive regard to the client to reduce incongruency and help achieve self actualisation
strength - individualism
.approach focuses on individuals acknowledges variation between human behaviours
.it is more optimistic and is praised for promoting a more positive image of humanity
.it promotes improving yourself and paved the way for modern day counselling
strength - holism (2 points)
.rejects attempts to break behaviour in small counterparts (like behaviourists) and actively challenges scientific methods of investigating human behaviour
.advocates for holism and so explains human behaviour within a real world concept which is more easy to understand
weakness - empirical evidence (4 points)
.behaviours can be broken down to single variables and measured
.humanists reject this and are short on empirical evidence to support claims
.critics argue humanistic psychology has .little impact and application to real world
it is instead viewed as a set of abstract ideas instead of a comprehensive theory
what is holism
considering the individual as a whole instead of specifically focusing on one thing
weakness - cultural bias
ideas of humanistic psychology can be taboo in some cultures eg self actualisation
