humanistic approach Flashcards
what does the humanistic approach believe?
● every individual is unique
● to understand human behaviour we must look at individual’s experiences, thoughts etc to fully explain behaviour
what are the 3 assumptions of the humanistic approach?
● everyone has free will
● maslow’s hierarchy of needs and self-actualisation
● aim of therapy is to establish congruence
what is free will?
human beings are entirely free to act as they choose and bear responsibility for the outcome of their behaviour
what is holism?
● a holistic approach sees human behaviour as too complex to be reduced to single explanations
● human beings are seen as more than the sum of their individual parts and there are many factors contributing to behaviour
what is maslow’s hierarchy of needs
● most basic needs must be fulfilled before we can move onto our advanced needs
● goal is self actualisation
what is self actualisation?
desire to grow psychologically and fulfil your potential, achieving and become what you are capable of
what is the order of maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
● physiological - breathing, food, water
● safety
● love and belonging - friendship, family
● esteem - self-esteem, confidence, respect by others
● self actualisation - becoming the best version of yourself
what is congruence?
● personal growth will only occur if you have congruence
● consistency/similarity between actual self (how you see yourself) and ideal self (self you’d like to be)
● if gap between your actual and ideal self is incongruent, likely to lead to negative self-worth and self actualisation will not be possible
what are issues like low self esteem due to?
● issues such as low self-esteem have roots in childhood
● due to a lack of unconditional positive regard from parents
what is unconditional positive regard?
● when a parent places no conditions on their love for their children
● parents who set boundaries on their love for their child (conditions of worth) could create psychological problems for their child in future, making it difficult to achieve congruence
what is person centred therapy?
● offer unconditional positive regard to patients - something that may be missing from childhood experiences if conditions of worth were placed on them by parents
● during pct, client encouraged to talk about problems and work through them with therapist and overcome mismatch between their self-concept and ideal self
● can be done by developing healthier self-concept or more realistic ideal self
● goal to aid client towards self-actualisation by helping them become whole person and accepting every aspect of themselves
● person centred: client expert and will discover own solution by examining present problems and how to move forward, rather than other therapies that dwell on past (psychoanalysis)
what 3 things should a therapist do during PCT?
● show unconditional positive regard
● show empathy
● show genuineness
